Belgium Bans Internet Archive's 'Open Library' (torrentfreak.com)
- Reference: 0178536614
- News link: https://it.slashdot.org/story/25/08/01/1855254/belgium-bans-internet-archives-open-library
- Source link: https://torrentfreak.com/belgium-bans-internet-archives-open-library-in-sweeping-site-blocking-order/
Search engines, DNS resolvers, advertisers, domain name services, CDNs, hosting companies, and payment processors -- including Google, Microsoft, Cloudflare, Amazon Web Services, PayPal, and Starlink -- must restrict access to the targeted sites. The court found "clear and significant infringement" in the ex parte proceeding.
[1] https://torrentfreak.com/belgium-bans-internet-archives-open-library-in-sweeping-site-blocking-order/
How does this involve Paypal? (Score:5, Insightful)
I'm pretty sure the IA "Open Library" is a free service. There are no payments involved.
Also; both Paypal and the Internet Archive are US companies not Belgium companies. So no Belgium court would have jurisdiction to control what type of business those companies can conduct between each other.
Same for all services from those DNS Resolvers, CDNS, and Hosting companies which are on servers outside of Belgium. Google, Microsoft, Cloudflare, and Starlink are not Belgium-based companies either.
Just because you found a corrupt court in a 3rd world country (Belgium) to write such an order.. Well; good luck trying to enforce that.
Re: (Score:1)
Describing Belgium as a 3rd world country says more about you than Belgium, but I'll agree with a lot of the rest you wrote.
Belgium has a population approaching 12 million, that court thinks they are more important than they really are. I suspect this happened because Internet Archive could not afford the lawyers to counter whoever brought this action.
Re: (Score:2)
Calling Belgium 3rd world isn't fair at all. It's a fledging 3rd world country at worst, nothing at all similar to the imminent 3rd world country that (say) the UK is.
Re:How does this involve Paypal? (Score:4, Insightful)
I suspect this happened because Internet Archive could not afford the lawyers to counter whoever brought this action.
No.. It is an Ex parte order. That means the court has read the accusers' filings and decided to enter a punitive order without requiring any kind of notice to any parties the complaint is about, and choosing to not give them an opportunity to respond.
I am pretty sure the IA has a sufficient number of lawyers that they could easily right a response, but the court has decided they don't get due process in this case and already ruled against them without allowing any kind of adversarial process. And that is part of what makes Belgium 3rd world. The powerful corporations just send the judge some papers to rubber stamp, and the sentence is finalized with no opportunity for the IA to even read or understand what accusation is levelled against them.
Belgium has a population approaching 12 million
Not that population dictates level of development, but it's tiny - less than the state of Illinois.
What makes them 3rd world is not the population, but the obvious lack of well-developed just and free society governance.
Re: (Score:2)
> I'm pretty sure the IA "Open Library" is a free service. There are no payments involved.
> Also; both Paypal and the Internet Archive are US companies not Belgium companies. So no Belgium court would have jurisdiction to control what type of business those companies can conduct between each other.
> Same for all services from those DNS Resolvers, CDNS, and Hosting companies which are on servers outside of Belgium. Google, Microsoft, Cloudflare, and Starlink are not Belgium-based companies either.
> Just because you found a corrupt court in a 3rd world country (Belgium) to write such an order.. Well; good luck trying to enforce that.
The summary links to an article that answers some of your questions...
Re: (Score:3)
PayPal (Europe) is registered in Luxembourg. It may be owned by an American company but it is a European one.
Re:How does this involve Paypal? (Score:4, Informative)
Last I checked Luxembourg is not in Belgium, either, and still Paypal in Luxembourg wouldn't have anything to do with the Open Library.
The ex parte order claims according to the rightholders; "the operators of the Open Library are not easily identified". That is why it is an ex parte order: The court has decided not to give the IA an opportunity to respond, because the rightsholders claim not to know who is running the website. And if that is the case; how would a court from outside their jurisdiction that claims not to know who runs the Open Library have any authority to make Paypal the company to stop doing business with the Internet Archive US non-profit, when as well access to Open Library is not a paid service to begin with?
Nobody cares (Score:2, Insightful)
Belgian judges can go fuck themselves, the world goes on in spite of them. Pathetic little people with delusions of authority.
copyright claims by (Score:2)
Dupuis: Known for Spirou, Lucky Luke, Gaston Lagaffe.
Casterman: Known for Tintin, Corto Maltese, Benoît Brisefer.
Re: (Score:3)
> Since when does private party A doing something "unlawful" compel private party B to take some action?
Ever since the first time someone pointed a loaded gun as B's face and said "do what I say or else I'll kill you" and B did as ordered, instead of accepting their death.
I think it was sometime around 1234567 BC.
EU has lost the plot (Score:1)
When will they realize these orders will basically create a separate internet, like China has currently. Rather than blocking these items globally, now companies will need a second set of equipment just for the EU in all the cases mentioned in the summary. Basically to do business in the EU you have yet another level of complexity. This means innovations will come to the EU last and companies will opt not to participate in the EU altogether due to the complexity (they already do this), and that EU companies
Re: EU has lost the plot (Score:1)
This has nothing to do with the EU. It's just an action in Belgium. Just that it mentions Brussels, doesn't mean it's EU-wide.
Wtf belgium (Score:2)
Not cool
Worst tragedy since King Leopold 2 (Score:2)
That's just like my opinion man.
Just like Belgium (Score:3)
So all the Belgians have to use VPNs now