The European Court ruled today in a Case " fighting Piracy of Music " that the Filter Software can’t be used to stop People from stealing Music.
But the court said the filtering required would contravene rights to freedom of business, personal data and freedom of information.
Filtering out were - something they argued was contrary to the EU’s E-Commerce Directive.
But it also said there was a risk of infringing rights to the protection of personal data, as a filtering system would require “the identification, systematic analysis and processing of information connected with the profiles created on the social network”.
Additionally it might also restrict freedoms to send and receive information, as the system “might not distinguish adequately between unlawful content and lawful content, with the result that its introduction could lead to the blocking of lawful communications”.
The Open Rights Group, an organisation which opposes Acta, said in a statement: “It’s good to see courts promoting our rights by swatting away plans to snoop on people’s use of social networks"It is especially timely because, as seen in agreements like Acta, policymakers everywhere find it much harder to respect our rights when making intellectual property policy.”
The decision is a victory for operators of social networking sites in the EU, but a setback for those who seek to protect copyrighted material from being distributed without payment or permission.