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Swedish ISP Deletes Customer ID Info

Posted by ScuttleMonkey on from the putting-tread-on-the-slippery-slope dept.

NewYorkCountryLawyer writes "A Swedish internet service provider, Bahnhof, has begun deleting customer identification information in order to prevent it from being used as evidence against its customers under Sweden's new legislation against copyright infringement via peer-to-peer file sharing. According to this report on 'The Local,' it is entirely legal for it to do so. The company's CEO, Jon Karlung, is identified as 'a vociferous opponent of the measures that came into force on April 1st,' and is quoted saying that he is determined to protect the company's clients, and that 'It's about the freedom to choose, and the law makes it possible to retain details. We're not acting in breach of IPRED; we're following the law and choosing to destroy the details.'"

38 of 177 comments (clear)

  1. Wow by Spazztastic · · Score: 5, Insightful

    Buy the guy who made that decision a beer. Kudos, Bahnhof.

    --
    Posts not to be taken literally. Almost everything is sarcasm.
    1. Re:Wow by Aladrin · · Score: 5, Insightful

      While I love this decision also, I find it sad that we now applaud people who want to take care of their customers... Didn't that used to be a given?

      --
      "If you make people think they're thinking, they'll love you; But if you really make them think, they'll hate you." - DM
    2. Re:Wow by TheGratefulNet · · Score: 3, Insightful

      I'll buy an ACCOUNT on his server. even though I don't live anywhere near there.

      this guy IS a hero!

      --

      --
      "It is now safe to switch off your computer."
    3. Re:Wow by XPeter · · Score: 3

      Make it two. That guy definitely has some balls. If only the rest of the ISP's thought like them...

      --
      "The difference between genius and stupidity is that genius has it's limits" - Albert Einstein
    4. Re:Wow by Sporkinum · · Score: 5, Informative

      Those were the guys with the James Bond villain data center. Just from watching the video, you get the impression they are a good group of nerds.

      --
      "He's lost in a 'floyd hole"
    5. Re:Wow by MozeeToby · · Score: 5, Insightful

      Better yet, if you live in Sweden move your Internet connection over to his ISP. This is a very rare chance to financially support someone who is trying to protect your privacy while having little net cost for yourself.

    6. Re:Wow by J+Isaksson · · Score: 5, Interesting

      I don't actually fileshare, but Bahnhof, you have my support and the day you support e-faktura (electronic bills & payment) I'll support you with my business too. /Actual Swede

    7. Re:Wow by Samschnooks · · Score: 5, Interesting

      While I love this decision also, I find it sad that we now applaud people who want to take care of their customers... Didn't that used to be a given?

      Speaking as someone that handles consumer's problems - you are correct. There's nothing I hate more than hearing "Sorry for your inconvenience." - especially from airline employees!

      Oh yeah! How about, the next time you're on strike and bitching about how you're not making enough, I walk up to you and say, "Sorry about the inconvenience!"

      Here's the thing, with this shitty economy, companies are seeing the light! Amen! They're paying attention to customers. Just walk into a Home Depot now. I got asked 4 times if I found what I'm looking for! Now, they're pissing me off for being so helpful. Talk about the pendulum swinging!

      P.S. To you Aladrin: I see that big orange ball by your userID. For what it's worth, whatever I said, I meant nothing personal, but I stand by my opinions. I take responsibility for what I've said that has offended you. Judge me as you will.

    8. Re:Wow by cloudkiller · · Score: 5, Funny

      can i get a link to the torrent plz?

      --
      [an error occurred while processing this sig]
    9. Re:Wow by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Funny

      Audio book, movie or are you capable of reading?

    10. Re:Wow by Jugalator · · Score: 5, Insightful

      Actually, that, combined with this, has made me consider a switch from Bredbandsbolaget (a major Sweidsh ISP) to them. They have pretty decent pricing too, and I have no problems at all with BBB -- rather to the contrary. But it would simply feel good to be an ISP customer where the CEO shared my ideals. :-) And know that they at least try to protect the privacy of their customers. That's so little of a given these days that it's scary.

