Re: ISP logs

Tom Chance wrote:

>On Thursday 07 Apr 2005 00:47, Paul Walker wrote:
>  
>
>>>ISPs in the UK are more reluctant to /give out/ an individual's actual
>>>ISP logs and address, unless you are the complainant yourself and are
>>>making an allegation, via a solicitor. in this case i believe they would
>>>      
>>>
>>This is the part the original poster was actually asking about, if I read
>>his email correctly, not whether you could get contact details from a
>>domain. :-)
>>    
>>
>
>I'm asking because a copyright "enforcement" group claims that it is asking 
>ISPs for individuals' addresses. The group claims that it then, with the 
>assistance of the police or Trading Standards, gets a search warrant and 
>checks the individual out.
>
>They're tracking people who have downloaded content from websites, not who 
>have hosted it, so WHOIS records wouldn't be much use.
>
>To me this sounds like they'd need a decent amount of evidence, both to get 
>the address of the individual and to then get a search warrant. Given that, 
>from website logs, they'd only know if a person downloaded it (legally), I 
>can't see how they'd ever be able to present enough evidence to say that the 
>individual is using the copyrighted work illegitimately (e.g. by breaking a 
>license agreement) just from web server logs and, if they got it, ISP logs.
>
>Just wondering if they're overstating their powers for the sake of more FUD.
>
>Regards,
>Tom
>  
>

I dont think so... i think its just as easy to track downloaded content. 
All you need to do is to subscribe to BigChampagne - a tool that the 
RIAA itself uses to track Limewire / Gnutella / Kazaa etc downloads to 
see which music is most in demand (and then ironically goes out and sues 
those who are downloading).

Its not hard. My examples above perhaps weren't pertinent to the case at 
hand, but they show how simple it is for someone to 'socially engineer' 
information or a court allegation. Given the state of paranoia that ISPs 
are in at present, and the amount of discussion via Usenet or other 
forums, it would not be hard for an experienced social engineer to 
gather such information. Yes, it would require a search warrant, but 
given the hype over new copyright enforcement, it would be quite easy to 
obtain, and pressure is high on ISPs to comply.

mC~


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