Over the years, Austrian Internet providers have fulfilled the requirements of courts, limiting pirate resources using DNS technology. In the summer of 2022, the situation has changed dramatically.
In court decisions, not only domain names appeared for the first time, but also IP lists. When the providers found that these addresses belong to the Cloudflare service used by many legal sites, they were puzzled.
To fulfill the requirement was their legal duty. As a result, many innocent resources were not available in Austria, which led to violations of the entire Internet.
The Telecommunication Control Commission (Telekom-Control-Kommission, TCK) immediately began an investigation. According to experts, IP blocking violates the principle of network neutrality, enshrined in the legislation of the EU.
“Since through one IP address you can access countless websites, the risk of blocking the Internet resources of non-investigated third parties is especially high,” the representative said.
TCK believes that DNS technologies are enough to protect the interests of copyright holders. The technology will not limit access to legal content.
On August 7, TKK decided to completely ban the blocking of IP addresses in Austria.
The decision of the regulator immediately received wide support of supporters of network neutrality. It has become an important precedent for the whole of Europe. TCK’s position will be taken into account when discussing a policy of fighting piracy in other countries.
The public regards this as an important step to protect freedom of speech and the interests of Internet users.