It has been a pretty bad week for UK antipiracy law firm Gallant Macmillan and their client, independent music label Ministry of Sound.
After a DDoS attack on both company’s websites Sunday, the internet service providers involved in their current copyright infringement suit refused to hand over requested subscriber identities on Wednesday.
While the two ISPs, Plusnet and BT, have complied with past requests, they declined to cooperate with this case citing concerns about the recent ACS:Law data leak.
“We want to ensure broadband subscribers are adequately protected so that rights holders can pursue their claims for copyright infringement without causing unnecessary worry to innocent people,” said Plusnet’s COO, Richard Fletcher. “We have not simply consented to these orders in the past, we have asked for stricter terms as public concern has risen. The data leak with ACS:Law prompted us to take further action today.”
The ISP’s are also asking for all other outstanding requests for user data to be suspended by the High Court. That decision is on hold until the hearing reconvenes on January 12th, 2011.
It seems that in a way, the group Anonymous has made some headway for their citizen’s rights cause with recent DDoS attacks against firms associated with these antipiracy lawsuits. The ACS:Law incident Plusnet and BT referred to in their refusal was a result of an employee’s mistake while trying to recover from one of the attacks.
And Anonymous isn’t done yet. A representative from the organization made it clear in an interview with Panda Labs this week that the attacks will “keep going until we stop being angry.”
I think it’s a great step that the ISPs are beginning to recognize the flaws in the system, and standing up against Gallant Macmillan is a step in the right direction. Until these firms learn how to use ethical tactics in their prosecution, they don’t deserve anyone’s personal data.
