ISPs head for showdown in Europe over Web copyright

The Internet Service Providers Association (ISPA) has responded angrily to draft legislation which would make providers directly responsible for any copyright breached across their networks.

The EC directive, to be published later this year, will aim to harmonise the copyright laws for material distributed in digital form, such as over the Internet. The major issue is liability.

"Our concern is that these directives appear to leave ISPs open to legal action because they leave certain issues - such as liability - unresolved.

It's impossible to monitor the Internet," said Shez Hamill, ISPA spokesman and MD of Dialnet.

The ISPA is supporting the Adhoc Alliance for Digital Future, a collective body of telecom carriers and other companies who are lobbying the EC with a set of principles regarding the copyright question.

"The danger to ISPs is that they could be held liable for the infringing copyright acts of their users, unless the directive is carefully formulated," said Thomas Vinje, partner at law firm Morrison and Foerster, and legal advisor to the Alliance.

"Unless smaller ISPs become active and say we need a balance in the law, it could ultimately inhibit investment in ISP's infrastructure," he added.

"We're hoping that those held directly liable will be those who infringe on the copyright," said an intellectual property adviser at one of the UK's major telecom companies.

"Those who provide the facilities, be it the network or the server, shouldn't be liable unless they have the knowledge and control to prevent it," he said.