We were just noting how Europe seemed to recognize that having ISPs simply hand over the IP addresses of individuals could be a violation of privacy, and along comes the EU's top court to confirm that stance. The European Court of Justice has come down with a decision stating that entertainment industry companies cannot force ISPs to hand over IP addresses, though local governments could put in place rules that would compel them to do so. It seems rather interesting that just as the entertainment industry is pushing for increased ISP liability, the courts are recognizing the sorts of privacy issues this raises. It makes you wonder how the courts will feel when the entertainment industry tells ISPs they need to monitor every file transferred to make sure it contains no unauthorized material.

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