EU court chief attorney believes that owners of WiFi points should not be responsible for traffic passing through them

The chief lawyer of the European Court considers that the operators of free open WiFi Internet access points should not be liable for the actions of third parties downloading unlicensed content through these points.

Opinion was expressed in connection with the lawsuit filed by Sony Music Entertainment Germany against the owner of the German store of sound and lighting equipment Tobias McFadden. Sony insisted that music belonging to the company was illegally downloaded through its network.

The chief lawyer of the court denied the validity of the allegations, saying that although it is possible to impose a ban on the operation of Internet access through this operator, it is unreasonable to require him to analyze traffic or set a password for the access point. In fact, the operator of such a network has the right to limit liability.

Although the opinion of the chief lawyer is not decisive, and judges will still discuss this issue, the decision to limit liability is welcomed by the European Internet Service Providers Association (EuroISPA). According to providers, copyright protection issues need to be balanced with basic human rights, in particular with the right to access the Internet.

The absence of restrictions on access points will contribute to the further development and spread of the Internet. And, according to the chairmanCommission for consideration of cases on the liability of intermediaries Malcolm Hatti [Malcolm Hutty], on the prevalence and availability of the Internet in Europe depends, neither more nor less - its economic future.

The European Court of Justice is the highest court of the European Union, whose decisions cannot be appealed. The European Court of Justice in Luxembourg was one of the first institutions of the European Coal and Steel Association, founded by the 1951 Paris Treaty. The Rome Treaty of 1957 obliged him to monitor the implementation of all European treaties.