2010-09-02
Light Rain Shower
Now: 13°C
RSS-feed Subscribe via RSS


News

Favorable court ruling do not save file-sharing

National News | 2009-06-18

Photo: sxc.hu
Registration of IP addresses’ is not allowed. This states the Supreme Administrative Court when it denies a leave to appeal from APB (the Swedish Anti-Piracy Bureau), a lobby group representing copyright owners. But this does not make it illegal for APB to continue to chase computer pirates.

This because the controversial EU directive IPRED stands above the courts judgement, that IP addresses’ shall be handled with the same precautions as all other personal records.
 
The statement from the Supreme Administrative Court was today at first received as a victory by those who see the activity by the APB as an intrusion against private life and a form of ‘privatised policing’. The APB collects evidence against suspected file-sharers by registering their IP addresses’’.

But legal scholars have put forward that the courts decision most likely will not affect the activity of APB at all. These since they earlier have operated under a legal exception, given to them by the authorities. And when that exception expired March 31 this year, this was in connection to when the EU directive was incorporated into Swedish law.

Jonas Agnvall, jurist at the Swedish Data Inspection Board, says that the new law specifically allows the activity of the APB.

“I have not scrutinised the directive in detail, but as I understand do they no longer need the legal exception whit the implementation of the IPRED-law”, Jonas Agnvall says to Computer Sweden.

But at least it has been settled that IP address are personal records, something that he welcomes. This means that the Data Inspection Board now can advance and begin to inquire IPRED in detail, what it means for Swedish legislation, issues of integrity and internet use. That work will start after the summer.

“During the autumn we will inquire this and how these lobby groups of copyright holders use the personal records. This we can do now when it stands clear that IP addresses’ really are personal records”, Agnvall continues.

Next week the ruling in the first so called IPRED-case is expected, when Solna District Court shall decide if personal records connected to a IP address from a file-sharing server shall be handed out or not.

David Jonasson
david.jonasson@stockholmnews.com
       Print Print article

Readers' comments



Write a comment

All comments are reviewed by the moderator before they are posted. Only comments in English written in a respectable tone will be published.
Read a full description of our policy for comments.



Name:
  

Latest headlines




Question

Sweden recently decided to start taking admission fees for non-EU students starting in the fall semester 2011. What do you think of this?

News in short
TODAY
2010-09-01
2010-08-31
2010-08-30
2010-08-28

More...
Reader's comment
Stockholm Calendar
Sep 3
Sep 5 - Sep 11
Sep 7
Sep 12
Sep 16
Sep 17
Sep 19
Sep 22
Oct 8 - Oct 9
Oct 20 - Oct 22
Oct 27
Oct 29 - Oct 30
Nov 13 - Nov 14
Nov 26 - Nov 28