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Dutch anti-piracy group steps up pressure on file-sharers and is preparing criminal cases
By Chris Cooke | Published on Monday 2 August 2021
The always proactive Dutch anti-piracy group BREIN has confirmed that the Fiscal Information And Investigation Service in the Netherlands is currently considering a case it has filed regarding alleged criminal copyright infringement, and that “other files are in preparation” to be shared with the government agency.
That confirmation came in a new annual report from BREIN which reviews the group’s anti-piracy activities and achievements in 2020. In the report the organisation says that it completed 479 investigations last year resulting in 466 illegal websites and services going offline.
2020 also saw the end of BREIN’s decade-long legal action to get The Pirate Bay permanently web-blocked in the country, a move that was opposed by ISPs Ziggo and XS4ALL. The report notes that both TPB and 180 proxies for the piracy site are now being dynamically blocked within the Netherlands.
BRIEN also continues to go after individual file-sharers, mainly uploaders who make large amounts of unlicensed content available via various file-sharing networks. In fact, the group has expanded that work, not only going directly after the most prolific uploaders, but also sending warning notices via ISPs to others who – while not the most prolific – still routinely and regularly illegally share unlicensed content over the net.
Most of this activity involves civil litigation, either against individuals, companies or ISPs, although copyright infringement can become a criminal matter in certain circumstances.
BREIN notes in its report that “the policy of the Dutch government is that right-holders are primarily responsible for the enforcement of their intellectual property rights and criminal investigation and prosecution is the last resort”. However, criminal action can be an option if a piracy operation has an annual turnover in excess of 100,000 euros.
It then adds that the country’s Fiscal Information And Investigation Service, which investigates financial crimes, is “currently processing a file submitted by BREIN in early 2020” and that “other files are in preparation”.
