Does Germany are preparing to ban advertising blockers? This is not yet the case, but a decision of the country’s highest court could cause a precedent dangerous for the freedom of Internet users and the future of browser extensions.
Mozilla Sounds the alarm. Germany could indeed join China in the ban on advertising blockers. For years, the press publisher Axel Springer has been carrying out a trench war against Eyeo, the Adblock Plus developer: to remove advertising on Springer websites is to reduce advertising revenues.
After China, Germany soon without advertising blockers?
Until now, the press publishing giant had attempted to gain their case on the field of competition, without convincing German justice. The group has changed its rifle by this time invoking copyright attacks, without more success. In 2022, the Hamburg Court of Appeal had estimated that Adlock Plus did not affect the copyright of the websites, but was content to give Internet users the opportunity to choose how their browser displayed a page.
But the Federal Court (BGH) judged that the judgment of the Court of Appeal was not sufficiently motivated. According to the country’s highest court, it cannot be excluded that the code generated by the browser when rendering a web page (DOM, CSS, etc.) is protected under copyright. Consequently, the action of an advertising blocker could undermine this right.
The ball is back in the Hamburg court camp, which will have to re -examine the file taking into account the technical operation of a browser and the arguments of Springer. It is not yet a victory for the press publisher, but at least an opening in his legal crusade … which could lead to the pure and simple prohibition of advertising blockers across the Rhine, is alarmed Mozilla.
The creator of Firefox denounces a ” erroneous logic Who jeopardizes the freedom of Internet users. The Foundation recalls that users count on browsers and their extensions to protect their privacy, improve accessibility, block intrusive or harmful content and adapt their web browsing.
Mozilla illustrates his point by a simple analogy: ” When you zap the pubs on television, throw an unnecessary insert from a newspaper or skip the advertisements in a podcast, you do not get the copyright. Why would it be otherwise with a browser? The organization also insists on the importance of these tools for security: a browser that would carry out the all the code sent by a site would be ” extraordinarily dangerous ».
However, the case is not completed. It will take several years before the Court of Appeal re -examined the file, without forgetting the possible calls thereafter. Nevertheless, a shadow hangs today on German Internet users.
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Source :
Mozilla
