Filtering for Copyright Enforcement in Europe after the Sabam cases

TL;DR

The paper analyzes recent EU court rulings on copyright enforcement filters, arguing that these decisions do not significantly advance privacy and freedom of information rights.

Contribution

It provides a legal analysis of the Court of Justice's rulings and discusses their implications for fundamental rights in the context of copyright enforcement.

Findings

EU court rulings prohibit mandatory filters for copyright enforcement

Little progress has been made for privacy rights

The rulings have limited impact on freedom of information

Abstract

Sabam, a Belgian collective rights management organisation, wanted an internet access provider and a social network site to install a filter system to enforce copyrights. In two recent judgments, the Court of Justice of the European Union decided that the social network site and the internet access provider cannot be required to install the filter system that Sabam asked for. Are these judgments good news for fundamental rights? This article argues that little is won for privacy and freedom of information.