Anti-Piracy Company Illegally Spied on P2P Users
Written by enigmax on March 17, 2008The organization responsible for privacy protection in Italy has declared that Logistep has been operating illegally. The Garante della Privacy says that the anti-piracy company breached the privacy of thousands of P2P users when it tracked and reported them to media companies. It has 14 days to cease and desist.
Right across Europe, Swiss anti-piracy tracking outfit Logistep has been gathering information about alleged file-sharers and selling it to copyright holders. They then use the information to make a business out of threatening legal action against file-sharers in order to get cash ‘compensation’.
Currently there are hundreds (maybe thousands) of people in the UK being threatened due to the data Logistep gathered for the Two Worlds, Dream Pinball 3D and Colin McRae cases. Across Europe, Logistep has tracked tens of thousands of P2P users, hammering Germany and Italy in particular.
In January 2008, on the back of a European Union statement that IP addresses should be regarded as personal data, it was declared that Logistep breached Swiss privacy laws when it spied on P2P users. It was ordered to stop collecting data about them.
Now, in what could be the beginning of the end for Logistep, the ‘Garante della Privacy’ - the Italian organization for data protection and privacy - has declared that Logistep has been acting illegally by spying on P2P users without their permission. In summary, the decision is based on the following points, all related to privacy breaches:
1. It is illegal for a private company such as Logistep to monitor the activities of P2P users on the Internet.
2. The use of P2P software is limited to communication with other P2P clients for the purposes of sharing files. Such software cannot be used for monitoring P2P users.
3. It is illegal to monitor users without their permission. None was requested, nor granted.
In conclusion, the Garante della Privacy has ordered Logistep to delete the data they collected about Italian P2P users by 31st March 2008, as it was gathered illegally.
This news will come as a huge relief for Italian P2P users as they have been aggressively targeted by Logistep. Many thousands of users received threatening letters demanding payments for up to 400 Euros, some of them for sharing a single song.
Now that it’s been decided that Logistep itself was committing the offenses (in many locales, data protection offenses are criminal in nature), it will remain to be seen if people have any chance of getting their payments back, or intend to take legal action themselves against Logistep for a breach of their privacy.
Those affected by this on-going saga in Germany and the UK will take encouragement from this decision. One guy involved in the UK Dream Pinball 3D case told TorrentFreak: “There is no way I’m paying now, 100%. Two countries have said that Logistep are breaching privacy laws so i’m going to take my chances. See you in court boys!”
Previously: LimeWire Store Opens for Business
Next: Ron Jeremy Takes on Porn Pirates
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Anti-Piracy Companies are full of batti bois
Another one bites the dust.
Rot in hell logistep :D
Grazi, Garante della Privacy : )
YEA! Another one down… dont forget to kick it in the teeth while walking past!
I hope hope hope hope hope hope they start to sue and bring legal action against these pricks, that will ensure that they are really wiped off the map.
I am Swiss myself, I share LOTS of files over P2P and I never got anything for it. Maybe Logistep doesn’t even “care” about Switzerland itself, but is more interested in getting money in other Countries.
This could have considerable implications for a lot of companies out there I guess.
Owned
Good news for the Europe community. :-)
@6 Well yeah Switzerland’s population is tiny compared to some of the other country’s around Europe. Anyways this is just extortion plain and simple. Actually it’s the worst kind of extortion. “Legal” blackmail. Greedy bastards!
Take that bitches!
Liberal laws are good. Of course it attracts the retired dictators, the money launderers and the usual parasites.
What I find specifically disgusting about the parasite Logistep is that they suck the money from the neighboring EU countries, not from swiss people. I would imagine they were stopped long ago if they tried to spy on swiss P2P users.
It’s certainly easier to harass people who can’t appeal to swiss jurisdiction because they live somewhere else. Thereby, Logistep is giving Switzerland a bad name. Even for the steadfast believers in copyright there, this should be reason enough to sue them into bankruptcy.
i suggest that anyone who have been threatened by these people, take legal action against them concerning privacy laws in the EU.
[quote comment="313273"]I am Swiss myself, I share LOTS of files over P2P and I never got anything for it. Maybe Logistep doesn’t even “care” about Switzerland itself, but is more interested in getting money in other Countries.[/quote]
First off, I love Switzerland, and think it is ideal/near-ideal in many, many ways, plus I love skiing and chocolate:)
Perhaps you haven’t been threatened, because you are far far FAR from the only P2P user in the country, and they limited themselves to threatening only a few thousand a week for a couple of years?
Great article Enigmax ;)
Fortunately we have a clever Garante :)
Someone Please stop these Money Making companies ” Anti-Piracy Companies ” !
Who the hell is Logistep and who allowed them to collect Personal information ? Are they from Government ? NO! ? then crack them down.
These Anti-Piracy Companies are making millions, spending nothing, just sending warnings and collecting $.
And who the hell is USA to control all internet usage ? Europe has his own Rules, No need to teach Europe what to do, if Europe is allowing filesharing, then don’t disturb Europe, Go fuck yourself Anti-Piracy Companies and USA Gov !
STOP THIS FUCKING NONSENSE.
Italian do it better
Michelangelo,Leonardo Da Vinci and now
il garante della privacy :-))
that whats those sons of bitches get!
[quote comment="313339"]Great article Enigmax ;)
Fortunately we have a clever Garante :)[/quote]
Thank you Sampei, I couldn’t do it without you ;)
Finally, a sensible decision.
[quote comment="313259"]Rot in hell logistep :D[/quote]
Word!
Someone force Logistep to drop it’s pants for some schooling…
Hopefully, they learn something. Stop spying on users!! You’re only hurting yourselves.
i’m not sure whether i’m a genius or a retard when t see things this way…
digital media is essentially made up of 1s and 0s arranged in a very specific way.therefor digital copyrights only applies to the whole and complete file,and not part of the incomplete file,ie,the very unique and specific way those 1s and 0s are laid out….
as far as i understand,my utorrrent only downloads the bit and pieces of a file all the time,ie,randomly arranged 1s and 0s,and maybe 2s somtimes,which is why i had lots of hash fails.the point is,how can anyone claims using p2p constitutes illegal downloading and copyright infringing?
we r just downloading meaningless 1s and 0s.
it is only illegal and copyright infringing once we had re-arranged the 1s and 0s we’d downloaded in a way that is identical to and/or resembles the copyrighted 1s and 0s.
then,and until then,we are innocent.
copyright infringment,or the act of copyright infringment can happen only after we had click “install” or “play” to the downloaded bits and bytes.
my point is,how can any1 determine that without going into our home and based it on the mere fact that we use some program to get random,useless 1,0,0,11,0,1,1,01,?
even the f.b.i. could’nt charge all those ped-0-files unless they can decrypt/unscramble thier hard drive to find the [u kno what]porn.
until then,they are just some sick man with randomly arranged 1s and 0s on thier hard drive……innocent.
that’s the best defence for p2p i think……or i’m just another ace hall ?
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