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!”

Source: TorrentFreak, for the latest info on copyright, file-sharing and anonymous VPN services.

Currently there are hundreds of people in the UK being threatened due to the data Logistep gathered for the Two Worlds, Dream Pinball 3D and Colin McRae cases. Having heard nothing for 12 months after receiving their initial threats through the post, people accused of sharing the pinball game are now being threatened again – and some are getting more worried that this isn’t going to go away. Or is it?

We mentioned in a previous article how P2P tracking companies are seen by some to be breaching privacy laws. It seems Logistep has come to the attention of the data protection commissioner in Switzerland (EDÖB -Eidgenössische Datenschutz- und Öffentlichkeitsbeauftragte). He believes there is a problem with Logistep handling personal data, when it’s far from clear that the person being spied on has even committed an offense.

TorrentFreak spoke to Christian Solmecke, a lawyer defending five hundred file sharers in Germany, for more details. He told us: “In my eyes we have a similar problem here in Germany. The data protection commissioner is of the opinion, that collecting data (which is against telecommunications secrecy laws in Switzerland) is only allowed in the context of a criminal prosecution and not in private [civil] law.”

Lawyers Davenport Lyons acting for the copyright holders in the UK show the court ‘evidence’ from Logistep, saying they need it for a criminal case, so that they can obtain a court order. Once they have the order to force the ISP to hand over the alleged file-sharer’s personal details, they pursue a purely civil action to get compensation.

So what happens next? Christian told us: “The EDÖB suggests that Logistep should stop collecting data about P2P users. Logistep now has 30 days to comply, otherwise the EDÖB will bring the case to the Federal Administrative Court of Switzerland.”

Adding further momentum to the IP address/privacy issue, the European Union’s data privacy regulators said on Monday that IP addresses should be considered personal data. Germany’s data protection commissioner, Peter Scharr, told a European Parliament hearing on data protection that when an individual is identified by his IP address “then it has to be regarded as personal data.”

A court in the UK would no doubt be interested in the questionable legality surrounding the data harvesting carried out by Logistep, should a UK file-sharer in these cases ever see a court room. Up to now, there’s not been much more activity, other than threatening letters. However, Davenport Lyons has implied it gained a court ‘victory’ on December 17th following ‘Final Warning’ letters it sent to people in the ‘pinball’ case recently. However, this appears to be a ‘victory’ against someone who just didn’t bother to turn up in court. Some precedent.

Christian Solmecke works as a lawyer in Germany at the Cologne Chambers of Lawyers Wilde & Beuger.

Source: TorrentFreak, for the latest info on copyright, file-sharing and anonymous VPN services.