News

30.11.2010

Federal Supreme Court holds Logistep’s "Anti-piracy" tracking service unlawful

Logistep AG had been extracting the dynamic IP addresses of persons uploading copyright-protected works to P2P networks and then forwarding those addresses to the relevant copyright holders in order to allow them to identify the persons using the IP addresses by filing criminal complaints against “unknown” persons.
 

On September 8th 2010, the Swiss Federal Supreme Court ruled that under Swiss data protection law, a static or dynamic IP address is considered personal data and that Logistep AG’s practice constitutes an unlawful and unjustifiable breach of the privacy of the persons concerned. As a result, the court ordered Logistep AG to cease such processing activities. The decision of the Swiss Federal Supreme Court containing the detailed reasoning and motivation has not yet been published officially.

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Excerpt from www.data.protection.ch Copyright Walder Wyss Ltd., Zurich, Switzerland
This excerpt provides general information which may not be current or complete. It is not made available for the purpose of providing legal advice and it should not be relied upon as legal advice. Before taking any action with regard to the matters discussed in this excerpt, advice specifically addressing the applicable facts and circumstances should be obtained.