The Court of Justice of the European Union (CJEU) has ruled that Virtual Private Networks (VPNs) are "lawful technical tools," absolving providers of liability for copyright infringement by their users. This landmark judgment, stemming from a case involving the online publication of Anne Frank's diary, clarifies that publishers cannot be held liable if users bypass geo-blocking measures using VPNs, provided those measures are "state-of-the-art."

The dispute arose when academic institutions published a scholarly online edition of Anne Frank's manuscripts, using geo-blocking to restrict access from the Netherlands due to differing copyright durations. The Anne Frank Fonds sued, arguing that VPNs rendered the geo-blocking ineffective. The CJEU rejected this, stating that the *possibility* of circumvention does not automatically make geo-blocking inadequate.

This ruling is a significant victory for digital rights, validating the legitimate use of VPNs for privacy and bypassing digital borders. It places the onus on publishers to implement robust geo-blocking, rather than holding VPN providers responsible for user actions. The court emphasized that VPN providers are not liable for users bypassing restrictions, reinforcing the legal status of privacy software across the European Union.