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Canadian Court Maintains Right to Privacy

Posted by timothy on from the keeping-little-junior-in-mind dept.

TufelKinder writes "The Globe and Mail is reporting a Canadian court's decision to '[uphold the] 2004 decision to maintain privacy rights of on-line music swappers.'"

2 of 20 comments (clear)

  1. Re:Privacy by paulwalker · · Score: 1, Interesting

    Privacy is important indeed and this decision will have repercussions on the music industry especially as with modernisation people will have better internet connections, making big data transfer much simpler. How will the law evolve in the future when music/movie piracy will become so important....

  2. Re:freedoms! by Joe+Random · · Score: 2, Interesting
    But seriously, do the laws in the US actually stop anyone from sharing music? At all?
    Of course. There are always people who are so frightened by the thought that they may be on the receiving end of a lawsuit that they seriously curb, or stop altogether, their file sharing. That many ISPs seem willing to reveal their users' identities simply to get the *IAA off their back simply adds to the FUD.

    And frankly, I don't see how the Canadian ruling will stop that. Based on what TFA said, it would seem that ISPs can be required to reveal their customers' identities, but only once the record industry presents a clear enough claim against them. They just aren't required to give out that information simply because the record industry says "gimme!" Note that they're not required to give out that information, but that doesn't mean that they won't give it out. Some ISPs may find it easier to just add a "no right to privacy" to their boilerplate, and then turn over any information asked for. I hope not, but it wouldn't surprise me.
    Like, yeah, it's great to know that here in Canada we're able to do it LEGALLY
    That's not what I got from the article:
    If record labels show they have a clear claim against people infringing copyright, "they have a right to have the identity revealed for the purpose of bringing action. However, caution must be exercised by the courts in ordering such disclosure to make sure that privacy rights are invaded in the most minimal way."