Guest Post: Website Blocking to Prevent Copyright Infringement: A Comparison of the Indian and UK Approaches Part 3
SPICY IP:
For the readers of Spicy IP, Ms. Neeti Jain, an Indian lawyer specializing in media and entertainment laws, as well as issues involving copyright law and technology, Internet regulation and digital media, brings as follows the 3rd and final part of her incisive guest post series on website blocking to prevent copyright infringement. The earlier 2 parts of the series are available here and here.
Part 3 – Never Say Die
A statement by the UK’s Foreign Secretary, William Hague, in his closing remarks at the London Conference on Cyberspace, on 2 November 2011, reiterated an important message, aimed at governments the world over. He said,
“Do not treat cyberspace as if it belongs to you….You should not imagine for an instant that you can resist the growing force of the tide now flowing for transparency, open information and the free exchange of ideas.”
A UN report also declared recently that access to the Internet is a human right.
I feel that these two statements must be kept in mind by governments and courts when they meddle with the Internet.
An encouraging response to demands for blocking has been that of Virgin Media, another major ISP in the UK, who at least seems to think that a part of the problem is that content is not always affordably priced. When Virgin was asked for its response to the BT judgment and whether they would block Newzbin2 as well, a spokesperson for virgin Media said to the BBC, that it would obey the law, but would not take action over the matter until it had received a court order of its own.
“As a responsible ISP, we will comply with any court order addressed to us but strongly believe such deterrents need to be accompanied by compelling …
Part 3 – Never Say Die
A statement by the UK’s Foreign Secretary, William Hague, in his closing remarks at the London Conference on Cyberspace, on 2 November 2011, reiterated an important message, aimed at governments the world over. He said,
“Do not treat cyberspace as if it belongs to you….You should not imagine for an instant that you can resist the growing force of the tide now flowing for transparency, open information and the free exchange of ideas.”
A UN report also declared recently that access to the Internet is a human right.
I feel that these two statements must be kept in mind by governments and courts when they meddle with the Internet.
An encouraging response to demands for blocking has been that of Virgin Media, another major ISP in the UK, who at least seems to think that a part of the problem is that content is not always affordably priced. When Virgin was asked for its response to the BT judgment and whether they would block Newzbin2 as well, a spokesperson for virgin Media said to the BBC, that it would obey the law, but would not take action over the matter until it had received a court order of its own.
“As a responsible ISP, we will comply with any court order addressed to us but strongly believe such deterrents need to be accompanied by compelling …