p2pnet - rss feed: Don’t glean false hope
Canadians shouldn’t glean false hope from Friday’s ruling which says RIAA can no longer use instant subpoenas to get the names of people it claims are engaged in p2p file sharing, says a Canadian academic.
"In the past, Canadian telecommunications providers have voluntarily co-operated in law-enforcement proceedings, specifically in cases involving wire taps and phone records," states Richard Owens, a law professor from the University of Toronto.
He’s not sure if Canadian Internet providers are "already providing names to the Canadian recording industry" but, "I’ve sort of heard rumblings to that effect but I’m not sure if they are true," he’s quoted as saying in a CP story here.
In any case, Owens says in the report, the two international rulings Friday provide important lessons for Canada, which lags behind the United States in crafting legislation to regulate online file-swapping. Although international court decisions aren’t binding here, they provide reference points, as Canadian courts routinely use U.S. cases in other aspects of computer law.
Currently, Canadian law stipulates only the copyright holder can authorize copying but it’s unclear if Kazaa and other file-swapper services are actually "authorizing" this copying.
