Canadian ISP to Name Music Swappers

Daemon writes "The Globe and Mail reports that Videotron, a Canadian ISP, will not be fighting the request to turn over the names of music swappers to the Canadian Recording Industry Association (CRIA). According to a lawyer for Videotron, producing the identities of Internet users alleged of wrongdoing happens so regularly that they believe that it is justifiable to hand over the names of people who share large volumes of songs on-line. The five Internet service providers named in the case -- Shaw Communications, Rogers Cable Communications, Bell Canada, Telus Communications and Videotron -- can't divulge the information without a court order because privacy legislation requires them to keep customer information sealed."

Comments

Wait a minute...

[Hiddekel]

Isn't music swapping legal in Canada since the courts struck down the law making it illegal? What's going on here?

Re:Under canadian law they're shielded

[CrosbieFitch]

No-one uploads.

File sharers simply advertise their willingness to participate with anyone in manufacturing a new copy of a file on the requestor's machine.

This act has never been tested in court as a copyright infringement.

But, hey, who can afford to take things that far?

Why the ****

[totoanihilation]

okay? let me get this straight:

I paid a 25$ levy on my iPod because it was assumed that I pirate music. This money was supposedly sent to the artists, to compensate them. My iPod is full of CDs I own and ripped myself.

We have to pay double or even triple the price on our CD/DVD media because it is assumed that we pirate music. Again, this music is sent to the artists. Most of the stuff I burn is my own personal data.

So. The artists get paid, and the music swappers get sued. Where does the money go? With all these 'taxes' you would think it would be legal to download music. If it is not, then can I get my 25$ levy and the difference in recordable media prices back?

MIT published its complaint IP numbers

[peter303]

The MIT student newspaper publish the RIAA complaint today . They listed the IP numbers, dorm address, song titles, but not students names.

An alternative music culture

[sellin'papes]

Lets assume that musicians are musicians because they want to support themselves doing what they love (making music) and not because they want to be millionaires.

Now lets assume that the sharing and downloading of music files is free and legal.

Then lets assume that people continue to go to concerts and bars where musicians play as they have been doing.

What happens to the music industry?

The large record industries go under. What are the impllications of this? The Britanny Spears, Jessica Simpsons, and Clay whatshisnames fall off the music radar, and smaller bands gain more attention.

By making music sharing and download illegal, whose interests are we serving (big record business, or small local bands)? Can small local bands survive without selling cd at HMV?

Fight back

[itistoday]

Though admittedly this is a shameless plug (please forgive), I've created a website for just this purpose. BlackListedISP.com is where you can go to see which ISPs are compromising your privacy without a fight. Currently you can just submit ISPs, but soon I'll have a page up with a full list.