      --
      Beware: In C++, your friends can see your privates!
    11. Re:Wow by PopeRatzo · · Score: 4, Interesting

      I hope all the teabaggers who were at the big Fox News Tea Bag Rallies here in the US on Wednesday take note that this head of a company who is striking a blow for the privacy of his customers and liberty in general is acting in what they deridingly refer to as a "European Socialist" country.

      If this is European Socialism, I want some of that right here in America and the sooner the better.

      What was the last time an American CEO did something like this for his customers?

      --
      You are welcome on my lawn.
    12. Re:Wow by PopeRatzo · · Score: 5, Interesting

      the other kind that shows up with as a band of thugs bearing guns and badges

      At least here in the US, our corporations are not afraid of "thugs bearing guns and badges" because they are paying those thugs.

      That's the modern-day equivalent of when a US governor would send out National Guard troops to kill striking coal miners and their families.

      We should never forget that the people who fought and died to create the labor union movement in this country were every bit heroes as the men who stormed Normandy.

      We may be about to find out what it's like to live under the thumb of corporate fascists and their puppets in government.

      --
      You are welcome on my lawn.
    13. Re:Wow by causality · · Score: 4, Insightful

      Yep, pretty much. What's your point?

      Unfortunately a man who has his spine intact is a rare sight these days. Too many people don't understand that being petty and easily upset so that you respond with anger to whatever you dislike is the wrong kind of strength. That anger looks forceful and powerful but there is a great deal of cowardice behind it that comes from looking everywhere but within for your joy and your strength. Thus, anger is almost always about control of externals. It's also being strong in the wrong way because it is a compensation for weakness rather than a removal of weakness.

      What you have provided a good counter-example against are the people-pleasers who derive their being and their self-worth (of a worthless sort) from the approval of others. Thus, they have no idea how to be their own person and they have conflict and frustration because their life is not really theirs. Such people usually believe that they are living their own lives because they have personally identified with those external influences that control them, which is why this system is so effective and why so few come to understand it. It needs this deception to work, which is why understanding it is the same thing as having freedom from it.

      For you, it may be rather easy to understand that when you have a nation full of people with such weakness, it sets the stage for a powerful government to cater to it. If those people were whole and joyous and complete in the right way, the sort of comfort and security that government can offer would not be tempting to them. There are also economic and political reasons for it, of course, but this is the predecessor to fascism that no one in the media talks about. It is, in fact, the one enabler that makes all of the others possible. The mainstream media really can't talk about it and still have high ratings because most of the population has become this way. Of course, high ratings are more valuable to them than a chance to promote joyous, secure, sane people who cherish freedom. There's not much else to know about what sort of people they are.

      --
      It is a miracle that curiosity survives formal education. - Einstein
    14. Re:Wow by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 3, Funny

      Good job idiot! Now Slashdot's owners are going to go to jail for a year too! Of course, the site is commercially orientated, they probably make money off it and everything.... it's probably fair then.

  2. This guy is a hero by BadAnalogyGuy · · Score: 5, Insightful

    And sometimes heroes get arrested and thrown in jail for obstructing justice.

    1. Re:This guy is a hero by AmiMoJo · · Score: 4, Interesting

      Deleting all non-essential personal data sounds like a good way to limit the possibility of having the data stolen and used for identity fraud. That sounds like a pretty compelling argument.

      In fact, here in the UK, data protection laws require each piece of information kept to be justified. If they rules on justification were tightened up...

      I'd love to know how they can bill people without even knowing their name though. It would seem to rule out credit cards.

