Stricter law on illegal downloading leads to censorship

Illegal downloading is not acceptable, so people who do it should indeed be punished. But the measures aimed at banning illegal downloading are threatening to become so strict that they are close to becoming internet censorship. Jong N-VA wants copyright legislation to be a civil law issue once again. A number of the agreements that have been announced will enable almost anyone to be labelled as a criminal. Being in possession of photos or texts covered by copyright will then be criminally punishable. The firm opinion of Jong N-VA is that copyright breaches do not belong in criminal law. The only possible sanction of violations should consist in civil law compensation and in no instances in prison sentences, fines or exclusions from the internet.