James Moore, architect of S-4, in 2010. Image: Kris Krüg
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Industry Minister James Moore—the man responsible for the bill—rejected that S-4 would create a system of extra-judicial copyright vigilantism.
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In a controversial decision, the court sided with Voltage, granting them access to the list of infringers. However, the judge slapped restrictions on the company’s ability to go after the infringers. Namely, it made the court an arbiter of these sorts of requests, giving judges the ability to scrutinize whether the demands were legitimate, or whether the company is attempting a throw-it-at-the-wall-and-see-what-sticks approach.Yet, another recent court decision might frustrate these efforts. In R. v. Spencer, the Supreme Court ruled that law enforcement agencies will need to get warrants if they want ISPs to cough up users’ information. The court did not say anything about how private corporations (to which the Charter doesn’t apply), can share information between each other.Sabec’s plan is essentially to side-step the courts. The company counts media giant BMG as a client and thinks it has found the perfect model for if and when that happens. By only requesting $20 per infringement, they can go after downloaders without getting the bad press of bankrupting teenagers and single moms.A Vancouver lawyer said that he’s never heard of a case of copyright trolling here in Canada, but notes he’d welcome the change.
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