Canadian Record Industry Presses ISPs in Court

An anonymous reader writes "'Internet service providers have neither an obligation nor, in some cases, the technical means to help the recording industry identify 29 alleged music pirates, a federal judge heard yesterday.' The article continues, 'Shaw Cable, the most defiant company among the pack, poked holes in CRIA's case and accused the music industry of planning an extended fishing expedition for the purpose of forcing individuals into costly settlements before cases ever get to trial. This is the same strategy used by sister organization the Recording Industry Association of America, lawyers argued.'"

Comments

Re:Small ISP

[detritus`]

Actually being on a small ISP leaves you way more open to harrassment by the various authorities, as your ISP probably doesnt have the legal funds or will to fight off the large well bankrolled organizations such as the CRIA. At least large companies like Shaw, Telus, etc. already have a plethora of lawyers just chomping at the bit to fight any legal challenges

Used CD stores the next to go?

[spyrochaete]

I haven't bought a new album from a retail record store in years and years. Whenever I desire a peice of plastic (which is frequent enough) I'll pick it up at a used store, earning the artist and label no money anyway. How long until second hand shops are shut down by CRIA?

Anyone who thinks Canada is freer than the States is full of crap. We are simply 1 or 2 years behind our big fat brother downstairs. We'll adopt every law they enact (file swapping) and maintain every nonsensical law they uphold (marijuana posession) until the end of time. Why? Because we don't want Dubya to drop a W-bomb on our various beaver hatcheries.

All hail America Jr., land of the slightly freer (until 1 year later).

In the mean time, keep doing what you do. Make a statement by defying the law. Protect yourself while you do it. Use PeerGuardian 2.

Re:I'm Not Canadian, Thank God

[orthogonal]

So how does this story affect 'My Rights Online'??

Damn slashdot editors think your rights are the same everywhere.

Because a precedent created anywhere -- but especially in Western democracies -- will be used as justification for the same legislation or rulings elsewhere.

It's a matter of record that on controversial issues, one nation's courts or legislatures will look to what is the prevailing opinion in other democracies -- witness some of the U.S. Supreme Court's various opinion on capital punishment, some of which make reference to the prevailing climate of opinion in Europe.

And it's not mere coincidence that the European Union and Australia is passing laws that look a lot like the DMCA; given world-wide trade, one nation will pressure another nation to bring its laws into conformance with the first's, or into conformance with some international treaty.

So wherever the bell tolls, whether in Canada or Germany or your own homeland, the bell tolls for you. It's in my direct interest to see that my neighbors' rights are secured in their countries, so as to provide a good example to the legislators and judges in my own country.

Re:An (almost) happy Shaw customer

[Curtman]

Makes me almost happy to put up with Shaw's mediocre mail servers

Trust me, as a former Shaw customer, and current MTS ADSL customer, their mail servers could be a LOT worse. LOTS worse. My guess is spam probably has a whole lot to do with the situation, but the mail server here goes down for an average of 2 hours per day, and at times its been down for several days straight.

130 KB/s down and 20 up is terrible compared to what I used to get with Shaw too.

Shaw! I've learned my lesson! I'll be coming back soon!

Re:Unlikely

[siegloffclark]

that would relate to a specific patient record - or at worst, a limited class of patient records. wouldn't take a big brain, or unlimited hours, to track it down. consider, however, trying to pin down the patient who walked into the er sometime between a wednesday and friday last august in one of two hospitals in new york. and the only thing you know about them is that they wore a jacket emblazoned with he number 16 and a name. and now imagine that you were a visitor to one of those er's during that time, and you loaned some guy your jacket. you were both caught on the hospital video system wearing a jacket fiting the description ... ever been the target of an investigation?