So you can offer free internet access at your business in order to attract customers (e.g. Starbucks or McDonalds);
The Court holds, first of all, that making a
Wi-Fi network available to the general public
free of charge in order to draw the attention
of potential customers to the goods and
services of a shop constitutes an ‘information
society service’ under the directive on
[electronic commerce],” the decision reads.
However copyright holders can still obtain an injunction forcing the provider to institute some measure of access control which must collect the identities of end-users to provide a deterrent. TFA does not mention any requirements on retention or access to this tracking data.
"The Court nevertheless underlines that, in
order to ensure that deterrent effect, it is
necessary to require users to reveal their
identity to be prevented from acting
anonymously before obtaining the required
password,” the ruling adds.
So in essence they want to treat open WiFi APs as a type of mini-ISP. I'd say this is extremely problematic.
If you have to disclose your identity in order to use free WiFi it pretty much kills free WiFi. The court seemed to understand that terminating the service was not an appropriate remedy, but then proceeded to shoot it in the back.
To what extent must the provider verify that the identity provided is accurate? If 'disclosing identity' actually means 'typing text into a form', then it's pretty toothless. As an end-user, I could put whatever 'identity' I wanted there.
I think it means "provide government-issued photo ID to get a password which can be traced back to you".
The context is if someone using the cafe's internet infringes on copyright, the copyright holder needs to find whom to sue. That is not possible in a "type a random email address" mode.
Does this decision mean it's now required to have a captive portal on my open hotspot at home, or does this decision only pertain to commercial enterprises?
It sounds like the latter, but the idea that I might soon be required to set up a "Sign in to Facebook to use cryptarch's free Wi-Fi" portal is pretty frightening. (Because, of course, just any identifier won't do!)
Almost every café in Berlin that has wifi: Ask for the wiki password at the bar, or find it next to the menu card, or at some wall.
The only problem is that many cafés / bars don't provide wifi, because they are afraid of providing wifi at all due to the "Störerhaftung" (a legal issue that exists almost nowhere except in Germany). Luckily, there's Freifunk and VPNs to the rescue.
I was under the impression that this was a dangerous thing to do, because by using custom filtering you implicitly accept responsibility for what illegal content slips through your filter.
I can't edit my post anymore, but I couldn't find a source to back this up. According to the Tor Blog, it should be fine to have a reduced exit policy.
If you have to disclose your identity in order to use free WiFi it pretty much kills free WiFi. The court seemed to understand that terminating the service was not an appropriate remedy, but then proceeded to shoot it in the back.