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Europe's Internet service providers (ISPs) say they are being overwhelmed by requests to remove from their networks Web sites that violate copyright or contain defamatory statements.Under the e-Commerce Directive, a European Union law enacted this year, ISPs are compelled to remove from their computer servers Web sites that carry copyright-protected materials such as films, songs and pictures, or those that contain libel or so-called hate speech.
In the case of copyright concerns, the law is primarily designed to protect media companies which have seen all manner of protected materials appear on Internet sites free of charge. Under the directive, a media company needs only to notify an ISP of an offending site and the ISP is compelled to take it down.
But ISPs have complained that the law gives copyright owners broad powers to take down an ISP customer's Web site. Plus, they argue, it requires the ISP to make a snap, and potentially costly, judgment about copyright violations.
The ISPs want legal protections in case they remove a site that turns out to be law-abiding.
"It's a potentially big legal problem," said Joe McNamee, a spokesman for the European Internet Services Providers' Association in Brussels. "The ISP just wants to avoid having to play the role of judge and jury."
The debate has raged in a largely theoretical sphere until now. ISPA's UK body has begun collecting data from its UK members about take-down requests in an effort to clarify the matter before presenting the findings to lawmakers.
To date, the group found that 54% of take-down notices pertain to copyright infringement claims, while 27% are related to defamation complaints, meaning that roughly four out of every five take-downs could trigger a law suit.
In cases where a site contains content that is clearly illegal, like child pornography, the law is cut and dried. A 1996 British law, for example, stipulates that the ISP must take down the site immediately without incurring a legal risk, says Brian Ahearne, spokesman for ISPA UK.
ISPs are looking for similar protections with the more ambiguous requests. Ahearne says ISPA UK plans to present its full findings to Britain's Department of Trade and Industry.
Similar initiatives are being discussed elsewhere in Europe. The EU-funded industry group RightsWatch is also working to develop a more straightforward policy that it plans to present to the European Commission.
