Piracy on wireless Internet raises legal challenges

As the recording industry pursues illegal music traders, how does it prove who was actually doing the stealing?

Wednesday, February 25, 2004

Think twice the next time you access the Internet at home on your wireless laptop.

Your next-door neighbour, even passersby outside your home, could be tagging along for the ride and leave no trace of their online adventures, such as sharing music files, something the Canadian Recording Industry Association is intent on prosecuting.

CRIA's attempt last week to get names and addresses of suspected heavy music traders from the country's top Internet-service providers underscores the difficulty of telling the good guys from the bad guys over the Internet.

Routers that cost less than $100 not only let many computers share one Internet connection, they create a firewall to protect the identity of every connected computer. That makes it difficult to track down who exactly is copying music illegally, an argument the ISPs used to delay a court hearing to March 12 on the recording industry's request.

"It's like them asking us to give them the key to the front door to catch a suspect who doesn't even live there," said Shaw's president, Peter Bissonnette.

Canadian ISPs are not required to log their customer's Internet traffic and most don't.

"What CRIA will get is an address that could lead to hundreds of other addresses," said Michael Whitt, patent and trademark agent and technology group chairperson at law firm Borden Ladner and Gervais. "If you have a wireless router for laptop computers, you don't have a chance of proving identity."

ISPs say they co-operate with the law and, with a proper warrant, do log suspect customers' Internet traffic. But, "we can't accurately log a computer that is behind a router's firewall," said Mike Black, director of product management for Telus's consumer division.

Richard Pfohl, general counsel for the Canadian Recording Industry Association, wouldn't identify the technologies the association is using to identify copyright infringers, or discuss their accuracy. But, he said, "we are confident in our actions."

But even if you can identify the computer used to copy music illegally, is the Interne-account owner responsible for what others might have used it for?

They are, according to Pfohl. "The infringers whom we identify will be the service subscribers, who are almost certain to be adults. Subscribers need to know that they are responsible for illegal activities committed using their personal computers and accounts."

Other industry observers say CRIA will have to go beyond the owner of an Internet subscription.

"It's not enough for our cyber-crime prosecutions to trace the activity back to the computer," said Alberta's special crown prosecutor, Steve Bilodeau.

"We have to find whose hands are on the keyboard to figure out who did it."

Adding to the confusion is a December ruling of the Copyright Board of Canada saying it is legal to download music, but allowing others to download it from your computer to theirs probably is a copyright infringement.