Judge: An IP-Address Doesn’t Identify a Person (or BitTorrent Pirate)
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Re: Judge: An IP-Address Doesn’t Identify a Person (or BitTorrent Pirate)
#2This is an important decision not only from a "piracy" perspective but from a "privacy" and "information security" view as well. Many US laws and regulations revolve around protecting personally identifiable information (PII). If this judge's conclusions stick then we have some freedom from having to protect IP addresses, which show up in just about everything we log and collect.
That could be gigantic to those who deal with HIPAA, PCI, GLBA, etc. Although I guess this has no impact on the European Union regulations and what they consider PII -- those are much tougher to deal with anyway.
Re: Judge: An IP-Address Doesn’t Identify a Person (or BitTorrent Pirate)
#3Am I correct in thinking that in the UK, the internet subscriber is responsible for what is downloaded/uploaded on their connection, regardless of whether they actually did it?
Re: Judge: An IP-Address Doesn’t Identify a Person (or BitTorrent Pirate)
#4I believe this is similar reasoning to why a lot of states have made red light cameras and speed cameras illegal. The owner of the car is not necessarily the person who was driving at the time, and it was the driver (not the car) who broke the law.
Re: Judge: An IP-Address Doesn’t Identify a Person (or BitTorrent Pirate)
#5I've often thought that if you really wanted to pirate something, just start an S-corp for ~$200 and put your cable account in its name. If you get sued, tell them to litigate until they're blue, the company is going under.
Re: Judge: An IP-Address Doesn’t Identify a Person (or BitTorrent Pirate)
#6I believe this is similar reasoning to why a lot of states have made red light cameras and speed cameras illegal. The owner of the car is not necessarily the person who was driving at the time, and it was the driver (not the car) who broke the law.
Photos of speed cameras often have the drivers faces visible, unless covered up - at least here in Norway. So yeah, the license plate doesn't identify a person, but at least it makes finding the right person easier if there's a dispute.
Re: Judge: An IP-Address Doesn’t Identify a Person (or BitTorrent Pirate)
#7Does this reasoning work when I don't want to pay for the pay-per-call calls I made on my phone?
Re: Judge: An IP-Address Doesn’t Identify a Person (or BitTorrent Pirate)
#8So if the ip is not longer a personal date, then could it be used to track down "pirates".
But the conclusion must also be interpreted in the offer direction. So is the ownership of an ip, and the trackdown of the person behind, not enough for the proof of guiltieness in the act of "piracy".
I think that the second part would not be in sight of a particular company.
Re: Judge: An IP-Address Doesn’t Identify a Person (or BitTorrent Pirate)
#9I've often thought that if you really wanted to pirate something, just start an S-corp for ~$200 and put your cable account in its name. If you get sued, tell them to litigate until they're blue, the company is going under.
That would likely be a case where a corporation would not protect you.
Re: Judge: An IP-Address Doesn’t Identify a Person (or BitTorrent Pirate)
#10I believe this is similar reasoning to why a lot of states have made red light cameras and speed cameras illegal. The owner of the car is not necessarily the person who was driving at the time, and it was the driver (not the car) who broke the law.
Photos of speed cameras often have the drivers faces visible, unless covered up - at least here in Norway. So yeah, the license plate doesn't identify a person, but at least it makes finding the right person easier if there's a dispute.
In the UK if you get caught speeding/running a red light by a camera, the ticket gets sent to the registered owner of the car.
You can either take the ticket, or tell them who was driving. You cannot say 'it wasn't me, but I won't tell you who it was'.
It is also a serious criminal offence to take speeding points on someone else's behalf (as it was suggested that government minister Chris Huhne asked his wife to)