Category Archives: Jurisprudence
Judge: An IP-Address Doesn’t Identify a Person (or BitTorrent Pirate)
But does it identify the ISP’s subscriber or account holder?
“An IP address provides only the location at which one of any number of computer devices may be deployed, much like a telephone number can be used for any number of telephones.”
“Thus, it is no more likely that the subscriber to an IP address carried out a particular computer function – here the purported illegal downloading of a single pornographic film – than to say an individual who pays the telephone bill made a specific telephone call.”
The Judge continues by arguing that having an IP-address as evidence is even weaker than a telephone number, as the majority of US homes have a wireless network nowadays. This means that many people, including complete strangers if one has an open network, can use the same IP-address simultaneously.
“While a decade ago, home wireless networks were nearly non-existent, 61% of US homes now have wireless access. As a result, a single IP address usually supports multiple computer devices – which unlike traditional telephones can be operated simultaneously by different individuals,” Judge Brown writes.
“Different family members, or even visitors, could have performed the alleged downloads. Unless the wireless router has been appropriately secured (and in some cases, even if it has been secured), neighbors or passersby could access the Internet using the IP address assigned to a particular subscriber and download the plaintiff’s film.”
More:
http://torrentfreak.com/judge-an-ip-address-doesnt-identify-a-person-120503/
EU’s top court: APIs can’t be copyrighted, would “monopolise ideas”
Ideas generate more money if one allows them to be copied
The European Court of Justice ruled on Wednesday that application programming interfaces (APIs) and other functional characteristics of computer software are not eligible for copyright protection. Users have the right to examine computer software in order to clone its functionality—and vendors cannot override these user rights with a license agreement, the court said.
“To accept that the functionality of a computer program can be protected by copyright would amount to making it possible to monopolise ideas, to the detriment of technological progress and industrial development”
Designer group Hermès obtains $100M award against alleged counterfeiters
Hackers and their preferred reputation
“Blocking the Pirate Bay is pointless and dangerous. It will fuel calls for further, wider and even more drastic calls for Internet censorship of many kinds, from pornography to extremism”
Oh no, please don’t censor pornography and extremism!
“Internet censorship is growing in scope and becoming easier. Yet it never has the effect desired. It simply turns criminals into heroes.”
Jim Killock, Executive Director of the Open Rights Group
ISPreview: ”ISPs do not have any real control over internet content that exists on remote servers (i.e. the internet), thus any blocks are incredibly easy to circumvent”
Which is exactly why ISPs use blacklists and blocklists, block spam, malware, child abuse images, botnets and DOS attacks and put people in walled gardens…
Previously:
High Court has ruled that several UK ISPs including Sky, Everything Everywhere, TalkTalk, O2 and Virgin Media must block The Pirate Bay website
http://vrritti.com/2012/04/30/high-court-has-ruled-that-several-uk-isps-including-sky-everything-everywhere-talktalk-o2-and-virgin-media-must-block-the-pirate-bay-website/
High Court has ruled that several UK ISPs including Sky, Everything Everywhere, TalkTalk, O2 and Virgin Media must block The Pirate Bay website
This means that millions of Internet users will be prevented from accessing the popular BitTorrent site in the weeks to come. The Pirate Bay say they aren’t concerned by yet another court-ordered blockade, and point out that there are plenty of ways to circumvent such censorship
More:
http://torrentfreak.com/uk-isps-must-censor-the-pirates-bay-high-court-rules-120430/
See also:
In November 2011, the BPI asked the group of ISPs to voluntarily block access to the site. The request followed a court order to block Newzbin 2, a site also offering links to download pirated material. The ISPs said they would not block the site unless a court order was made, as is now the case. Virgin Media told the BBC it will now comply with the request, but warned such measures are, in the long term, only part of the solution.
