The joy of Swedish antipirates short-lived

[TankGirl]

The joy of Swedish antipirates short-lived

Source: The Local

Last week the IFPI, along with the games and film industry body, Antipiratbyrån (APB), was given the right to register the IP addresses of individuals found to be sharing copyright-protected material.

This gave the organisations an exemption from the Personal Data Act and was seen as a significant victory for APB and an indication that the hunt for illegal file sharers could proceed.

But any satisfaction that the organisation derived from it will have vanished this week, with the news that APB must inform people that their IP address is being registered.

The order comes from the Swedish Board of Data Inspection, but APB says it is impossible without the cooperation of the country's internet service providers. And the ISPs are not playing ball.

Only the file sharer's ISP can link the IP address to the person. If the ISP receives a request for such information from the police, they cannot refuse it, but a few calls from TT revealed that requests from APB would be ignored.

"We don't send out warning letters to our customers on anyone else's behalf," said Jan Sjöberg, the press officer at Telia Sonera Sweden.

full article here

You go, Swedes!

- tg