Photo: Johannes Plenio

Danish approach to combating illegal services is accentuated by French authorities

May 14, 2020 | Publications

14. May 2020

The French authority HADOPI, which is responsible for combating rights violations on the Internet, has published the report Anti-piracy strategies of cultural and sports content. The report contributes with inspiration to other countries’ work in the area and recommends, among other things, Denmark’s way of handling illegal services.

Challenges regarding fighting the illegal market are not just a national issue – but a global one. Therefore, with the report “Anti-piracy strategies of cultural and sports content”, French HADOPI provides an overview of the handling of illegal services in a number of countries inside and outside the EU.

Rights Alliance has collaborated with HADOPI on the report, which, in addition to creating an overview, can contribute as inspiration to further enhance efforts in the individual countries. For instance, it can be useful for Denmark to look at England’s use not only of DNS, but also of the so-called IP blockages that make it possible to block illegal live streaming of e.g. TV and sports. Furthermore, it is relevant to look at Italy’s introduction of regulatory blockades, which will allow a large number of blockades to be imposed quickly and efficiently.

However, many of the tools that the report assesses are important in the fight against the illegal market – e.g. blocking and user information, are already used in Denmark. Therefore, the Danish model is highlighted as worth striving for – especially the collaboration on blockades between Rights Alliance, the authorities and the internet providers.

Blocking and information 

With Denmark, but also England and Italy as pioneering countries, the report also points to the need for a higher degree of streamlining of approaches and tools at an international level. The illegal market is a global challenge characterized by a pervasive and borderless ecosystem: illegal service administrators are often based abroad and benefit from the less restrictive legislation of some countries and can thus carry out their activities unchecked.

The aim of the HADOPI report is therefore to inspire a coordinated international effort with uniform solutions and effective prevention strategies across borders. The report points to a number of specific challenges that the creative industries are facing right now: the rise of illegal streaming using alternative DNS services and challenges in ensuring that blocked services remain blocked and do not reappear under a new domain name.

Therefore, it is important that the various countries optimize their efforts by drawing inspiration from e.g. the Danish approaches in terms of both collaborations, blockades and user information, and that we, in Denmark, also use experiences and approaches from other countries to further develop our own efforts.