Filtering for Copyright Enforcement in Europe after the Sabam Cases

2013-04-08

AI Summary

This study examines the legal constraints imposed by the Court of Justice of the European Union on internet service providers’ implementation of copyright filtering systems following the Sabam case, with particular attention to the potential infringement of fundamental rights such as privacy and freedom of information. Through doctrinal analysis, a fundamental rights balancing framework, and an assessment of digital copyright governance mechanisms, the research demonstrates that although the Court rejected the mandatory deployment of filtering systems as unlawful, its rulings fall short of adequately safeguarding the substantive essence of these fundamental rights. By redefining the legitimacy boundaries of copyright enforcement from a fundamental rights perspective, this work highlights the limitations of judicial practice in protecting digital rights and offers theoretical insights for refining the EU’s digital copyright governance framework.

Technology Category

• Computer Vision: Bias, Fairness & Privacy
• Natural Language Processing: Ethics — Bias, Fairness, Transparency & Privacy
• Philosophy and Ethics of AI: AI & Law, Justice, Regulation & Governance

Application Category

• Responsible Web: Measurement, analysis, and circumvention of Web censorship
• Social Networks and Social Media: Media and governance, opinion dynamics, filter bubbles, polarization
• Security and Privacy: Privacy-enhancing technologies

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.

Problem

• copyright enforcement
• filtering systems
• fundamental rights
• privacy
• freedom of information

Innovation

• copyright enforcement
• filtering systems
• fundamental rights
• CJEU
• privacy