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Canadian Music Swappers Win Court Battle

Columbo writes "The CBC has an article today detailing a win for file sharers in Canadian courts. The ruling upheld the right of ISPs to withhold the names and addresses of people alleged to be trading copious amounts of music via P2P networks. The unanimous decision doesn't completely close the door for further action against the ISPs by the Canadian Recording Industry Association."

7 of 220 comments (clear)

  1. /. exaggerates again... by whoever57 · · Score: 4, Insightful
    From the article:
    "The appeal will be dismissed without prejudice to the plaintiffs' right to commence a further application for disclosure of the identity of the 'users' taking into account these reasons," Sexton wrote.
    Dismissed without prejudice is almost meaningless with respect to the "rights" of the eventual targets (P2P users) -- it means nothing either way.

    Also in the article:

    In Thursday's decision, the three judge-panel turned down the appeal request but wrote that the earlier ruling should not have made conclusions about whether downloading or uploading music should be illegal.
    Summary: a non-event.
    --
    The real "Libtards" are the Libertarians!
  2. A win for file sharers? by mindstrm · · Score: 4, Insightful

    It's not a win for "file sharers". It's a win for everyone, as the court demonstrated and understanding of overall privacy issues in the internet age, and didn't allow one little thing to stomp all over that.

    File sharers will still be prosecutable, those doing the prosecuting will simply have to do a bit more work in order to find out who they are, and this is GOOD.

  3. Glad they said this... by bsquizzato · · Score: 4, Insightful

    In Thursday's decision, the three judge-panel turned down the appeal request but wrote that the earlier ruling should not have made conclusions about whether downloading or uploading music should be illegal.

    On first reading this article you may quickly come to the conclusion that this court case decided that sharing music wasn't breaking any laws at all. It's obvious that the judicial system sees that there is something wrong with sharing music, but at least until they come to the official conclusion and write that down, it's nice to see they'll uphold the rights of the ISPs' customers.

  4. Re:Consider immigration to the north... by Kwil · · Score: 4, Insightful

    You also forgot where the federal budget has been balanced for 7 years, which repeatedly scores above the US in "best place to live in" surveys by the UN, where getting sick doesn't equate to going bankrupt, and lower gun crime per capita.

    On the con side, 5 months winter or worse, higher income tax, and a fairly continuous shafting by the US in trade agreements.

    --

    That Jesus Christ guy is getting some terrible lag... it took him 3 days to respawn! -NJ CoolBreeze

  5. Re:Its far from over though ... by temojen · · Score: 4, Insightful

    As much as I despise Paul Martin, Ujjal Dosanjh, and Belinda Stronach, the regressive conservatives are even worse.

    What this country really needs is an NDP government with a slight minority, supported issue-by-issue by former backbench Liberals and BQ members.

    Well, that, and a media that investigates stories instead of just taking whatever the PR firms say, a ban on raw-log exports, and a non-insane regime leading our large neighbour.

    (according to the CBC, the budget bill passed, with the speaker breaking the tie in favour of the administration)

  6. Re:Its far from over though ... by temojen · · Score: 3, Insightful

    When moderating, please remember "Troll" means intentionally inflamatory, not just something you disagree with.

  7. Re:Consider immigration to the north... by thatguywhoiam · · Score: 4, Insightful
    And the sun shines for all of three hours in the winter, and the snow falls for eight months, and you have to get on a months-long waiting list to see certain types of doctors? I love many things about Canada, my ancestral home, but there are reasons to live in Los Angeles. Like wearing flip-flops in January. and filling your gas tank for less than $75.

    Oh we're going that way are we?

    See, the first post was a *slight* exaggeration of the truth. Your post is, how shall i put it, not at all true. So we'll follow that game:

    There are reasons to live in Canada, such as not getting shot at every 5 minutes, dwelling within a massive toxic cloud of smog, or having to witness one of the most painfully appalling pieces of urban blight ever foisted upon the Earth by the hand of man.

    Sorry - was I exaggerating?

    --
    If Jesus wants me it knows where to find me.