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/technology-17894176
The PirateBay is currently the 39th most popular website in the United Kingdom:
Facebook “likes” aren’t speech protected by the First Amendment, rules judge
Absent an appeal to the High Court, Optus’ TV Now service infringes copyright
ECJ to explain how digital distribution affects Community exhaustion of software IP rights
Yesterday, Advocate General Bot of the European Court of Justice (ECJ) provided an interesting preview on how his Court applies the principle of exhaustion of exclusive rights in the EU to downloading. In expectation of a preliminary ruling in the case of Oracle and UsedSoft on software distribution onine, the Advocate General answered the most important question, whether exhaustion of the right of distribution also applies to downloaded copies of a computer program, affirmatively.
Kenya’s High Court Rules Anti-Counterfeiting Law Is Unconstitutional Because It Threatens Access To Generic Drugs
Now a judge says even deleted tweets can be used against you in court
Post-iiNet ISPs may celebrate, but hosts should fret
ECJ clarifies the law on access to retained data for IP enforcement purposes
Yesterday, the European Court of Justice (ECJ) has given a preliminary ruling in the Bonnier Audio case (Case C-461/10). In short, the ECJ established that the Data Retention Directive does not preclude member states from enacting laws that allow an Internet Service Provider (ISP) to be ordered to supply information about subscribers whose Internet Protocol addresses have allegedly been used for intellectual property infringing purposes.
A court in Hamburg ruled that YouTube is responsible for the content that users post to the video sharing site
It wants the video site to install filters that spot when users try to post music clips whose rights are held by royalty collection group, Gema. The German industry group said in court that YouTube had not done enough to stop copyrighted clips being posted.
YouTube said it took no responsibility for what users did, but responded when told of copyright violations.
Gema’s court case was based on 12 separate music clips posted to the website. The ruling concerns seven of the 12 clips. If YouTube is forced to pay royalties for all the clips used on the site it will face a huge bill. Gema represents about 60,000 German song writers and musicians.
How iiNet beat Big Content
iiNet: ISP Not Liable For BitTorrent Piracy, High Court Rules – Copyright Law Is No Longer Equipped To Deal With The Rate Of Technological Change
After an epic four year legal battle, the Australian High Court has upheld previous rulings that ISP iiNet is not responsible for the copyright infringements of its customers. Despite today’s huge defeat for Hollywood, the chief of local anti-piracy group AFACT insists that the landscape has changed since the case began, with legislators and courts around the world now recognizing that ISPs have a role in preventing piracy.
“The Court observed that iiNet had no direct technical power to prevent its customers from using the BitTorrent system to infringe copyright,” a summary of the Court’s findings read.
“Rather, the extent of iiNet’s power to prevent its customers from infringing the appellants’ copyright was limited to an indirect power to terminate its contractual relationship with its customers.”
The High Court further noted that the warning notices previously sent to iiNet by AFACT when the ISP’s customers allegedly infringed copyright “..did not provide iiNet with a reasonable basis for sending warning notices to individual customers containing threats to suspend or terminate those customers’ accounts.”
Since the notices were inadequate, iiNet could not be considered to have authorized the infringements of its subscribers when it did not act on them.
The High Court sits at the pinnacle of Australia’s legal system and its rulings cannot be appealed. Today’s decision forms a binding legal precedent on all lower Australian courts and will be taken into consideration by judges in countries with comparable legal systems such as India, Canada and the UK.
Both parties held separate conferences following the emphatic 5-0 High Court decision. The mood in the iiNet camp, who stand to recoup $6 million in legal fees, was jubilant.
“We’re very pleased with the results announced in the High Court,” iiNet Chief Regulatory Officer Steve Dalby said. “The five-nil judgement puts us in a much stronger position.”
AFACT’s Neil Gane was expectedly downbeat. “Both judgements in this case recognize that copyright law is no longer equipped to deal with the rate of technological change we have seen since the law of authorization was last tested,” he said.
iiNet CEO Michael Malone was keen to stress the importance of the win. “This is a world first case. No case has gone to judgement in the highest court in the land. I’ve had text messages and emails from people from all over the world,” he said.
