(Image Source: GigaOM)

BY JIM FLINK

ANCHOR

Is it a consumer victory?  Or a slam against companies trying to protect intellectual property? A European court has ruled Internet Service Providers -- must give consumers more information on everything from blocking access, to slow service speeds, and more.  Boing Boing has details.

“The European Court of Justice has issued a ruling that it is illegal for EU nations to spy on users with national censorship firewalls used to block entire websites accused of violating copyright. The Court held that blocking whole sites invades user privacy and restricts access to legitimate content and is an undue burden on free speech.”

CNET calls the ruling -- good news from Europe.
Noting, companies have long tried to force ISPs into policing the web.

“Record labels, film studios, and other owners of copyrighted music, movies, or media have in recent years tried to steer government and courts toward making ISPs responsible for piracy. They argue that ISPs should keep an eye on what their customers are doing online, and if they spot a customer illegally accessing copyrighted material, courts should order the ISP to boot the customer off the Internet.”

ZDNet says, it’s not that rules weren’t there:  Consumers may not have known about them. But regulators are now demanding that happen, in the name of transparency.  Even if the ISPs have legitimate business reasons for their actions.

“Traffic management is typically used to ease congestion at busy times on the network: for instance, video services may be prioritised over mail at times of day when more people are watching, and peer-to-peer (P2P) traffic is often allowed less bandwidth at certain times.”

TorrentFreak says, this isn’t just about privacy and piracy.
It’s about the propriety of the ISPs police work.

“The Court ruled that issuing an order mandating the use of a filtering system where all subscriber communications are routinely monitored for infringements, not only on currently protected works but also those in the future, would be disproportionate and fraught with difficulty.”

Paid Content calls the ruling, a triple whammy of consumer driven protections.
The ruling also instructs ISPs to tell consumers things like what its average network speeds are, not just its peak speeds at optimal times.

“In other words, the kind of information that ISPs should have been giving consumers for years already, but have not ... ISPs should probably get on the case with this so that they can manage their messages well, before the regulator, probably more unflatteringly, does it for them...”