Belgium Bans Internet Archive's 'Open Library' in Site Blocking Order

Summary

Traditional site-blocking measures that require local ISPs to block subscriber access to popular pirate sites are in common use around the world. The aim is to deter piracy by making sites more difficult to find, but these measures are only partially effective. More recently, site-blocking requests have begun to target other intermediaries. This includes DNS providers, such as Google and Cloudflare, which were ordered to block sites in France, Italy, and elsewhere. A few months ago DNS blocking arrived in Belgium, where several orders required both ISPs and DNS resolvers to restrict access to pirate sites. This prompted significant pushback, most notably Cisco’s OpenDNS ceasing operations in the country. Broad Blocking Order Targets Internet Archive’s ‘Open Library’ A new order, issued by the Brussels Business Court in mid-July, targets an even broader set of intermediaries and stands out for other reasons as well. Requested by various publishing and author organizations, the order aims to block access to known pirate libraries including Anna’s Archive, LibGen, OceanofPDF, and Z-Library. In addition, it also targets the Internet Archive’s Open Library project. Target Sites (in Dutch) Open Library was created by the late Aaron Swartz and Internet Archive’s founder Brewster Kahle, among others. As an open library its goal is to archive all published books, allowing patrons to borrow copies of them online. The library aims to operate similarly to other libraries, loaning only one copy per book at a time. Instead of licensing digital copies, however, it has an in-house scanning operation to create and archive its own copies. Open Library The Open Library project was previously sued by publishers in the United States, where the Internet Archive ultimately losing the case. As a result, over 500,000 books were made unavailable. However, many other books remain available to patrons. The authors and publishers in Belgium argue that, since this is done without permission, the...