EXECUTIVE SUMMARY III

BACKGROUND III

ATTITUDES AND PRACTICES OF EU CONSUMERS REGARDING COPYRIGHTED ONLINE CONTENT IV

HARMFUL SIDE EFFECTS V

OTHER TOOLS ARE NEGLECTED VI

RECOMMENDATIONS VII

1. INTRODUCTION 1

1.1 OBJECTIVES 1

1.2 METHODOLOGY 2

1.3 STRUCTURE OF THIS REPORT 2

2. BACKGROUND 3

2.1 REASONS TO BLOCK 4

2.2 IMPLEMENTATION OF CONTENT BLOCKING 4

2.3 COPYRIGHT: LEGAL COMPLEXITY AT EU LEVEL 8

2.4 COPYRIGHT: FRAGMENTED IMPLEMENTATION AT NATIONAL LEVEL 12

2.5 CONSEQUENCES FOR CROSS-BORDER SERVICE PROVIDERS 17

3. BENEFITS OF WEBSITE BLOCKING 19

3.1 ILLEGAL CONTENT AND HYBRID WARFARE PROPAGANDA 20

3.2 PROTECTING RIGHTSHOLDERS AGAINST COPYRIGHT INFRINGEMENT/PIRACY 22

4. COSTS OF WEBSITE BLOCKING 29

4.1 UNCERTAIN OR LIMITED EFFECTIVENESS OF MEASURES EMPLOYED 30

4.2 BURDEN ON SERVICE PROVIDERS 32

4.3 FLAWED, OVERLY BROAD IMPLEMENTATION 33

4.4 RISKS TO FREEDOM OF EXPRESSION 34

4.5 EXTRATERRITORIAL OVERREACH 35

4.6 EFFECTS OF FRAGMENTATION ON THE EU SINGLE MARKET 36

5. IMPLICATIONS OF THE FINDINGS: RECOMMENDATIONS 37

5.1 PRICE REDUCTIONS AND INCREASED AVAILABILITY 37

5.2 USER EDUCATION 39

5.3 REMEDIATION AT THE MOST APPROPRIATE LEVEL 39

5.4 HARMONISATION AND CONSISTENT SAFEGUARDS FOR BLOCKING PROCEDURES 40

5.5 COST ALLOCATION AND LIABILITY FOR OVERBLOCKING 42

5.6 NET NEUTRALITY COMPLIANCE 43

5.7 THE BLOCKING OF HYBRID WARFARE CONTENT 43

5.8 SUMMARY OF THE RECOMMENDATIONS 43

BIBLIOGRAPHY 45