Belgium Bans Internet Archive's 'Open Library' (torrentfreak.com) 34
A Brussels court has issued an unusually broad site-blocking order targeting Internet Archive's Open Library alongside shadow libraries including Anna's Archive, Libgen, and Z-Library. The order, requested by publishing and author organizations, directs an unprecedented range of intermediaries to take action beyond traditional ISP blocks.
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.
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.
Just like Belgium (Score:3)
So all the Belgians have to use VPNs now
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How does this involve Paypal? (Score:1, 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.
Ju
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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.
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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
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Maybe parent is from Brussels or Liège or Verviers or...
I left Brussels 15 years ago. :D
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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...
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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:5, 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?
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OpenLibrary accepts Paypal donations, and the Court order shows screenshots ( https://torrentfreak.com/image... [torrentfreak.com] page 14).
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That's true, if neither company does any sort of business in Belgium.
If you're mistaken, though, and it turns out they are exposed to Belgium (i.e. Belgium can use force against them somehow), then defiance might make things more expensive.
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Just because you found a corrupt court in a 3rd world country (Belgium) to write such an order..
Wow, way to go out of your way to unsure large numbers of people will completely ignore what you are saying. Pretty sure the way to point out over regulation isnt to make massively ignorant claims about the country in question. All you're getting now is the idiot conservatives who already agree with you and actively want everything they read to demonize Europe.
Nobody cares (Score:1, Insightful)
copyright claims by (Score:3)
Casterman: Known for Tintin, Corto Maltese, Benoît Brisefer.
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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.
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Yes, yes, the AC was not completely specific about the question.
When does private party A doing something illegal mean the government can fairly compel private party B to take some non-emergency action?
EU has lost the plot (Score:1)
Re: EU has lost the plot (Score:1)
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Just wait a few months, it WILL be the entire Western internet like this.
They are currently trying to ban and censor and block the entire internet for the entire West, by any means necessary.
Too many users on too many platforms have been noticing about who actually controls the West and banning individual accounts or entire platforms is not going to curb that anymore. So they ban the entire internet for the West.
Wtf belgium (Score:2)
Worst tragedy since King Leopold 2 (Score:2)
That's just like my opinion man.
Global Copyright Reform now! (Score:3)
2025 (Score:1)
With the UK signing up to ProtonVPN at a 1400% higher rate, now the the Belgians jumping in and Australian government following the UK's example, the rest of the world is hearing about all this and VPN usage is going to keep sky-rocketting!
China envies the EU? (Score:2)
With the salami-tactic used for breaking of encryption, the greenlit invasion of your chats, the identification of everyone online thru age-restrictions, kicking down doors for being critical of politicians and now the digital equivalent of book burnings, the EU is fast becoming an absolute Orwellian nightmare - and China must be green with envy how far the EU are able to push things in just 2-3 years.
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It is still there. (Score:2)
By the way, my Belgian acquaintances (i still have family there) tell me Anna's archives are still working via alternative domain names. Also, changing your DNS bypasses the Belgian blocking.
And yes, Belgian judges and politicians have little understanding of how insignificant Belgium and its social norms are.