This is, for once, an amazingly common sense decision, striking a good balance between IP protection, sensible business environment for the ISP, and personal freedom.<p>From the official press release[1]:<p><i>"The Court finds that, in adopting the injunction requiring Scarlet to install such a filtering system, the national court would not be respecting the requirement that a fair balance be struck between the right to intellectual property, on the one hand, and the freedom to conduct business, the right to protection of personal data and the right to receive or impart information, on the other."</i><p>I understand this isn't exactly revolutionary but amidst ACTA, SOPA, bailouts, and similar lunacy, this is a breath of fresh air and a glimmer of hope.<p>[1]: <a href="http://curia.europa.eu/jcms/upload/docs/application/pdf/2011-11/cp110126en.pdf" rel="nofollow">http://curia.europa.eu/jcms/upload/docs/application/pdf/2011...</a><p>EDIT: Formatting.
How will if effect decisions like this:<p><a href="http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/technology-15459005" rel="nofollow">http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/technology-15459005</a><p>...where BT (big British isp) was told to block sites?
The cynic in me tells me that this is more about providing a huge competitive advantage over countries with SOPA like laws than it is about protecting human rights.<p>But as they say, one should not look a gift horse in the mouth.<p>What happens with a decision like this is that countries with SOPA like laws will be where you want to be as part of the publishing industry whereas the EU now is the place where you want to be (or at least where you want your hardware to be) if you are a content hoster like youtube.<p>That's fine.<p>Of course this might end up with content only being available in countries with SOPA like laws, but looking at what is available for purchase here in Switzerland, I'd say that this is already the case.<p>As such, I'm really happy about this decision and I have in fact printed it out with the intention to hang it on the office wall.