Lycos told to reveal client info
p2p news / p2pnet: In a decision praised by the entertainment industry’s BREIN Dutch enforcement unit as an opening for it to go after p2p file sharers, Holland’s highest court has ruled Lycos, "wrongly protected the identity of a user who anonymously posted slanderous allegations against an Internet postage stamp dealer on a member site," says the Associated Press.
"It is the first ruling of its kind in the Netherlands on Internet privacy and could have far reaching consequences for other Internet providers," it says.
"A. Pessers" sued Lycos in 2003 demanding information about a client so he could seek financial damages allegedly resulting from the allegations, says AP, going on:
"Supreme Court spokesman Steven Bakker said the court found Pessers’ claim of having suffered damages sufficient to order Lycos to release its client’s name and address, even though no criminal offense had been committed. It issued a sweeping rejection of Lycos’s argument that personal client details should only be released if they are suspected of a crime and the information is wanted by the police."
Tired of being treated like a criminal? They depend on you, not the other way around. Don’t buy their ‘product’. Do bug your local political representatives. Use emails, snail-mail, phone calls, faxes, IM, stop them in the street, blog. And if you’re into organizing, organize petitions, organize demonstrations and then turn up on your local political rep’s doorstep, making sure you’ve contacted your local tv/radio station/newspaper in advance.
Also read-
Associated Press – Lycos ordered to tell web client identity, November 25, 2004
