Comment CRIA me a freakin' river (Score 2, Insightful) 329
According to a lawyer for Videotron, producing the identities of Internet users alleged of wrongdoing happens so regularly that they believe that it is justifiable to hand over the names of people who share large volumes of songs on-line.
What kind of justification is that? "ISPs get strongarmed into sacrificing customer anonymity all the time, so it's right whenever it happens-" remember way back when people were actually afraid of what people could get away with using the anonymity the internet provides? It'd be one thing if all it took was a lawsuit to get ISPs to release customer data- nowadays it merely takes the implied threat of a suit. I understand that ISPs do not want to be held accountable for the illegal activities of their subscribers, but I think there is a middle ground somewhere between omerta and apparently being the result of a merger between a utility company and the Stasi.
And however you may feel about the issues of illegal music downloading and intellectual property and whatnot, I think you can agree that industry associations have acquired far too much authority- how on earth did we let the RIAA, CRIA, etc. transform from professional organizations into law enforcement? As befits my name, I pronounce that TOTAL CARP.
