Chile’s Congress approved the bill that regulates the digital era’s progress and, mainly, Internet downloads. This initiative, originated in May 2007, reforms Law 17.336 or Intellectual Property Law, sanctioned in 1970. The reform’s objective is to establish fines for unauthorized online offering of copyright- protected contents, and to prohibit access to Internet to those who repeatedly commit this crime, once the appropriate investigation has been conducted and the judicial decision has been taken by the proper authorities.
Thus, Internet Service Providers (ISP) will play a key role – they will be responsible for blocking access to content when users exchanging works protected by copyright without the author’s permission have been detected. Moreover, Chile’s Law envisages the possibility of authors themselves reporting the crimes to the proper authorities or to the ISP.
This is unique in the way countries have been handling illegal downloads, since generally ISP have been sanctioned for allowing downloads or for not acting to discourage this common practice. Another novelty is that those who upload contents protected by copyright without permission from the copyright holder are punished, instead of those who download the contents. The Law also establishes that protected works can only be downloaded with a judicial order or with the author’s express permission.
Other topics the project deals with are broadening copyright exceptions, including authorisations for libraries and people with disabilities, and the increase of sanctions for unauthorized use of protected contents. There have been complaints from civil society against this proposal, since it limits Internet’s use, gives digital downloads an illegal aura and leaves open the possibility of ISPs actively tracking copyright
offenders.
Source: ODAI