Problem with pirates could cost Dutch ISPs significant bounty

Dutch telco KPN moved wider yesterday following confirmation from the Dutch government that it was planning legislation that would force ISPs including KPN to block access to file-sharing sites. KPN’s five-year CDS spread widened by three basis points yesterday to 129bp according to data from Markit.

The law will be amended to reflect a recent ruling by a Dutch court, which said ISPs should block access to file-sharing website Pirate Bay, but will not criminalise individuals who download from such sites, according to the Dutch ministry of justice.

ISPs such as KPN, however, face penalties of up to €10,000 per day, capped at a maximum total level of €250,000 if they do not obey court orders to block these file-sharing sites. The penalties will be payable to anti-piracy group BREIN, which represents major entertainment companies and had taken Dutch ISPs Ziggo and XS4ALL (the latter owned by KPN) to court over the issue of file-sharing website Pirate Bay.