Much more:
http://torrentfreak.com/iinet-isp-not-liable-for-bittorrent-piracy-high-court-rules-120420/
In order to identify an internet subscriber or user, an internet service provider in civil proceedings is permitted to be ordered to give a copyright holder or its representative information on the subscriber to whom the internet service provider provided an IP address which was allegedly used in an infringement
(Copyright and related rights – Processing of data by internet – Infringement of an exclusive right – Audio books made available via an FTP server via internet by an IP address supplied by an internet service provider – Injunction issued against the internet service provider ordering it to provide the name and address of the user of the IP address)
ISPs Have to Identify Alleged Pirates, EU Court Rules
A dispute over whether a Swedish ISP can be forced to hand over the details of one its subscribers to an anti-piracy group has just received its long-awaited ruling from the Europe’s highest court. A few moments ago the ECJ announced that there are no EU barriers which prevent the ISP handing over its customers’ private details to copyright holders.
More:
http://torrentfreak.com/isps-have-to-identify-alleged-pirates-eu-court-rules-120419/
Court Says Dutch Anti-Piracy Organization Overreached; Won’t Shut Down Pirate Party Proxy Site
Dutch Judge: BREIN Can Not Order Pirate Party To Take Down Internet Proxy
Judge Allows Strict Interpretation Of Previous Verdicts By Dutch Pirate Party. “Generic Proxy” http://proxy.piratenpartij.nl/ Can Remain Active. More Targeted “Reverse Proxies” Need To Be Taken Down
Dutch language news article:
http://www.nu.nl/internet/2789467/entertainmentindustrie-verliest-van-piratenpartij.html
Court document (Dutch language):
http://www.scribd.com/doc/89843601/Piratenpartij-Brein-Tijdelijke-Voorlopige-Voorziening
Pirate Party Press Release (Dutch language):
http://www.geenstijl.nl/archives/images/piratenpersbericht.html
Previously:
http://vrritti.com/?s=brein
Google Translate Is Still The Best Pirate Bay Proxy To Circumvent Pirate Bay Blockade
As a response to recent legal actions by BREIN, Webwereld.nl explains how to use Google Translate as a proxy and also explains that uploading pirated content is illegal in The Netherlands whereas downloading is not.
This type of circumvention may not work in case of remotely triggered blackhole filtering, depending on the follow-up file sharing connections and data exchange between source (website, tracker, server, peer) and destination (internet subscriber).
Dutch language news article:
http://webwereld.nl/analyse/110205/google-translate-doet-dienst-als-pirate-bay-proxy.html
Popular Dutch Blog Geenstijl.nl Continues To Taunt BREIN With “Automated Proxy Portal” To Circumvent Pirate Bay Blockade
The blog has registered and activated a domain that upon visiting will use a random proxy to take the internet user to the main page of The Pirate Bay. This enables subscribers of those ISPs in The Netherlands, which were forced by court order to block access to The Pirate Bay, to still visit that particular website.
Dutch language article:
http://www.geenstijl.nl/mt/archieven/2012/04/de_geenstijl_pirate_bay_forwar.html
Supreme Court to Revisit ‘First-Sale’ Copyright Doctrine
Popular Dutch Blog Geenstijl.nl Defies BREIN And Posts Pirate Bay Proxies
The blog wants to show its solidarity with the Dutch Pirate Party by posting all possible circumvention measures.
Meanwhile, other internet users are also receiving takedown letters from BREIN, for example in relation to the proxies and plug-ins listed here.
