Potentially Huge Legal Boost for EU File Traders

Mishtara2001 writes "BusinessWeek reports that a high court adviser in the EU has decided that ISPs are not required to reveal information to authorities, when users are suspected of music piracy. If this is adopted across the EU then it can potentially spell doom for the IFPI's (the global RIAA) efforts to litigate against European P2P users. From the article: 'Promusicae wanted the personal data so that it could start taking legal action against the file sharers, but Telefonica claimed that it could only turn over such information as part of a criminal prosecution or in matters of public security and national defense. A Spanish court hearing the case referred the issue to the ECJ for guidance on how to interpret EU law on the subject and Ms Kokott's legal opinion is the advice for the ECJ judges who will eventually rule on a recommendation for the Spanish court to take. The final court decision is expected later this year. Once it comes out, it could form the basis for similar decisions throughout the 27-member EU bloc.'"

Comments

Government vs citizen

[Harmonious Botch]

No matter how we might feel about music sharing and copyright, the important thing about this is the increase in government power vis-à-vis the citizen.
They can still subpoena information from an ISP; you cannot.

Traditionally criminal and civil suits have been considered to be parallel: one is filed against someone by the government, the other is filed against someone by the average citizen. It was a brilliant insight by the framers of the US constitution when they realized that the government had too much power and had to be limited by restrictions such as the fourth and sixth amendments. Here, the situation is the reverse: the citizen is restricted but the government is not.