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BRUSSELS, Belgium (AP) - Copyright groups may not be able to demand that telecom companies hand over the names and addresses of people suspected of swapping music illegally online, a senior legal adviser to the EU's highest court said.
Advocate General Juliane Kokott, advising the European Court of Justice, said Wednesday that EU law directs governments to resist the disclosure of personal data on Internet traffic in civil cases — unlike criminal cases, where compliance would be required.
Promusicae, a nonprofit group of Spanish music producers, made a legal complaint against Spain's largest Internet provider, Telefonica, for not handing over the names and addresses linked to computers the group believes used the peer-to-peer file-sharing tool Kazaa to distribute copyrighted songs.
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