RetSpan concludes important agreements in order to fight against online piracy.
PARIS – October 8, 2002 – RetSpan recently concluded important agreements in order to fight against online piracy of music and video files on peer-to-peer networks. These networks are used every day by tens of millions of file-sharers who swap billions of copyrighted files each month, thanks to popular software like KaZaA, Morpheus or Grokster. For media companies, illegal copying represents copyright infringements and is seen as piracy of digital content.
RetSpan develops several tools with the aim of helping media groups to face stealing of copyright works. One of these tools is used to track and identify illegal file-sharers. To support and assist with this activity, RetSpan recently signed important agreements with the Réseaux IP Européens, the Asia Pacific Network Information Centre and the American Registry for Internet Numbers.
These three international organizations are in charge of IP addresses assignments all over the world. IP addresses are unique identifiers that make it possible to differentiate between any device connected to the Internet. The Réseaux IP Européens control addresses that are allocated in Europe, Scandinavia, Africa, Middle East and Russia. The Asia Pacific Network Information Centre manages all the addresses that are used in Australia, China, India, Japan and in the rest of Asia and Oceania. The American Registry for Internet Numbers takes care of addresses that are issued in North America, South America and in a part of South Africa.
The above agreements, that were obtained after several weeks of often intense negotiations, allow RetSpan to have access to the whole database of these three organizations, that between them, manage the allocation of IP addresses throughout the world. In concrete terms, these agreements allow RetSpan to get the name and contact information of any IP address owner on Earth.
“These agreements represent a significant step in the fight against online piracy. We work now on legal solutions offered to media groups thanks to information provided by these databases” says Franck Ribreux, co-creator of RetSpan.
Nevertheless, RetSpan wants to reassure those who worry about the use of IP address databases. Information RetSpan obtaines within the framework of these agreements will not be used for commercial or marketing purposes. The databases will only be used for technical and operational purposes, in order to identify illegal file-swappers spotted by RetSpan on peer-to-peer networks.
“Thanks to these agreements, we are finally able to lawfully establish the link between an IP address used by a file-sharer, on peer-to-peer networks, and the identity of the IP address owner, as well as whether it is a company, a university, or even an individual using an ISP connection. Now we can get this information for any user, anywhere in the world” specifies Didier Wang, co-creator of RetSpan.
File-swappers often use ISP connections to trade copyrighted files illegally on the Internet. In such cases, RetSpan will ask the ISP to intervene quickly in accordance with the infringer’s local copyright law. In France, members of the Association des Fournisseurs d’Accès have committed themselves to reveal the identity of their customers at the request of administrative or legal authorities in case of criminal activity. Those members includes AOL, Club Internet, Noos, Tiscali and Wanadoo, among others. Of foremost concern in the above-mentioned criminal activity is copyright infringement, for which media groups may ask for compensation through legal proceedings.
Besides just getting the file-swappers’ identification, RetSpan wishes to increase users awareness of online piracy. Far too many Internet users seem to disregard the current copyright laws, and ignore the risks of copyright infringement on peer-to-peer networks. RetSpan will strive to make them aware that the rights related to private copying, as well as the existence of a tax for hard drives and CD-Rs do not allow and do not legitimate file-swapping on peer-to-peer networks.
Meanwhile, for those who are interested in obeying the law, it is very easy to avoid any prosecution or problem related to online piracy: simply do not use peer-to-peer services to download or share copyrighted files over the Internet…
Note: ISP stands for Internet Service Provider.
Contact: press@retspan.info
Web site: www.retspan.info
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- Press release: FileDonkey.com, 12 July 2002
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