Submission + - Judge rules: ISP is not a person (torrentfreak.com) 3
AffidavitDonda writes: A possible landmark ruling in one of the mass-BitTorrent lawsuits in the U.S. may spell the end of the “pay-up-or-else-schemes” that have targeted over 100,000 Internet users in the last year. District Court Judge Harold Baker has denied a copyright holder the right to subpoena the ISPs of alleged copyright infringers, because an IP-address does not equal a person.
Among other things Judge Baker cited a recent child porn case where the U.S. authorities raided the wrong people, because the real offenders were piggybacking on their Wi-Fi connections. Using this example, the judge claims that several of the defendants in VPR’s case may have nothing to do with the alleged offense either.
Among other things Judge Baker cited a recent child porn case where the U.S. authorities raided the wrong people, because the real offenders were piggybacking on their Wi-Fi connections. Using this example, the judge claims that several of the defendants in VPR’s case may have nothing to do with the alleged offense either.
Sorry, voted down (Score:2)
I'd have voted it up if the title wasn't wrong. The judge didn't rule that an ISP isn't a person (The SCOTUS has irrationally ruled that corporations are indeed persons), he ruled that Internet Protocol addresses didn't point to people.
Resubmit with a corrected title and I'll vote it up.
Re: (Score:2)
Re: (Score:2)
Just looked at the front page, seems it'll be up in a few minutes (subscribers can see the stories before nonsubscribers, but can't comment yet).