In the world of web filtering, internet surveillance and other such web meddling there are a few countries who tend to hit the headlines more than others. It comes as no big surprise when Iran, China or Turkey block Youtube or Facebook yet again, however occasionally a web filter or censorship story makes you sit up and take notice.
On the 27th May the Danish Supreme Court upheld a decision that obliges Internet Service Providers (ISP) to block access to any web site which may contain material that infringes the rights of copyright holders. The case focussed on a well know web site called The Pirates Bay, this site based in Sweden contains links which allow users to download the latest films, music and software using a technology called Peer to Peer File sharing.
The decision which at first looks fairly innocuous brought condemnation from many privacy and freedom of speech organisations. The problem appears to be that by holding an ISP legally responsible for what their users download and access, you are actively encouraging surveillance and censorship.
Jim Rjindael who writes for a popular anonymous surfing information web site stated the following:
“The problem with this decision is simple – it is turning the ISPs into unofficial policemen of the internet. They have no procedures or processes in place to conduct this filtering, yet they are expected to decide what is right or wrong on the world wide web. It is a role that they are unlikely to relish and many would argue they have no right to decide what their users can do online.”
There is widespread concern that in order to comply with this ruling, ISPs will be forced to conduct extensive surveillance on their users in order to check that no copyright infringements are taking place. Although the ISPs are uniquely positioned to conduct this, in that they have a full list of all websites their users visit, whether it is right that they actively audit these records is another concern.
The ruling is the latest in a line of similar laws and precedents passed by the Folketinget (the Danish Parliament) which are slowly eroding their reputation of one of the most open and unrestricted societies in the world. Increasingly many users are switching to using different technologies such as a US or UK proxy in order to bypass the censorship of individual countries. As Jim Rjindael pointed out
“We are increasingly creating a multi-tiered internet, those who are monitored and filtered at every turn, whilst those with the knowledge or wherewithal to bypass these restrictions who can surf completly unrestricted.”