PHLtech

Tuesday, August 28, 2007

Judge: TorrentSpy Must Preserve Data in RAM

"A federal judge has upheld a magistrate's decision forcing TorrentSpy to enable server logging so the Motion Picture Association of America can obtain the IP addresses of those connecting to BitTorrent files via the service. There's one small hitch for the MPAA, though. TorrentSpy has decided to block access by US residents, ensuring that the MPAA will find little of interest in the log files and rendering the court's decision moot—at least for this case."


"It could, however, have far-reaching ramifications beyond this case. Under this interpretation, any data stored in RAM could be subject to a subpoena, as at a basic level it is a "medium from which information can be obtained" just like a hard drive."

This is too true. What happens when we can decode the signals in our brain that represent sights, sounds, smells, memories? These then would be a "medium from which information can be obtained". Thoughts could be subpoenaed. People could then be convicted of their thoughts, which is a very dangerous position for a government to be in. China is already trying to completely govern what people say. Technology could eventually allow governments to monitor and govern what people think. 

The point is that technology is changing very fast and we must try to anticipate our future capabilities so that the laws we make now don't come back to bite us in the future. 

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