Dutch ISPs XS4ALL and Ziggo are no longer required to block access to torrent website The Pirate Bay in the Netherlands, the Court of Justice in The Hague ruled today.

The ban dates from January 2012, when a lower court in the country ruled that both providers were required to block their users' access to the torrent website, after Dutch anti-piracy organisation BREIN filed a lawsuit against the two companies.

The court also authorised BREIN to update the list of IP addresses, domains and sub domains that the two companies had to block, to prevent the organisation from having to go to court every time the torrent website modified its address.

Ineffective block

XS4ALL and Ziggo complied with the court order the same month, but immediately filed an appeal, with the court ruling today in their favour.

According to the Court of Justice, the block has proven to be extremely ineffective, since a study submitted to the court shows that torrent users tended to keep downloading copyrighted material regardless of the block — which mainly affected those who weren't big downloaders to begin with. Therefore, as the judgment states: "The block is not justified and will no longer be enforced."

Both Ziggo and Xs4all acknowledge that several studies have shown that the block doesn’t work, simply because it is extremely easy to circumvent.

John Allen, the lawyer representing Ziggo, said during the trial in September: "The German court rejected a DNS block, because the judges themselves were able to circumvent it, without any advanced knowledge." He said that the ISPs' infrastructure is not designed for IP address blocking and that it would be much more effective to go after the parties that are sharing the files — an opinion the Court of Justice in The Hague now shares.

ISPs should be neutral

Shortly after the ruling, XS4ALL restored access to the torrent website. However, a spokesman for the company said: "Since DNS blocking is involved, it may take a while before all customers can reach the website."

The official statement on the website of XS4ALL said: "We are extremely happy with the Court of Justice's ruling, as it guarantees freedom of access to information. It's a good thing for Dutch citizens, a good thing for the internet and a good thing for internet service providers that want to remain neutral in their important role.

"Just like BREIN, we are against sharing copyrighted material without permission. However, as an internet service provider, it is our task to grant people neutral and unrestricted access to the internet; we believe in its possibilities and its freedom. The solution to downloading from illegal sources is not restricting freedom, it's putting this freedom to the best possible use."

Appeal

The ruling does not mean that all Dutch residents have regained access to The Pirate Bay, as the ban is still in place for KPN, UPC, T-Mobile and Tele2, which are also subject to a ban brought in as the result of a separate case.

However, as this case will also shortly be addressed by the same Court of Justice, an identical outcome is likely.

As a result of the ruling, BREIN is now required to pay the costs of the legal proceedings, amounting to €326,000. BREIN has yet to respond to the ruling, however, it does have the option of taking the case to the Supreme Court.

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