March 29. 2024. 5:39

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EU Court begins general surveillance case against French copyright body


The first session on the landmark case was fought on Tuesday (16 May), with the Court of Justice of the European Union (CJEU) expected to reach a verdict at the end of the year.

The group considers this practice contrary to the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) and the ePrivacy Directive, the two EU laws defining Europe’s data protection regime.

Hadopi was France’s former national anti-piracy regulator, which as of the beginning of 2022, merged with media regulator CSA to form Arcom, the Regulatory Authority for Audiovisual and Digital Communication.

In October 2022, CJEU’s Advocate General Maciej Szpunar questioned 10 years of case law on digital rights and freedoms in his non-binding opinion – but fell short of convincing the judges of the Grand Chamber.

As a result, the 15 judges of the Grand Chamber decided to bring the case to the plenary, meaning the full Court composed of 27 judges. It was the first time a digital rights case was brought to the plenary.

French government creates new online antipiracy body

The new law “on the regulation and protection of access to cultural works in the digital age” was published in the French official journal on Tuesday (26 October) and will set up a new authority to better fight piracy online.

10 years of case law

Since the 2014 Digital Rights Ireland ruling of the Grand Chamber of the CJEU on data retention of digital communications services, there has been an EU body of case law stating that general surveillance of the population is prohibited.

However, the definition of “serious crime” is not determined by the CJEU, as its powers are limited to interpreting the law. Therefore, it is up to member states to define the concept based on their national legal frameworks.

“It is necessary to have a common standard of interpretation,” he added. As such, in the Hadopi case, the advocacy group hopes to forefront the issue of the general surveillance of the population in democratic states.

Over the years, Hadopi has had access to the IP addresses of millions of users.

An IP address is a number associated with an electronic device that allows it to connect to the internet. As such, it falls in the category of personal data as it can be used to trace user behaviour.

EU Court issues ‘prudent’ ruling on compensation for data protection breaches

The European Court of Justice issued a ruling clarifying that a ‘mere infringement’ of the European data protection rules is not enough to claim compensation, but came short of defining the threshold of what compensation should be given, and when.

Future case law

The analysis of the advocacy group was also taken up by Advocate General Szpunar, who confirmed in his October 2022 opinion that indiscriminate retention of IP addresses was permitted only for “serious crimes”.

However, he suggested reversing the EU case law by proposing that the generalised and indiscriminate retention of such data could be tolerated if it were the only way to identify fraudulent users.

Bayart said he understood “the police argument that it is easier to fight crime by monitoring everyone” but stressed that such an approach “is not in line with the EU Charter of Fundamental Rights”.

A new legal opinion to inform the EU Court’s plenary session is expected on 28 September 2023, and the Court’s ruling by the end of the year.

Read more with EURACTIV

EU, India kick off digital cooperation with underlying frictions on data

EU, India kick off digital cooperation with underlying frictions on data

The EU-India Trade and Technology Council met for the first time in Brussels on Tuesday (16 May), paving the way for cooperation in several strategic areas, but with underlying tension over international data flows clouding the horizon.