Swedish ISP Fights Anti-File-Sharing Law

[SonsOfLiberty]

Will no longer store IP address data, making investigations “impossible” say police.


Last week Swedish ISP Tele 2 announced that as result of demands from it customers it will stop storing their IP addresses in a bid to fight back against the country’s passage of a law making it easier for copyright holders to go after individual file-sharers.

“In certain cases, this will make an investigation impossible,” said Stefan Kronkvist, the head of Swedish police’s internet crime unit.

Passed on April 1st, the law allows copyright holders to seek court orders forcing ISPs to divulge the names associated with IP addresses suspected of sharing content illegally.

However, Tele 2 says it studied the anti-piracy legislation and concluded that it had no legal obligation to store IP addresses.

Tele 2 is the second ISP to refuse to comply with attempts by copyright holders to go after suspected file-sharers.

“We will erase the IP addresses after they have been used for our internal use, starting today,” Niclas Palmstierna, Tele2’s managing director for Sweden, told AFP.

MP Karl Sigfrid of the Swedish Moderate Party has been against the new anti-file-sharing crackdown from the beginning, and has urged ISPs to follow in Tele 2’s footsteps and discontinue the practice of storing IP addresses.

“I have myself sent an e-mail to my internet provider Bredbandsbolaget and asked them to stop keeping records of IP-addresses”, says Sigfrid to news agency TT.

With reports that Internet traffic has dropped by almost half since April 1st, the day the law took effect, providing customers with a degree of anonymity may just be what Swedish ISPs need if they wish to maintain a healthy customer base.

Source: ISP's Fight

[Tom0102]

Great news. Hopefully most ISP's will follow

[cinephilia]

good news. hoping that ISPs from other countries follow the movment if the laws allow it.

[captive]

i wonder how long it will be until a law is passed requiring isp`s to keep records. they will say they need it for counter terrorism/fraud etc. etc. but the reality will be it will be another insidious way of keeping tabs on the general public and their browsing/downloading habbits.

[ulun64]

Everyone in Sweden should subscribe to Tele2 to give support.

[SonsOfLiberty]

Well there are 2 now.

[knivesreturns]

'bout time someone stands up to the mafiaa!

[danne]

Actually Tele2 was the second company to go public with this (Bahnhof was the first). And a law covering that is already on it's way (was even before any isp announced how they would treat the information). It's not specifically aimed at this, but will still come into play.

As for most other isps in Sweden, they say "we don't keep it on record any longer than we 'have' to" - whatever that means...