Dutch language article:
http://www.geenstijl.nl/mt/archieven/2012/04/hee_tim_kuik_krijg_de_tiefus.html
Previously:
Conflict between BREIN and Dutch Pirate Party is escalating
http://vrritti.com/2012/04/15/conflict-between-brein-and-dutch-pirate-party-is-escalating/
Judge: Dutch Pirate Party’s Proxy Has To Be Taken Down Within 6 Hours
http://vrritti.com/2012/04/13/judge-dutch-pirate-partys-proxy-has-to-be-taken-down-within-6-hours/
Dutch Pirate Party: “It’s Unacceptable That In A Democracy Such As The Netherlands, A Private Lobbying Organization Is Handed The Keys To The Internet By Engaging In A Campaign Of Jurisprudence”
http://vrritti.com/2012/04/03/dutch-pirate-party-its-unacceptable-that-in-a-democracy-such-as-the-netherlands-a-private-lobbying-organization-is-handed-the-keys-to-the-internet-by-engaging-in-a-campaign-of-jurisprudence/
Conflict between BREIN and Dutch Pirate Party is escalating
The Dutch Pirate Party had been ordered by a Dutch judge to take down its proxy which internet users could use to circumvent the Dutch Pirate Bay blockade. Instead the political party decided to post several circumvention methods and alternative proxy urls on its domain: tpb.piratenpartij.nl
BREIN now wants the Pirate Party to remove those alternative URLs too. It seems that the Dutch Pirate Party has chosen to remove hyperlinks but leave the original text intact. It has also left its generic proxy functional: http://proxy.piratenpartij.nl/ which enables internet users to circumvent any blockade when typing the relevant URL.
Dutch language news articles:
http://www.nu.nl/internet/2787572/piratenpartij-gaat-niet-in-aanvullende-eis-brein.html
http://webwereld.nl/nieuws/110185/brein-eist-verwijdering-proxy-links-van-piratenpartij.html
http://depiratenpartij.wordpress.com/2012/04/14/aanvullende-eisen-van-brein/
Previously:
Judge: Dutch Pirate Party’s Proxy Has To Be Taken Down Within 6 Hours
http://vrritti.com/2012/04/13/judge-dutch-pirate-partys-proxy-has-to-be-taken-down-within-6-hours/
Dutch Pirate Party: “It’s Unacceptable That In A Democracy Such As The Netherlands, A Private Lobbying Organization Is Handed The Keys To The Internet By Engaging In A Campaign Of Jurisprudence”
http://vrritti.com/2012/04/03/dutch-pirate-party-its-unacceptable-that-in-a-democracy-such-as-the-netherlands-a-private-lobbying-organization-is-handed-the-keys-to-the-internet-by-engaging-in-a-campaign-of-jurisprudence/
Christians are being “persecuted” by courts and “driven underground” in the same way that homosexuals once were
Comments of former Archbishop of Canterbury represent one of the strongest attacks on the impartiality of Britain’s judiciary from a religious leader. He says Christians will face a “religious bar” to employment if rulings against wearing crosses and expressing their beliefs are not reversed.
Lord Carey argues that in “case after case” British courts have failed to protect Christian values. He urges European judges to correct the balance.
Student Bay File-Sharing ‘Admin’ Walks Free
The court ruled that there was no evidence that the 23-year-old had created or administered the website, or had any direct role in copyright infringement.
In the judgment the Court said that the prosecution had not shown “that [the defendant] alone or in concert with others had started the website StudentBay.se, whose domain was registered by another person during the fall of 2007.”
The defendant had previously admitted doing some paid design work on the site but denied being the site’s operator. The District Court agreed, noting that it had “not been established” that the defendant had “administered the website.”
The Court concluded that despite being involved with the website the defendant had not done enough to be found guilty of the crime in question – facilitating copyright infringement of textbooks.
“It’s excellent that there was an acquittal,” said Victoria Westberg, spokeperson for the Young Pirates. “We believe that it’s obvious that no one should be found guilty for only having designed a website and created a logo. It feels good that the District Court shares our view.”
