Policing the Network: Using DPI for Copyright Enforcement

by Milton Mueller, Andreas Kuehn, Stephanie Santoso

Published online at: 'The Network is aware - social science research on deep packet inspection' a project of the University of Syracuse, New York.

"Horten (2011) describes how France's Olivenne Commission paved the way for a new law mandating graduated response. Late in 2007 the Commission engineered a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) among ISPs and rights holders to experiment with technologies to identify and filter out illegal file sharing. For repeated infringers, a "Three-Strikes-Policy" was recommended. A regulatory entity would be created to oversee adherence to the agreement; non-collaboration by ISPs could lead to sanctions. The Olivenne MoU laid the basis for France's HADOPI law and had a significant impact on the initial EU Telecoms Reform proposals."

"In the EU Telecoms Package, copyright lobbyists attempted to make a graduated response approach based on the French model compulsory on a Europe-wide basis. On November 13, 2007, Commissioner Viviane Reding introduced to the European Parliament the first draft of the EU Telecoms Package, a comprehensive policy reform that amended several existing directives in order to unify the EU Member States' telecommunications market. The rights holders seized upon the telecom reform because it was the only way to get uniform contractual provisions authorizing ISPs to disconnect subscribers for copyright infringement; this could not be done through modifying copyright law. (Horten, 2011,)"