A US judge has expressed his disapproval towards MPAA and RIAA's anti-piracy efforts, including suing internet subscribers whose accounts were used to download four pornographic films "abusive litigation". He also criticised legal arguments that an IP address is a valid way to identify an individual online.
"However, the assumption that the person who pays for Internet access at a given location is the same individual who allegedly downloaded a single sexually explicit film is tenuous, and one that has grown more so over time. An IP address provides only the location at which one of any number of computer devices may be deployed, much like a telephone number can be used for any number of telephones", judge Gary R. Brown said in a statement.
"Most, if not all, of the IP-addresses will actually reflect a wireless router or other networking device, meaning that while the ISPs will provide the name of its subscriber, the alleged infringer could be the subscriber, a member of his or her family, an employee, invitee, neighbor or interloper."
"Thus, it is no more likely that the subscriber to an IP address carried out a particular computer function – here the purported illegal downloading of a single pornographic film – than to say an individual who pays the telephone bill made a specific telephone call."
