European ISPs demand rightsholder liability for technical piracy blocking errors

The proposal aims to shift the financial risk of anti-piracy enforcement from infrastructure providers to content owners. If adopted, it could slow the use of broad dynamic blocking injunctions that have recently targeted non-traditional intermediaries like VPNs and DNS resolvers. This shift would likely force sports leagues and studios to improve technical precision in their takedown requests to avoid costly legal liabilities. For the broader industry, it signifies a pushback against the 'blocking first' mentality that currently prioritizes immediate results over network stability. Watch for European Commission responses to EuroISPA’s June 2026 contribution to the Copyright in the Digital Single Market (CDSM) Directive review.

The EuroISPA filing follows high-profile technical failures in automated anti-piracy systems. Per TechRadar (June 2026), a report from the Open Observatory of Network Interference (OONI) found that La Liga’s IP-based blocking in Spain inadvertently affected over 500,000 domains, including government and human rights portals. Similarly, Italy’s 'Piracy Shield' system caused a 12-hour outage for Google Drive in October 2024 after an erroneous domain block. These incidents have fueled ISP arguments that rightsholders are prioritized over general internet reliability.

Regulatory pressure is mounting as courts expand the definition of intermediaries. In February 2026, a Spanish commercial court ordered NordVPN and Proton VPN to block piracy sites without allowng an initial defense, citing their status as "technological intermediaries" under the Digital Services Act. This follows similar logic applied by the Judicial Court of Paris, which confirmed that VPNs and CDNs are susceptible to dynamic blocking injunctions during the 2025-2026 football season, per Wolters Kluwer (February 2026).

Despite the push for accountability, rightsholders maintain that current measures are insufficient. An assessment by the European Commission in November 2025 indicated that while its Recommendation on combating live piracy prompted more blocking, it failed to significantly reduce piracy levels. Groups like Pearle* co-signed a letter in June 2026 urging even stronger EU legislation to ensure the removal of illegal streams within 30 minutes, highlighting the widening gap between rights enforcement and infrastructure protection.