In a court ruling that may end computer piracy for ever, a Los Angeles judge ordered BitTorrent search site TorrentSpy to log its users' activity and provide that information to The Motion Picture Association of America. At present, TorrentSpy keeps no records of who its users are, where they log in from, and what they choose to download.
The ruling is in the words of Electronic Frontier Foundation attorney Fred von Lohmann, "unprecedented."
"In general, a defendant is not required to create new records to hand over in discovery," von Lohmann said. "We shouldn't let Web site logging policies be set by litigation."
"It is likely that TorrentSpy would turn off access to the U.S. before tracking its users," TorrentSpy attorney Ira Rothken said. "If this order were allowed to stand, it would mean that Web sites can be required by discovery judges to track what their users do even if their privacy policy says otherwise."
Look for the ruling to be appealed by TorrentSpy.
Read the article after the jump. [CNet.com]
