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Canadian ISP Fights Back Against Copyright Trolls
An anonymous reader writes "Distributel, an independent Canadian ISP, has fought
back in a file sharing lawsuit by opposing a motion
to disclose the names of subscribers alleged to have engaged in file
sharing. The company did not oppose a similar request in November
2012, but says in court documents filed on Friday that several
factors led to a change in position after it received another
request for more names. Those concerns include evidence of
copyright trolling, privacy issues, and weak evidence of actual
infringement by its subscribers. The decision to fight back points
to mounting ISP frustration in Canada with file sharing lawsuits
that come after the Canadian government sent clear signals that such
actions were unwelcome."
Suing people is big business. It costs more to defend yoruself then to settle and porn companies in particular delight in threatening people with public lawsuits to scare them into settling regardless of evidence.
Closer would be that an IP is like a street address. However many (most?) of them point to apartment buildings. Even if you prove that somebody in that building broke the law that doesn't mean that the building's owner is responsible.
Good, inexpensive web hosting
Um, this is Canada, remember?
Our laws, and to some extent our legal and political philosophies, are distinct from other countries, in particular the United States where (so I hear) suing people is a profitable source of business. In Canada it doesn't work that way. The courts tend to drag their feet at the best of times, but especially when they detect a profit motive. It's a bit strange, moral agency arising from ineffectiveness, but there it is.
Parity: What to do when the weekend comes.
It's odd, but they only seem to be targeting the small ISPs. First Teksavvy, and now Distributel. It's odd that they aren't going after Bell or Rogers. Either they figure the little guys won't have the money to hire lawyers to fight (Teksavvy didn't) or there's something more nefarious going on. My theory is that they are in kahootz with the big ISPs who paid them off to either keep quiet, or payed them off to go after the little guys to scare people away from using smaller ISPs.
Anthropic principle: We see the universe the way it is because if it were different we would not be here to see it.