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Anti-Piracy Group Violates Swiss Law to Track File Sharing

Posted by ScuttleMonkey on from the define-zealot dept.

An anonymous reader writes "Another fight appears to be brewing in Switzerland over how file sharers are identified. Logistep, a company that specializes in anti-piracy by collecting computer evidence against file sharers for use in lawsuits, seems to have taken an end run around Swiss law in order to try and settle cases out of court. 'Under Swiss law, the identity of a subscriber to an ISP (Internet service provider) can only be revealed during the course of a criminal case, not a civil one, Schaefer said. The IP (Internet Protocol) address of a computer controlled by the subscriber is considered "personal" information. In order to try to claim damages from people suspected of trading songs or movies, Logistep has asked Swiss prosecutors to open criminal cases, Schaefer said. As the criminal cases progresses, Logistep receives information from prosecutors that identifies the file sharer.'"

9 of 95 comments (clear)

  1. The REAL Villains Here by Nom+du+Keyboard · · Score: 4, Insightful

    The real villains here are the Swiss prosecutors who are going along with this scheme. They should be ashamed -- and Fired! (Donald Trump, where are you?)

    --
    "It's the height of ridiculousness to say for those 9 lines you get hundreds of millions."
  2. Who watches the watchers? by KublaiKhan · · Score: 4, Interesting

    So who is it that should prosecute the prosecutors?

    --
    In Xanadu did Kubla Khan
    A stately pleasure dome decree
    1. Re:Who watches the watchers? by realthing02 · · Score: 5, Funny

      Is that similar to meta-moderating?

      -1, jailbait.

  3. Swiss independence by redelm · · Score: 5, Interesting
    Oh my. Somebody is going to get into _big_ trouble. The Swiss are _very_ independant minded, perhaps even moreso than Americans. They also take their laws very seriously and playing games is quite simply not allowed.


    I expect the civil suits to be dismissed with prejudice (or whatever the civil code equivalent is) and countersuits for fraudulent prosecution to proceed.


    If the copyright holders don't like the law, they can lobby to get it changed. Otherwise, the Swiss guard their privacy very jealously. They've stood up to various flavors of nasty Germans and French. I very much doubt they'll cave to the RIAA equivalent. Please also remember that K-Tel is a swiss corp deliberately to take advantage of copyright laws.

    1. Re:Swiss independence by redelm · · Score: 3, Interesting

      Sure, Berne/Bern is in Switzerland. The Federal capital, and capital of the canton. That doesn't mean they signed the convention (although I think they did). The Swiss are famous for hosting things that they don't sign on for. In spite of hosting many UN agencies in Geneva since the beginning, the Swiss only joined the UN in 2002.

  4. In all fairness, by gnarlyhotep · · Score: 5, Insightful

    The "anti-piracy" group didn't violate the privacy laws, they conspired with the prosecutors, who are the ones who may have violated the privacy laws (if a criminal case was not warranted).

    Either way, it's still a gross violation of the spirit of the law, and certainly reprehensible.

    1. Re:In all fairness, by TubeSteak · · Score: 3, Insightful

      The "anti-piracy" group didn't violate the privacy laws, Alright

      they conspired with the prosecutors I guess where you're from, a conspiracy is not a civil & criminal offense?

      If the prosecutors are going to get slapped, so is Logistep and vice versa.
      --
      [Fuck Beta]
      o0t!
    2. Re:In all fairness, by gnarlyhotep · · Score: 4, Interesting

      "I guess where you're from, a conspiracy is not a civil & criminal offense?" Conspiracy is, in almost every jurisdiction, a seperate prosecutable offense related to a violation of the law. It's understood to be illegal to conspire to violate the law, due to the fact that one or more of the conspirators do not actually violate the law.

      In this case, they weren't the ones obtaining the IP addresses under (presumably) false pretenses, nor providing them illegally. They convinced the prosecutors, who have an obligation to the public, to do such a thing. Ire placed solely upon the "anti-piracy" group is misplaced; the bulk of it should go to the prosecutors who were the ones *directly* violating the law and abusing the public trust.

      Did the conspiracy violate a law? yes. Did the conspiracy violate the *privacy* law specifically? no. Semantic difference, but the law is all about trifling details and semantics.

  5. Re:EU law too. by DJ+Decay · · Score: 3, Informative

    Switzerland is not in the EU, so it probably doesn't have much of an effect.