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07.23.10 Pirate ISP Stirring Controversy In Europe  By John VinsonThe long running struggle between internet pirates and ISPs, has taken an interesting turn this week. A new start-up provider, Pirate ISP, has launched in Sweden. The provider is hoping to make a statement to other ISPs concerning privacy, and their staunch adherence to copyright law. Pirate ISP is the creation of the Pirate Party, a political group who are hoping to bring change to Sweden and Europe. They were founded in 2006, and have grown beyond the boundaries of Sweden into the heart of Europe. Their goal is to bring reform to government, by protecting citizens' rights for online privacy. They also have been linked to fighting for copyright law reform, and getting rid of the patent system. How Pirate ISP will differ from other providers stems from how they handle customers' private information. They will not store IP addresses in their system, for any device used to access the internet. If the ISP becomes successful, this could be a huge thorn in the side of many law enforcement agencies who use IP addresses to track and catch potential online pirates. Gustav Nipe, CEO of Pirate ISP, doesn't mix words when explaining the reason behind the company, "We want to make more of a political statement about which internet service provider you use." Opponents of the Pirate Party, and by direct relation 'Pirate ISP' believe this decision does nothing more than provide pirates with the means to conduct unlawful activity without being found. Henrik Ponten, an attorney with the Swedish Anti-Piracy Bureau responded to the news, "Every month something happens like this. Everyone from the pirate side is trying to hide themselves." "If they are successful, it means that everyone who does something criminal will be drawn to them. If that is the case, then that's not just a problem for us, that's a problem for everyone. That will be a strong reason for society to do something about the internet service providers since society will never accept that an ISP would be a safe harbor for criminal activity." Many believe the ISP will be met with an injunction, or lawsuit eventually. Some speculate that the Pirate ISP is actually looking for a legal battle. There's a 'Data Retention Directive', which is a piece of EU legislation that requires members to store IP addresses, and other pieces of tele-com data. However, Pirate ISP could be looking at a specific stipulation in this directive. The law states that ISPs are bound by law to provide information concerning their users, that they have stored. However, if they don't store the information, then how can anything be provided to the law enforcement agencies? As the directive doesn't require the ISPs to store the information, but simply provide what they do have. While all of this might be occurring in Europe, it will still be interesting to see the outcome. If the Pirate ISP is able to stick around, might we see other gung-ho privacy advocates launch their own providers? About the Author: John is a staff writer for WebProNews. |
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