Potential Landmark Decision In TorrentSpy VS. MPAA Infringement Battle
Judge Jacqueline Chooljian of the Central District of California in Los Angeles, issued a landmark decision while presiding over the battle between the Motion Picture Association of America (MPAA) and TorrentSpy. Last year the MPAA sued TorrentSpy, a BitTorrent search engine, for copyright infringement.
On May 29, Chooljian ordered TorrentSpy to begin logging user activity from a server’s Random Access Memory (RAM), including IP addresses, and turn the data over to the MPAA. According to reports, this is the first time that a court classified a computer’s Random Access Memory as “stored information,” which could have far reaching implications.
The MPAA has successfully argued that temporary data stored in RAM is “electronically stored information” and can be utilized as evidence.
Prior to this decision, sites such as TorrentSpy simply deactivated the logging function on their servers to avoid storing user data to skirt the issue. The judge “stayed the order on Friday” to allow TorrentSpy time to prepare an appeal, which must be filed by tomorrow.
