EU Parliament Backtracks On Illegal File Sharing Ban

The European Parliament has backtracked from a crucial amendment to its internet laws that aimed at safeguarding web users’ freedom in the online space.

In a landmark ruling, the EU Parliament has given the nod to the member states to disconnect persistent file-sharers from the internet.

The ruling comes as a result of increasing pressure from some of the member states to crack down hard on unrelenting file-sharers by adopting some stringent anti-piracy laws.

With its latest proclamation, the Parliament has dropped an important amendment to its Telecom Package, dubbed as amendment ‘138’, which had been embraced twice by a huge majority in the plenary assembly.

The amendment would have stopped the member countries from disconnecting the persistent peer-to-peer (P2P) file sharers without court authority.

The French government has already approved the plans which would force ISPs to cut-off the parties found guilty of continued file-sharing for up to a period of one year.

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In spite of assurances from the cultural secretary Ben Bradshaw, the UK government is also likely to usher in a clause about cutting off persistent offenders from the internet in its new file-sharing policy.

Amendment 138 had sought to make the internet access a “fundamental right”, as it stated: “Any such measures liable to restrict those fundamental rights or freedoms may only be taken in exceptional circumstances...and shall be subject to adequate procedural safeguards in conformity with the European Convention for the Protection of Human Rights”.