[Rt4-whois] Judge: An IP-Address Doesn’t Identify a Person

[Lutz Donnerhacke]

http://torrentfreak.com/judge-an-ip-address-doesnt-identify-a-person-120503/
[...]
 The copyright holders who start these cases generally provide nothing more
 than an IP-address as evidence. They then ask the courts to grant a
 subpoena, allowing them to ask Internet providers for the personal details
 of the alleged offenders.

 The problem, however, is that the person listed as the account holder is
 often not the person who downloaded the infringing material. Or put
 differently; an IP-address is not a person.
[...]
 One of the arguments discussed in detail is the copyright holders’ claim
 that IP-addresses can identify the alleged infringers. According to Judge
 Brown this claim is very weak.

 “The assumption that the person who pays for Internet access at a given
 location is the same individual who allegedly downloaded a single sexually
 explicit film is tenuous, and one that has grown more so over time,” he
 writes.

 “An IP address provides only the location at which one of any number of
 computer devices may be deployed, much like a telephone number can be used
 for any number of telephones.”

 “Thus, it is no more likely that the subscriber to an IP address carried
 out a particular computer function – here the purported illegal downloading
 of a single pornographic film – than to say an individual who pays the
 telephone bill made a specific telephone call.”

 The Judge continues by arguing that having an IP-address as evidence is
 even weaker than a telephone number, as the majority of US homes have a
 wireless network nowadays. This means that many people, including complete
 strangers if one has an open network, can use the same IP-address
 simultaneously.


The consequences for WHOIS access are ...