This article is also available in:
Deutsch: Niederländische ARGE Urheberrecht lässt Deep Packet Inspection falle...

Last year, a Dutch parliamentary working group on copyright published a heavily contested report on the future of copyright. It advised rendering the downloading of copyrighted content without the permission of the copyright holder illegal. The working group also suggested to use deep packet inspection (DPI) technology to enforce this prohibition. DPI-technology allows the surveillance of the content layers of the Internet by third parties.

The Dutch digital rights organisation Bits of Freedom fiercely criticized the report, particularly the statement on the possible use of DPI to enforce a downloading ban. The working group has responded to this criticism. During a parliamentary discussion on 14 April 2010, the chairwoman of the working group publicly promised to remove the controversial statement on DPI from the report, and to soon publish a cleaned up version.

Downloading copyrighted content is currently legal in the Netherlands, as long as it falls within the private copyright exception of the Dutch Copyright Act.

Report on the future of copyright (only in Dutch, 2009)
http://www.tweedekamer.nl/images/Herdruk_rapport_auteursrecht_118-1910...

Report by Bits of Freedom (only in Dutch, 14.12.2009)
https://www.bof.nl/live/wp-content/uploads/2009/12/filesharing-kamerbr...

Video of parliamentary discussion on the report (only in Dutch, 14.04.2010)
https://www.bof.nl/2010/04/14/auteursrechtdebat-online-iets-opvallend/

(Contribution by David Korteweg - EDRi-member Bits of Freedom - Netherlands)