More:
http://torrentfreak.com/student-bay-file-sharing-admin-walks-free-120413/
Judge: Dutch Pirate Party’s Proxy Has To Be Taken Down Within 6 Hours
…or the political party risks a fine of 10,000 EUR per day
Dutch language news article:
http://webwereld.nl/nieuws/110184/rechter–tpb-proxy-piratenpartij-direct-offline.html
Previously:
The Dutch Pirate Party refuses to take down its proxy to The Pirate Bay which can be used to circumvent the Dutch Pirate Bay blockade
http://vrritti.com/2012/04/03/dutch-pirate-party-its-unacceptable-that-in-a-democracy-such-as-the-netherlands-a-private-lobbying-organization-is-handed-the-keys-to-the-internet-by-engaging-in-a-campaign-of-jurisprudence/
Appeals Court Rules Computer Code Is Not “Property”
So much for the digital frontier
http://gizmodo.com/5901263/court-rules-it-is-impossible-to-steal-computer-code
Court overturns conviction for theft of Goldman source code. If only he had used a CD or thumb drive
“We decline to stretch or update statutory words of plain and ordinary meaning in order to better accommodate the digital age,” the court wrote.
The court suggested it might have reached a different conclusion if Aleynikov had smuggled the source code out of the building on a CD or thumb drive. But because he uploaded the source code via the Internet, it could not be described as “goods, wares,” or “merchandise.”
Much more:
http://arstechnica.com/tech-policy/news/2012/04/a-federal-appeals-court-has-2.ars
Lawsuits against Google for the fact that companies can buy AdWords ads based on trademarked terms
Employees may not be prosecuted under a federal anti-hacking statute for simply violating their employer’s computer use policy, a federal appeals court ruled
Dealing a blow to the Obama administration’s Justice Department, which is trying to use the same theory to prosecute alleged Wikileaks leaker Bradley Manning.
http://www.wired.com/threatlevel/2012/04/computer-fraud-and-abuse-act/
MPAA Filter Censors Legit Torrent Files on isoHunt
Following a US court decision BitTorrent search engine isoHunt was ordered to implement a site-wide keyword filter provided by the MPAA. According to isoHunt’s owner the ruling would result in mass censorship of legitimate content, and recent evidence shows that this is indeed the case. The MPAA’s mandatory filter is accidentally censoring thousands of public domain songs and even an independent film which was uploaded by the filmmaker himself.
We asked isoHunt to look into the issue and we were told that an unfortunate combination of keywords in the file names is to blame.
“We’ve found that it was a TV title that censored it,” Gary Fung told TorrentFreak, adding that these false positives are quite common.
“There are thousands of titles the MPAA sent that we are forced by the US court injunction to censor our index against, and these are but two tangible examples of non-infringing content that is falsely censored,” he added.
As isoHunt has pointed out to the court before, this false censorship based on a filter which includes many dictionary words, is clearly hindering freedom of speech. This is one of the main reasons why the BitTorrent search engine continues to fight the filter requirement in court.
The Ninth Circuit Appeal Court now has to decide whether the permanent injunction will stay in place or not. This decision will be a crucial one to the future of isoHunt, and possibly many other search engines including Google.
More:
http://torrentfreak.com/mpaa-filter-censors-legit-torrent-files-on-isohunt-120406/
See also:
Web Mail Provider – SPAM Filtering Effectiveness Research
http://vrritti.com/2012/04/07/web-mail-provider-spam-filtering-effectiveness-research/
Study: More Email Dying Horribly in Spam Buckets
http://vrritti.com/2012/04/07/study-more-email-dying-horribly-in-spam-buckets/
TrustSphere CEO: Millions of e-mail messages don’t quite make it
http://vrritti.com/2012/04/07/trustsphere-ceo-millions-of-e-mail-messages-dont-quite-make-it/
Belgian Anti-Piracy Federation Now Targeting Pirate Bay Proxies Too
Thou Shall Not Circumvent
Dutch language news article:
http://tweakers.net/nieuws/81167/ook-belgische-copyrightwaakhond-wil-pirate-bay-proxy-offline.html
Previously:
Dutch Anti-Piracy Organization BREIN Ordered Dutch Proxy Services To Stop Providing Access To The Pirate Bay
http://vrritti.com/2012/03/22/dutch-anti-piracy-organization-brein-ordered-dutch-proxy-services-to-stop-providing-access-to-the-pirate-bay/
