Filtering for Copyright Enforcement in Europe after the Sabam Cases

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.

Keywords: Sabam, Scarlet, copyright, intellectual property, enforcement, data protection, privacy, freedom of speech, filtering, deep packet inspection