14 DAY TRIAL // The authorities from every corner of the world are trying to stop a huge phenomenon that affects the copyright holders of any kind of digital material. No matter it is a picture, a song or a video, it is quickly pirated from the malicious people on the Internet. That's why a Belgium court ordered that the Internet Service Providers must help the authorities' efforts to block illegal content for certain networks. The Belgium court's ruling came after an organization of authors and composers sued Tiscali, an ISP for allowing the customers to access infringing content.
The judge also offered details about a potential solution that can be used to block traffic to illegal material such as music, videos and pictures, usually distributed through file-sharing applications. Audible Magic is the same system that might be implemented by the popular online video sharing service YouTube to help the Mountain View company block copyright infringing videos.
"This is an extremely significant ruling which bears out exactly what we have been saying for the last two years - that the internet's gatekeepers, the ISPs, have a responsibility to help control copyright-infringing traffic on their networks. The court has confirmed that the ISPs have both a legal responsibility and the technical means to tackle piracy. This is a decision that we hope will set the mould for government policy and for courts in other countries in Europe and around the world," IFPI Chairman and CEO John Kennedy said.
In the recent period, numerous countries joined an impressive alliance that fights against illegal material and its distribution on the Internet. It all started with the arrests of several cracking groups and continued with today's closure of Allofmp3, a Russian website that distributed pirated music. However, Russia is still one of the most active countries on the pirated market as numerous hackers found their home in this nation.