ISP Hands Over File Swapper's Name

Dutch Internet service provider UPC has decided not to appeal a summary judgement by Amsterdam's District Court, and will hand over the name and address of an individual accused of illegally sharing copyrighted material using his broadband connection.

The case was initiated by the Brain Institute, a group backed by the MPAA and RIAA, as well as their counterparts in the Netherlands. The organization says it will contact the customer and attempt to work out a settlement before filing a lawsuit.

The entertainment industry's demand that ISPs turn over records of customers accused of illicit file sharing has become a hot topic in recent years. In many cases, the RIAA and MPAA simply have an IP address of a user from a peer-to-peer network and must obtain specific details from the owner of that network.

However, privacy advocates say that ISPs have no right to turn over customer data without solid evidence, which has raised the question of whether an IP address constitutes proof of illegal activity. Moreover, customers rarely have the ability to fight the claims, usually agreeing to settle for a few thousand dollars.

UPC initially argued that it was impossible to tie an IP address to a specific individual, a technicality which has previously won in court. But this case involved servers seized from a BitTorrent file sharing network known as "Dikke Donder."

Located on the servers were IP addresses and user accounts of those the Brain Institute claims were committing piracy. Because the group had access to both an IP and an e-mail address, the court found that there was no possibility for any confusion, noting "there can't be any discussion of a 'reasonable doubt,'" according to a court filing obtained by the AP.