[governance] Re: France To Require Internet Service Providers To Filter Infringing Music

[Meryem Marzouki]

Le 27 nov. 07 à 22:25, Dan Krimm a écrit :

> Another question I heard elsewhere is: does the deep packet inspection
> violate EU privacy laws?

I'm not sure I understand what you mean by "deep packet inspection"  
here? What I can tell you is that French data protection law, when it  
has been revised in 2004, has granted new powers to IP right holders:  
it has allowed collecting societies to create private records of  
rights infringers through the collection of their IP addresses in P2P  
networks. This has not been found unconstitutional.. because there is  
still the need for a legal order to get the personal details  
corresponding to these IP addresses from ISPs.
To my knowledge, what IP collecting societies has been doing is: mark  
some bait files, share them on P2P networks, and trace them as well  
as IP addresses of users who download or upload them in their turn.

In case you're interested in more details (in English), you may refer  
to the 'French Republic' chapter of the annual EPIC "Privacy and  
Human Rights" worldwide survey: as I'm the one updating this chapter  
yearly, you'll find there most of what I can tell on this issue.

The real issue here is the status of the IP address: is it a personal  
data? It seems that it is not anymore, at least in France (see http:// 
www-polytic.lip6.fr/article.php3?id_article=188 for quick comments on  
latest developments).

> Bottom line, yes this is distinctly alarming.  Then again, it could  
> simply
> lead to P2P developers designing encrypted distributed-P2P  
> applications to
> foil the DPI.

Frankly, I don't think that this race is a solution (further  
encryption then further criminalization, etc.). The only solution  
would be an adapted economic model to the online distribution of  
music and videos (a la 'legal licence' or flatfee), but there is  
still a long way to go..

Meryem

--
Meryem Marzouki - http://www.iris.sgdg.org
IRIS - Imaginons un réseau Internet solidaire
40 rue de la Justice - 75020 Paris

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