TorrentSpy ruling a 'weapon of mass discovery'

[Hairbautt]

"It was a pro-copyright ruling that stunned nearly everyone dealing with the issue of online piracy."

A federal judge in Los Angeles has determined that "a computer server's RAM, or random-access memory, is a tangible document that can be stored and must be turned over in a lawsuit." Needless to say with such a standing order, privacy issues are at an all time high with regards to web anonymity.

Ken Withers, director of judicial education at The Sedona Conference (an independent research group) states that "...people's fears about a potential invasion of privacy are quite warranted." He continues to say that: "The fear is that we're putting in the hands of private citizens and particularly well-financed corporations the same tools that heretofore were exclusively in the hands of criminal prosecutors, but without the sort of safeguards that criminal prosecutors have to meet, such as applying for search warrants."

In this particular case of using a computer's RAM as evidence, Dean McCarron--a principle analyst at Mercury Research--said that "the judge is erred by defining volatile computer memory as 'electronically stored information'." However, McCarron describes that a 'tap' can be used on servers in which it can store a running log of IP addresses and other information, but would prove expensive with so much data.

With the battle between TorrentSpy and the MPAA, the studios have, however, convinced the U.S. Magistrate Judge Jacqueline Chooljian that "it was necessary that they obtain records of user activity" where they convinced her to order the data be obtained from the server's RAM since TorrentSpy is allowed to redact IP addresses.

Judge Chooljian has stayed the order for TorrentSpy to log and mask IP's pending an appeal filed on Tuesday.

Source: C|Net News.com

[mbucari1]

If the ram is evidence, then they should reboot the server. Evidence Wiped.

[zeustke165]

Even easier than that, take out the stick of ram and deliver it to the court house... have them see what data they can get off of it...

[mbucari1]

Even easier than that, take out the stick of ram and deliver it to the court house... have them see what data they can get off of it...

lol, that'd make a good story

[deuce6000]

This is no good

[ulun64]

Another IT illiterate judge!!!!

[Jiminamsterdam]

Looks like the US goverment and it's republican puppet judiciary are on the way to yet another milestone in the infringement of civil liberties giving companys the right to make and impose their will as law.
Beware ! this reminds me of just how the Nazi regime quietly stripped away the rights of German citizens, not from one day to the next, but gradually eroding away and testing just how far they could go without any serious objection, most of which was only possible through the support and finance of major industrialists, who behind the scenes had far more influence on the dictates of goverment policy and the making of law than one might suspect.

Once again beware of your present goverment hold them accountable for their actions and remember they are supossed to represent you in accordance with and in the spirit of the constitution, let them not forget they are public servants, it is the office of president we must respect not necessarialy the person occupying it.

[mbucari1]

Looks like the US goverment and it's republican puppet judiciary are on the way to yet another milestone in the infringement of civil liberties giving companys the right to make and impose their will as law.
Beware ! this reminds me of just how the Nazi regime quietly stripped away the rights of German citizens, not from one day to the next, but gradually eroding away and testing just how far they could go without any serious objection, most of which was only possible through the support and finance of major industrialists, who behind the scenes had far more influence on the dictates of goverment policy and the making of law than one might suspect.

Once again beware of your present goverment hold them accountable for their actions and remember they are supossed to represent you in accordance with and in the spirit of the constitution, let them not forget they are public servants, it is the office of president we must respect not necessarialy the person occupying it.

Better not say things like that if you ever become a teacher in the us

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jay_Bennish

[vipaar]

This is laughable, it`s obvious that the judge is completely clueless about technology, an appeal is sure to succeed as it`s near impossible to provide what the court is ordering, only a massive logging of what the ram holds for every millisecond of operation could even come close to meeting the order and that would cause such a slowdown in the OS operation that the dreaded BSOD would happen almost constantly, just on startup alone the amount of logging would probably cause the PC to shutdown