Fans Of Filesharing: Avoid Sweden!

Long considered a safe haven for many diverse internet activites, Sweden has gone from Hero to Villain in the filesharing world. Internet traffic dropped by around 30% in April last year (according to official figures) as a direct result of the introduction of the then new Ipred law. This law enables copyright holders to obtain details of people who download their copyrighted material. The copyright holder must simply demand the information from the relevant ISP.

Now, this makes ISPs very unhappy for two reasons. Firstly, there’s more work involved for them if copyright holders are continually asking for details of their customers. Secondly, there is a big conceptual problem in reconciling the requirements of the Ipred law with the generally accepted concept of maintaining customer privacy.

Giant ISP TeliaSonera are the latest to take such a request to the very top of Sweden’s court structure. They are currently fighting a battle against a small Swedish film production company Svensk Filmindustri. It goes without saying that the results of this legal battle will be very important indeed for the many Swedish filesharing fans who are feeling particularly sorry for themselves at this point. Let’s hope that common sense prevails for once.

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• Washing DC Court To Rule On Multi-Defendant Filesharing Suit

Posted on 30 May 2010 by Lee in News