Dutch copyright working group strikes deep packet inspection

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Deutsch: [Niederländische ARGE Urheberrecht lässt Deep Packet Inspection fallen | http://www.unwatched.org/node/1868]

Last year, a Dutch parliamentary working group on copyright published
a heavily contested report on the future of copyright. It advised rendering
the downloading of copyrighted content without the permission of
the copyright holder illegal. The working group also suggested to use
deep packet inspection (DPI) technology to enforce this prohibition.
DPI-technology allows the surveillance of the content layers of the
Internet by third parties.

The Dutch digital rights organisation Bits of Freedom fiercely
criticized the report, particularly the statement on the possible use
of DPI to enforce a downloading ban. The working group has responded to
this criticism. During a parliamentary discussion on 14 April 2010, the
chairwoman of the working group publicly promised to remove the
controversial statement on DPI from the report, and to soon publish a
cleaned up version.

Downloading copyrighted content is currently legal in the Netherlands,
as long as it falls within the private copyright exception of the Dutch
Copyright Act.

Report on the future of copyright (only in Dutch, 2009)
http://www.tweedekamer.nl/images/Herdruk_rapport_auteursrecht_118-191067.pdf

Report by Bits of Freedom (only in Dutch, 14.12.2009)
https://www.bof.nl/live/wp-content/uploads/2009/12/filesharing-kamerbriefing-141209.pdf

Video of parliamentary discussion on the report (only in Dutch, 14.04.2010)
https://www.bof.nl/2010/04/14/auteursrechtdebat-online-iets-opvallend/

(Contribution by David Korteweg – EDRi-member Bits of Freedom – Netherlands)