Europe’s online piracy crackdown is ‘dangerous for free speech’, activists claim

Europe is trying very hard to find a solution to the growing problem of online piracy... but fresh guidelines might be a step too far

THE European Commission's recent call for Google to monitor people's web usage and automatically block them from accessing pirated material has been slammed as "contradictory" and "dangerous" by a digital rights group.

A report released on Thursday suggested that tech companies should monitor users' online communications in order to stop them watching or downloading illegal content.

This presents "few safeguards for free speech," claimed European Digital Rights (EDRi), an association of civil and human rights organisations across the continent.

The commission is trying to help tackle the presence of illegal material across the web including terrorist propaganda, sexual material and fake goods.

It also wants to clamp down on the growing problem of pirated material, which is easy to find on search engines.

The general public is turning to free streams and downloads to access films, TV series, sports and games for free - and in some cases are able to stream these onto their TV sets using a gadget that's commonly referred to as a "Kodi box".

But monitoring people's internet usage to try and stop them sharing links to illegal material may be a breach of people's right to privacy, EDRi said in a statement.

A note on its website read: "The document puts virtually all its focus on internet companies monitoring online communications, in order to remove content that they decide might be illegal.

"It presents few safeguards for free speech and little concern for dealing with content that is actually criminal."

Internet providers have been told to send cease and desist-style letters to those accessing pirate material.

Roku has started sending messages to anyone who tries to add on illegal streams to their box and warn that they might pull it offline.

In a bid to stop the thousands of people who use these streams every day, a British trade body last week issued a warning that those who use Kodi to stream TV, games and music for free could have their gadgets hijacked by cyber-crooks.