In a coordinated series of raids, European police have arrested 13 people in Germany, Spain, France and the Netherlands, all in connection with the Kino.to website. While Kino.to hosted no copyright infringing content itself, it contained links to such content, and the 13 individuals have reportedly been arrested on suspicion of involvement in a criminal organization with the purpose of committing professional copyright infringement.
Kino.to has been a target of the media industry for many years. Apparently it’s one of the most popular sites for people looking to find copyrighted material. But the fact that it did not store any such information itself meant that some people believed it was relatively safe. Not so. And now there must be questions about other sites, including even Google, since it appears that any link to copyright infringing material might be considered criminal.
Actually, the really interesting point about the Kino.to raids is that they seem to have been handled as a criminal rather than a civil case. That suggests that intense lobbying pressure might have been applied. Thanks to this pressure, the legal system in Europe is arguably being perverted in order to benefit rights holders. If linking to infringing material is now illegal, then what about linking to a site that contains such links? The law in this area is a mess and needs to be rethought.
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