Bittorrent Judge Rules: You Are Not Your IP Address

[LogicNProportion]

This...makes me so happy.

 

[jyork89]

Unfortunately it's a District Court so unless common law is different in the US, there is no binding precedent until an appeal court upholds the decision or decides to apply it. It's not uncommon though for them to overturn district court decisions altogether though as they have persuasive power only. It would be nice if they choose to but it could definitely go either way.

 

[beema]

This is good news. I hope future rulings follow in its footsteps.

ribetw homologus.
what now!?

 

[Steve the Pocket]

Eh, incriminating people by IP was never aimed towards the pirates, but towards as many people they could coerce to pay out the ass, no matter their innocence. There have been at least a few "legal" firms who have been doing this, in Canada and the US, without really giving the people in question a fair chance to defend themselves.

That's what I figured. I mean, my suspicion was that the MPAA/RIAA themselves were just throwing darts at a map and suing whoever it hits, knowing they'd be too cowardly to defend themselves. But I'm a world-class cynic. Knowing lawyers are behind this just makes me more convinced that the world of Back to the Future Part II had the right idea.

 

[ritchards]

This is VERY interesting considering what the US recently did to NZ law in regards to suing people who download copyright files...

 

[HerbertTheHamster]

So if I torrent Cryis 2 fifty times on my neighbour's internet, does that mean that Crytek both loses sales and he goes to jail?

awesome