Read more!The Swedish Supreme Administrative Court has ruled that collecting and storing IP addresses is in violation of the Personal Data Act. But as some celebrate this ruling as the death of the notorious IPRED anti-piracy legislation, the truth is a little more sobering.
at first glance this ruling seems like a good move towards protecting the filesharers/ISP users, but there might be a different side to the story:
in previous attempts to acquire personal user information based on ISP IP data, the anti-p2p organizations usually tried to get the information by putting pressure on the appropriate ISP, which didn't always have the expected results - sometimes the ISP was not willing to give up the information, forcing the anti-p2p organizations to use other measures of pressure or to move to the next, less stubborn ISP
now, it is logical that the government has the power to get user information from the ISPs if serious evidence is presented (through a court order), so think about what happens if the anti-p2p organizations cooperate with a government body that has sufficient power for such acquiring purposes - it looks like the ISPs would not have an excuse to withhold the user information if the request comes from the government (based on IPRED rules too) - in this manner the ISP as a barrier is virtually removed from the equation
in this way, by using a government body to surely acquire the necessary information, the anti-p2p organizations have an advantage over other methods when they act alone
this of course doesn't mean that the action mentioned in the article is wrong, but it should be implemented in the IPRED too, thus removing the aforementioned advantage, leaving the acquiring possibility only for serious crimes concerning the system and removing the possibility when corporate interests are in question (leaving them with the only reasonable option to go 'the long way' through the system without some shortcuts which they want to apply)
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