Danish ISPs That Teamed Up To Beat Back Copyright Trolls Get Huge Legal Win
from the clap-back dept
While the world over is dealing with the scourge that is copyright trolling, it is true to say that this virus has not spread everywhere equally. One of the hardest hit countries has been Denmark, where a few copyright trolling practices have caused an insane amount of headaches for the public, and chum within the court systems. It all got bad enough to turn rivals into bedfellows, with two major ISPs, Telenor and Telia, teaming up to push the legal fight to unmask their respective customers back on the copyright trolls. The duo’s initial efforts at convincing the legal system that the privacy rights of its customers trumped the rights of copyright trolls to extract settlement cash from them went poorly, with the District Court finding for the copyright trolls.
But the fight for customer privacy didn’t stop there and the companies appealed the case up to Denmark’s higher courts, which decided for the ISPs and consumer privacy.
“In its order based on telecommunications legislation, the Court has weighed subscribers’ rights to confidentiality of information regarding their use of the Internet against the interests of rightsholders to obtain information for the purpose of prosecuting claims against the subscribers,” the Court said in a statement.
Noting that the case raised important questions of European Union law and the European Convention on Human Rights, the High Court said that after due consideration it would overrule the decision of the District Court. The rights of the copyright holders do not trump the individuals right to privacy, it said.
“The telecommunications companies are therefore not required to disclose the names and addresses of their subscribers,” the Court ruled.
It’s a game-changing ruling for Denmark’s public. Assuming this is the end of it, copyright trolling as any kind of massive business model in Denmark ought to suffer a quick death. If the trolls can’t force ISPs to unmask customers with the faulty evidence of an IP address, the settlement letters will never go out, people will not be fooled into thinking they have to pay them, and the mass income off of these shady practices that make copyright trolling a viable enterprise goes away. We cannot stress enough how greatly this alleviates the public from a burden to defend itself against a flawed and pretend attempt at justice.
Telenor is not going to let anyone make light of it. Nor will they let the public gloss over its fight to protect them.
“This is an important victory for our right to protect our customers’ data,” said Telenor Denmark’s Legal Director, Mette Eistrøm Krüger.
“At Telenor we protect our customers’ data and trust – therefore it has been our conviction that we cannot be forced into almost automatically submitting personal data on our customers simply to support some private actors who are driven by commercial interests.”
A ruling like this should be equally welcome everywhere copyright trolling is a thing. Sadly, in far too many countries, ISPs and rightsholders are often the same people, which is what prevents this type of consumer-first activity from ever occurring.
Filed Under: copyright, copyright trolling, copyright trolls, denmark, isps, privacy
Companies: telenor, telia
Comments on “Danish ISPs That Teamed Up To Beat Back Copyright Trolls Get Huge Legal Win”
"Assuming this is the end of it" -- but it's NOT. Moneyed interests won't stand for it.
Don’t pop the top on a celebratory can yet, Geigner.
Re: ""Assuming this is the end of it" -- but it's NOT. Moneyed interests won't stand for it.
Huh. The “mobile” version allows longer than 64 character subject lines (though it’s possible is up again).
https://www.techdirt.com/?_format=lite
However, it just puts “Re:” when reply, ruining my possible use. — Can’t you be consistent in anything, Masnick?
Re: Re: Re:
Keep gobbling that corporate cock, blue boy! Feed those moneyed interests you love so much.
Re: Re: Re:
What, no bitching about how TorrentFreak reported this news first? You’re slipping, blue.
So much for that gleeful claim that the end of pirates was coming and being reported on TorrentFreak.
Love the idea..
But in practice, WHO do you protect??
THOSE 1,000,000 Paying for your services??
Or those 10 trying to get the info from you??
Re: Love the idea..
Either way works out well for the public, so whether it was purely a business decision or included an aspect of actually caring about their customers it’s still something to be happy about.
It is good that at least one country sees it for what it is, although I am disappointed that the scam artists are not enjoying the accommodations found within one of the Danish prisons.
True network neutrality and relegating data services to that of utilities would prevent this kind of thing in the US as well, but we all know how our corrupt Congress and FCC have “protected” the Internet.
I almost threw up with I read about the NRA’s gift and the reason for it to Pai.
Incredbly bad precedence
The situation flamed up again in 2015 when 866 people using TDC Denmark was sought unmasked for having allegedly downloaded “The Homesman”. TDC Denmark not even bothering commenting, let alone show up in court, leading to pretty much a default judgement against them and a ridiculous precedence for trolls to use (Whatever TDC got in return for that abuse of their customers is still unknown. TDC is the equivalent of AT&T, with monopoly and that she-bang!).
The case lead to another wave of the letter-trolling that has happened in waves after ISPs have “mysteriously” chosen not to defend their customers in court or courts have come out with bastardisations of the law. Modern letters are from the notoriously lackluster dilligence of Brandt & Lauritzen (in copyright-cases called OPUS, presumably to put some distance to these activities!) and Njord Law Firm (Not even trying to hide their malice! Acting on behalf of “Copyright Collection LTD”, talk about anonymous customers! Oh, the trolling irony!).
Both of those are known for basically doing the unmask, print C&D letters to their hearts desire with insufficiently substantiated claims and asking for a payment below cost of court to make them go away, but not acting on the letter if they were given no reply. You know the slimy drill! Btw. Njord Law Firm is a big respected advisor of EU on business law!
Telling 'problem'
If ‘you’re not allowed to demand personal information based upon one piece of trivial to spoof information in order to send out extortion letters’ is enough to sink their ‘business model’ then that’s just all the more evidence of how weak their position was in the first place.