A Dutch judge ruled on Tuesday that Internet service providers would not have to hand over names or addresses of customers who may be illegally swapping films, music and other copyright-protected files.
Brein, a Dutch organization representing 52 media and entertainment companies, had acquired unique computer identification numbers, so-called IP addresses, of file swappers and requested personal details behind these IP addresses from five large Internet service providers.
The service providers--UPC, Essent, Tiscali, Wanadoo and KPN--refused to hand over the details, arguing that only a criminal trial court could demand them.
The case was subsequently brought to a civil court in the city of Utrecht, where a judge ruled that although he was allowed to order the ISPs to submit the personal data, the plaintiffs had not met the necessary conditions to warrant such an order.
"Brein has sought help from a research company, which has looked at the shared folders on computers of the file swappers. In that process it may have accessed private files," the judge said in the court ruling.
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I have to say I'm suprised. It seems like file sharing's gotten screwed lately, but it's good to see a small victory.
Damn right!
If they looked into the computers of the people looking for their shared folders, that means they also looked into pc's of people that didn't have illegal copyrighted material on their pc. And thats a serious breach of privacy if you ask me, not to mention a hacking crime!
The judges name could of been on one of the IP's hes helping protect.. Court system either way are so corrupt =)
I think the judge did the right thing due to technicality (breach of privacy) this time, but I'll bet they won't provide shared folder information next time! There's a lesson here, don't allow your program to let anyone to browse your shared folder(s).
I agree.Originally Posted by DigitalJunkie
On a side note I am sure they could get a subpena or whatever if a website, chat user or whatever are suspected of terrorism activites or child pornography. That is definitely a good reason to get a subpena though.
At least a great reason to celebrate in dutch, they will be able to host bittorent files etc.
good thingie :)
The dutch are kick ass.
They're cool with file sharing
and they're cool with marijuana.
Im moving to holland
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