      --
      const int one = 65536; (Silvermoon, Texture.cs)
      SJW, n: "Someone I don't like, and by the way I'm a fuckwit" - AC
    2. Re:This guy is a hero by Pinckney · · Score: 4, Informative
      He'll probably be ok. From the article:

      Stefan Johansson, deputy director at the Swedish justice ministry, confirmed that Bahnhof was not breaking the law by choosing to destroy IP address details.
      "The IPRED regulations do not entail any obligation of this kind. They are only concerned with the retrieval of existing information," he said.

    3. Re:This guy is a hero by Andy+Dodd · · Score: 5, Informative

      You don't need DHCP server logs for billing purposes.

      You do need them for hunting file sharers.

      --
      retrorocket.o not found, launch anyway?
    4. Re:This guy is a hero by greed · · Score: 5, Informative

      Heck, if you sell uncapped, un-metered always-on connectivity, you don't need any logs at all. You need to set up a user name and password, or authorize a MAC address, or energize a particular port on a switch, or something. But it doesn't _matter_ if it ever gets used... the bills are because "you signed up and the month has ended." So you don't need to log it; you just need a way of turning it on when someone starts paying, and off when they stop.

  3. I hope... by Narnie · · Score: 5, Insightful

    I hope this won't be like what happens in the US where the company deletes data, but when pressured by the courts, they happen to recover a backup.

    --
    greed@All_Evils:~#
    1. Re:I hope... by Jah-Wren+Ryel · · Score: 5, Interesting

      I hope this won't be like what happens in the US where the company deletes data, but when pressured by the courts, they happen to recover a backup.

      It's worked out GREAT for libraries in the US. The PATRIOT act requires that libraries give up book borrowing records without even a warrant. So within a year or two pretty much all of the common library management software packages were updated to delete all record of who/where/when/what was borrowed as soon as the book is returned. Few people would ever guess it, but most librarians are almost militant about patron privacy.

      --
      When information is power, privacy is freedom.
  4. Wow, I wish I could change to them by Dan667 · · Score: 3, Interesting

    They take care of their customers and can still run after a nuclear war. (and you know some guy in there is doing the maniacal laugh every once in a while) http://www.datacenterknowledge.com/archives/2009/04/15/inside-the-james-bond-villain-data-center/

  5. Judging by the recent trial of TPB by vivaoporto · · Score: 5, Interesting

    Judging by the recent trial of TPB, following the letter of the law in Sweden is not enough to defend yourself if the case ends up in court.

  6. Agreed. by A.+B3ttik · · Score: 5, Funny

    The company's CEO, Jon Karlung, is identified as 'a vociferous opponent of the measures that came into force on April 1st'

    I'm not a fan of the new slashdot achievement system, either.

  7. Another law by drstock · · Score: 5, Informative

    They are actually claiming to follow another law from 2003 called the Swedish Electronic Communications law. It states that traffic information should be deleted or anonymized when it is no longer needed to transmit the electronic message.

    --
    My other comment is funny
  8. Try that in the Americas... by DarrenBaker · · Score: 4, Insightful

    ... and you'll be charged with destruction of evidence, and obstruction of justice, and almost assuredly, they'll think you complicit, because silence = guilt here.

  9. in case of an attack on the datacenter by roman_mir · · Score: 4, Funny

    Well, these guys have a nuclear bunker for a data-center, they probably think that even if the government comes and attacks them, they can just ride it out inside. They'll probably survive even if US decides to blast them with a nuke (I wonder what the rest of the world would think of the USA if that happened though - US blasting an entrance into a datacenter with a thermo-nuclear weapon in a populated Swedish area. Oh well, just pretend there are WMDs in there and anything would go...

    --
    You can't handle the truth.
  10. New Swedish Data Retension Law by IanHurst · · Score: 5, Insightful

    in 3... 2... 1...

    1. Re:New Swedish Data Retension Law by MyLongNickName · · Score: 3, Funny

      New Swedish Data Retension Law

      I thought most backup systems did this to the tapes automatically...

