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Dutch ISPs can refuse P2P data demand, says judge
Brein dead? Data sniffers may have looked at private parts...

By Reuters

Published: Thursday 14 July 2005

A Dutch judge ruled on Tuesday that internet service providers would not have to hand over names or addresses of customers who may be illegally swapping films, music and other copyright-protected files.

Brein, a Dutch organisation representing 52 media and entertainment companies, had acquired IP addresses - unique computer identification numbers - of file swappers and requested personal details behind these IP addresses from five large internet service providers.

The service providers - Essent, KPN, Tiscali, UPC and Wanadoo - refused to hand over the details, arguing that only a criminal trial court could demand them.

The case was subsequently brought to a civil court in the city of Utrecht, where a judge ruled that although he was allowed to order the ISPs to submit the personal data, the plaintiffs had not met the necessary conditions to warrant such an order.

The judge said in the court ruling: "Brein has sought help from a research company, which has looked at the shared folders on computers of the file swappers. In that process it may have accessed private files."

"The judge does not deem this correct, because according to Dutch law, privacy is insufficiently protected in the United States," the ruling said.

Christiaan Alberdingk Thijm, the attorney for the five ISPs, welcomed the ruling as "an important victory for the privacy of internet users".

"Private organisations cannot start sniffing around on someone else's computer and collect data," he added.