James Delahunty
28 Aug 2007 21:36
Even though we already reported recently that Torretspy blocked users from the United States to keep logs it is being forced to hand over to the Motion Picture Association of America (MPAA) as empty as possible, there is an extra detail to this case that is very interesting. As per Torrentspy's privacy policy, it never logged tracking information on its users.
Torrentspy had fought the MPAA's requests to force Torrenyspy to log user activity and provide it to the trade group, arguing that privacy laws in the Netherlands (where the servers are located) prevented it from both maintaining and disclosing logs. The site also argued that log data wasn't available since it is only exists in RAM for a period of time and is never permanently stored.
The magistrate judge didn't agree with the argument and now neither did Judge Florence-Marie Cooper. She disagreed that data in the RAM is not "stored", saying the storage of data in RAM, even as temporary, makes it electronically stored information governed by federal discovery rules. She also dismissed concerns that the ruling could have a significant impact as far as record-keeping obligations.
"The Court notes that this decision does not impose an additional burden on any website operator or party outside of this case," reads the order. "It simply requires that the defendants in this case, as part of this litigation... begin preserving and subsequently produce a particular subset of the data in RAM under Defendants' control." Since Torrentspy doesn't log, it doesn't really affect this case, but the example has been set for data stored temporarily in RAM
Source:
Ars Technica