      --
      See my journal for slashdot ID's by year. Mine created in 2005. http://slashdot.org/journal/289875/slashdot-ids-by-year
  11. In next month's news... by javakah · · Score: 5, Insightful

    Preview of next months news:

    Swedish authorities discover that ISPs deleting cutomer ID info has led to them being unable to determine the ID of file sharers, but also child pornographers, terrorists, people threatening suicide, etc.

    New laws will be up for debate trying to outlaw deleting this kind of customer ID info, with privacy groups outraged.

    (Not advocating anything here, just figuring this is where this is going.)

    1. Re:In next month's news... by Pig+Hogger · · Score: 3, Insightful

      And how many of you people want government run health care? You think the government will want to keep your health info private?

      You goddammed fucking stupid moronic yankee. Only a yankee would be that stupid in his irrational stupid hatred of government.

      Everywhere there is GOVERNMENT HEALTH-INSURANCE (repeat: GOVERNMENT HEALTH-INSURANCE), the health info is KEPT PRIVATE (repeat yet again so it goes through your thick cranium: KEPT PRIVATE) because THE FUCKING GOVERNMENT IS ***NOT*** PROVIDING THE HEALTH-CARE, JUST PAYING FOR IT.

      And there is NO FUCKING NEED for the insurer to "share" private patient information, BECAUSE EVERYONE GETS THE SAME COVERAGE BY THE SAME INSURER, SO THERE IS NO NEED TO SNOOP IN ORDER TO FIND PRE-EXISTING CONDITIONS (as a manner to be able to deny coverage) BECAUSE PRE-EXISTING CONDITIONS CANNOT BE USED TO DENY COVERAGE (I repeat again: BECAUSE PRE-EXISTING CONDITIONS CANNOT BE USED TO DENY COVERAGE).

  12. I talked to one of them by Andtalath · · Score: 3, Informative

    They use dynamic IP-addresses and do not refresh them unless there's good reason.
    You can choose to renew your IP address any time you choose though.

    It's a really neat system and I really hope the data storage directive fails and that I can switch to them.
    Cause they are awesome.

  13. Statement by Bahnhof by NewYorkCountryLawyer · · Score: 5, Informative

    After I'd submitted the article, I was contacted by a spokesman for Bahnhof who advised me that they hadn't just "begun" deleting the customer linkage information, that they have been doing it all along. So the report in "The Local" was not exactly accurate.

    --
    Ray Beckerman +5 Insightful
  14. Re:New Swedish Data Retension Lawl by IanHurst · · Score: 5, Funny

    Oh, fuck me, that's embarrassing. And now it's +5 Insightful. I love the spotlight!

  15. US Libraries/Patriot Act by TrevorB · · Score: 4, Interesting

    US Libraries started doing something similar after the passing of the Patriot Act: deleting customer's borrowing history so that their information couldn't be subpoenaed for the data by the government.

  16. Actually, I think this guy is legally in the wrong by Xest · · Score: 3, Insightful

    A fairly recent round of laws to come into play for all EU member states specifies that data like this must be retained for 6months.

    But fuck the legality of it, he may be in the wrong legally, but he's one of the few ISPs in the right morally. It's just a shame more wont stand up across the industry and do this.

    I find it odd that the EU recognises that storing people's DNA on a DNA database when they're innocent and haven't been convicted of any crime is clearly wrong, but that on the flip side of it they support the storage of what people did and where on the internet.... even if people are innocent and haven't been convicted of any crime.

    It's just a shame they don't understand technology and the implications of their decisions related to it as well as they do real world justice.

  17. Summary Got it Wrong by Nom+du+Keyboard · · Score: 5, Informative

    Summary got it wrong - AGAIN! They haven't started deleting logs, they've been doing it that way since 1994. This story has been out for a couple days and somehow - in typical Internet fashion - one person got it wrong and everyone else has copied the wrong data. They never saved this data from the beginning because they didn't have to. It's only mentioned now that they're continuing to do what they've done all alone, not that the suddenly started doing something different.

    --
    "It's the height of ridiculousness to say for those 9 lines you get hundreds of millions."