A PROPOSAL FROM members of Silvio Berlusconi’s party in Italy could give the country ridiculously draconian copyright laws.
The Centemero law would essentially make it so that if someone was ACCUSED of breaking copyright laws – by anyone, not just the copyright holder – they would be banned from the internet.
Via Techdirt comes this great analysis from AirVPN:
1) citizens, outside of any judicial proceeding and without the right to appeal to the judicial authority, may be banned to access the Internet if ANYONE (a rightholder or an ordinary citizen) notifies a provider about alleged infringement of copyright or trademark or patent (“one strike” disconnections);
2) Internet service providers must comply to the blacklisting of citizens who are *suspected* of copyright or trademark or patent infringements (“proscription lists” to ban citizens from any access to the Net);
3) an Internet service provider must use preventive filters against services that infringe copyright, trademark or patents;
4) an Internet service provider must not promote or advertise, and must use preventive filters against, services that do not directly violate copyright, trademark or patents, but that *may* lead citizens to *think* that infringing services exist;
5) a provider or a hosting provider which does not use effective filters will be charged with civil liability.
As AirVPN notes, clearly some aspects of this law are 1) impossible in reality and 2) incompatible with EU law.
Thankfully, Techdirt’s articles on the subject appear to have brought some positive attention. MEP Marietje Schaake has brought the bill to the attention of EU Commission, asking specifically “What concrete action will the Commission undertake to put a halt to measures being implemented by Member States by which citizens may be disconnected from the internet?”
- Adam Taylor
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