Court Gives Canadians More Time To Fight Copyright Troll Voltage

from the one-step-at-a-time dept

There has been a considerable amount of debate as to whether Canadian ISP TekSavvy should be doing more to protect its customer info from Voltage, the well-known copyright troll that is seeking subscriber information on thousands of IP addresses that allegedly shared infringing movies over BitTorrent. Though TekSavvy is still not directly opposing the motion, today it fought hard for an adjournment to give CIPPIC, a public interest group, time to request intervener status in the case. According to live tweets from some people covering the hearing, that adjournment was granted shortly after noon today.

While there is still a significant question as to whether TekSavvy should be taking a more direct role (as well as some pushback on that idea), today's events represent a victory for TekSavvy's customers, who now have someone (CIPPIC) taking up their cause, or at least trying to.

It also looks like the judge understands the complexity, and the gravity, of the situation. Apparently the judge has been asking questions about the specifics of what an IP address represents, the impact of Canada's new copyright legislation, and the overall implications of the case. The judge also suggested that this will not be resolved in a single day.

This case still has a long way to go, but it looks like we may be headed towards a full-scale test case for copyright trolling practices in Canada, with a judge who seeks a clear understanding of the issues at play. That, for now, is a good place to be.

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Filed Under: canada, cippic, copyright, copyright trolling, privacy

Companies: teksavvy, voltage