Originally posted by duotiga83:
SingNet: We did not 'consent' to Odex
SINGNET has clarified that it did not 'consent' to demands by Odex
to hand over details about subscribers allegedly downloading
pirated Japanese cartoons, called anime.
The Internet service provider (ISP), which is being slammed online
for its apparent capitulation in the controversial case, says in no
way did it help Odex's application.
SingNet spokesman Chia Boon Chong said, 'We reject all requests
from third parties for information pertaining to our customers. We
will release such information only under a court order or if the
law enforcement and regulatory agencies demand such information
from us.'
In Odex's case, as it does in all such cases, he said, the firm
would 'entrust the courts to apply the law and make a
ruling'.
The Telecommunications Competition Code prohibits ISPs from
disclosing subscriber information without a court order, and a
spokesman for the Infocomm Development Authority said SingNet had
not breached the code.
Odex won court orders earlier this year to get SingNet and StarHub
to disclose names of subscribers allegedly downloading anime.
When Odex failed to obtain a similar order against Pacific Internet
(PacNet) last Thursday, people began wondering why.
Online attacks against SingNet intensified after District Judge
Ernest Lau published in his written judgement that 'for the SingNet
case, the orders were made by consent'. He also said that SingNet
did not even appear in court. Different judges had ruled in all
three cases.
Many people, including corporate counsel and Nominated Member of
Parliament Siew Kum Hong, interpreted this to mean that SingNet had
agreed to Odex's application, thus expediting it.
Online users thus felt SingNet had betrayed them, and this probably
fuelled the online outrage against the ISP, said Mr Siew, who
maintains a well-read blog.
In fact, when he first read of
SingNet's "consent", he wanted to raise the issue of subscriber
information privacy at parliament's next sitting next month.
StarHub, which was not reported to have given its "consent" to Odex
and which had sent lawyers to the hearing, appears to have taken
less heat, although it also lost.
Odex wanted subscribers' names so it could send letters demanding
settlement for alleged copyright infriengement.
Applications like the one Odex sought are known as "pre-action
discovery" and are used by firms to assess if there is enough
evidence to make a case.
Lawyers say they are usually routine affairs, but they believe they
may become harder to get due to the publicity over SingNet's
response.
This was because "other judges will likely scrutinise such
applications even if ISPs do not do anything in future," said Mr
Siew, adding that this would be a "good thing for privacy".
Even as he turned down Odex's application, Judge Lau warned Net
users that privacy is not meant to be a shield behind which they
can steal intellectual property.
"If a clear case of infringement is proven," he wrote, "copyright
owners and their exclusive licensees can expect pre-action
assistance from the court."
Original source:
http://www.straitstimes.com/Latest%2BNews/Singapore/STIStory_152613.html
Extended brown source: The Straits Times Aug 29th 2007, Pg H4
Eh okay i typed out the rest of the article from the printed
edition of the straits times today.. enjoy! =)
