UK ISPs Refusing To Hand Over Subscriber Data To Pre-Settlement Lawyers Due To ACS:Law Data Leaks

from the oh,-now-they-decide-this? dept

Tue, Oct 5th 2010 4:52am — Mike Masnick

The fallout from the ACS:Law email leak continues. Law firm Gallant Macmillan, who only recently jumped into the pre-settlement shakedown game, went to court this week to seek the names of various people it wanted to send such letters to and UK ISPs BT and Plusnet -- who had previously cooperated with such requests -- refused to hand over the information, citing the privacy issues raised by the fact that ACS:Law did not properly store and privatize the information it received on subscribers. Of course, it's a bit weak to wait until now to make this complaint. These ISPs should have been standing up for their users from the beginning. Still, better late than never.

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Filed Under: pre-settlement, privacy, uk
Companies: acs:law, bt, gallant macmillan, plusnet

7 Comments

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Hephaestus (profile), 5 Oct 2010 @ 6:38am

I think that US ISP's are now weighing their options legally. Wondering if perhaps they to should stop cooperating with people requesting peoples names based on their IP addresses. Perhaps thinking class action lawsuit, wiretap laws, constitutional violations and the money it will cost on the back end.
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out_of_the_blue, 5 Oct 2010 @ 8:00am

We can hope that ISPs get badly burned.
But the obvious likely solution is to cut them in for a share of profits. I suppose it's possible that the current scheme -- accusation by IP address -- will collapse, but I'm never hopeful when large amounts of money are available to bribe *everyone* in the process. So if it stalls, expect RIAA etc to put money in.
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Hephaestus (profile), 5 Oct 2010 @ 8:21am

Re: We can hope that ISPs get badly burned.
"But the obvious likely solution is to cut them in for a share of profits."

That would be a public relations nightmare for the ISP.
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rabbit80, 5 Oct 2010 @ 8:32am

Re: We can hope that ISPs get badly burned.
the music industry in general (with the exception of Ministry of Sound and a few others) are pretty much staying away from this extortion scheme. I guess they realised that mud sticks and that this was only ever going to fail.

Its been an interesting few weeks though - and hopefully will result in putting an end to these "Pay us or else" mass litigation campaigns. So far ACS:Law appears to have fallen, the Gallant Macmillan website is still down, the Ministry of Sound website is still down - people are now starting to take notice!

Hopefully BT / Plusnet have learnt their own lessons in this fiasco - BT are likely to get fined for breach of a court order as well as transmitting personal details unencrypted via email. BSkyB have somehow managed to keep extremely quiet through all of this - but have lost the trust and sympathy of thousands in the process. How much financial harm has / will it do them? Time will tell.
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NAMELESS.ONE, 5 Oct 2010 @ 9:02am

@4
huh?
they took money its in the documents "client"
Also tons of them IP trolls in the USA are following suit and doing the same thing

slyck.com have a look
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The eejit (profile), 5 Oct 2010 @ 3:14pm

Re: Re: We can hope that ISPs get badly burned.
Well, BSkyB is owned by Newscorp, so they'll stay quiet. the silence from Sky News has been deafening. BT are currently being investigated for Contempt of Court.
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Anonymous Coward, 6 Oct 2010 @ 10:17am

Can we thank 4chan now?

@rabbit80 it's only my opinion but I think that if 3 strikes become law in the US (G-d forbid), you'll see the RIAA going back to demanding people be kicked out of the internet with no trial. I think it was getting too expensive and ineffective, but the law would definitively change that.
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