The Supreme Court made a ruling about ISPs and the downloading of music. What is the thrust of the ruling?
The Supreme Court dismissed an action brought by the Canadian Recording Industry Association (CRIA) against 29 individuals for loss of revenue by downloading music files and file-sharing by using directories known as peer-to-peer (P2P). (The major ISPs did not disclose the identities of their clients citing privacy concerns). The judge ruled under the Personal Information Protection and Electronic Documents Act (PIPEDA) that ISPs cannot disclose personal information without a client’s consent and that it requires a court order. The ruling said that downloading music for personal use or sharing is not an infringement of copyright nor is it considered distribution. The Court also ruled that ISPs cannot be held responsible for distribution of material by their clients. The Society of Composers, Authors and Music Publishers of Canada sought to collect royalties from Canadian ISPs on copyrighted music distributed through their networks. However, the court ruled ISPs merely act as intermedia
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