Bonnier AG: "it's lawful if you do it lawfully .."

Case C-461/10 Bonnier Audio AB, Earbooks AB, Norstedts Förlagsgrupp AB, Piratförlaget Aktiebolag, Storyside AB v Perfect Communication Sweden AB is a reference to the Court of Justice of the European Union for a preliminary ruling which originates from the Swedish Högsta domstolen. Two questions were referred:

"1. Does Directive 2006/24 ... on the retention of data generated or processed in connection with the provision of publicly available electronic communications services or of public communications networks and amending Directive 2002/58/EC (the data storage directive), and in particular Articles 3, 4, 5 and 11 thereof, preclude the application of a national provision which is based on Article 8 of Directive 2004/48 ...on the enforcement of intellectual property rights and which permits an internet service provider in civil proceedings, in order to identify a particular subscriber, to be ordered to give a copyright holder or its representative information on the subscriber to whom the internet service provider provided a specific IP address, which address, it is claimed, was used in the infringement? The question is based on the assumption that the applicant has adduced evidence of the infringement of a particular copyright and that the measure is proportionate. 

2. Is the answer to Question 1 affected by the fact that the Member State has not implemented the data storage directive despite the fact that the period prescribed for implementation has expired?"

Today the Advocate General's Opinion was published in eight languages, none of them English. The advice given in the French version:

" La directive 2006/24 ...  modifiant la directive 2002/58/CE, ne s’applique pas au traitement des données à caractère personnel à d’autres fins que celles visées à l’article 1er, paragraphe 1, de cette directive. Par conséquent, ladite directive ne s’oppose pas à l’application d’une disposition nationale au titre de laquelle, dans le cadre d’une procédure civile, aux fins d’identifier un abonné déterminé, le juge enjoint à un fournisseur d’accès à Internet de divulguer au titulaire de droits d’auteur, ou à son ayant droit, des informations relatives à l’identité de l’abonné à qui ledit opérateur a attribué une adresse IP qui aurait servi à l’atteinte audit droit. Toutefois, ces informations doivent avoir été conservées pour pouvoir être divulguées et utilisées à cette fin conformément à des dispositions législatives nationales détaillées, qui ont été adoptées dans le respect du droit de l’Union en matière de protection des données à caractère personnel."

This being so, there is no need to answer the second question.  Google Translate renders this as follows:

"Directive 2006/24 ... and amending Directive 2002/58/EC does not apply to the processing of personal data for purposes other than those referred to in Article 1, paragraph 1 of this Directive. Therefore, the directive does not preclude the application of a national provision under which, in the context of civil proceedings, in order to identify a specific subscriber, the judge ordered a provider access to the Internet to disclose to the holder of copyright, or his successor in title, information concerning the identity of the subscriber to whom the trader has allocated an IP address that would have been used to achieve that right. However, this information must be retained in order to be disclosed and used for this purpose in accordance with detailed national legislation, which were adopted in compliance with EU law on the protection of personal data".

In other words, ordering an internet service provider to divulge subscriber information is lawful, as long as it's done lawfully.

We await further developments -- and corrections to the translation, if relevant.

What is 4G and Why Do You Want It?

You see ads for 3G cell phones and wireless modem aircards. Now here comes 4G. What is this advance in technology all about and why should you want it now?

2G, 3G, 4G. All those G’s, what do they mean? What we’re talking about is a shorthand for the generations of wireless broadband service. It’s been advancing so fast that it’s not unusual for different generations of service to be available in the same area. That’s by design. If you are in a weak service area for 3G, then your device will automatically seek out a lower speed service such as 2.5G or 2G. You won’t get as high a bandwidth, but at least you’ll be connected.

Wireless broadband is generally a companion service to cellular telephone. It uses the same towers and base stations. Coverage areas are pretty much the same. The exception is when a particular tower site hasn’t yet been upgraded to the latest cellular broadband generation. In that case, you’ll get a lower level of service until you move into the coverage of a cell tower that is at the latest standard.

I should mention here that there are two wireless broadband services that have nothing to do with cell phones. One is the WISP or Wireless Internet Service Provider that offers home and business broadband. You need to be within line of site of their tower and install an outdoor antenna on your roof. These WISPs are pretty much locally owned an operated, and generally serve locations that aren’t wired for DSL or Cable.

The other non-cellular wireless service is the WiFi hotspot. There are so many of them, that they could almost form a cellular-like network of their own. That hasn’t happened because hotspots are also largely local services, mostly offered by restaurants and hotels. There’s no network to tie them together, so once you leave a hotspot you have to log into another one at your next stop.

That’s where 4G steps in. Imagine that you are connected to a 4G service and are reading a document while parked in your car. You can go into a client’s office or your own and you’ll still be on the same service. The idea of 4G is to blanket a city with a signal strong enough that you have high bandwidth connectivity without worrying about where you are located.

But doesn’t 3G do that? To some extent, yes. But 4G has the advantage of higher bandwidths. With the 4G service that is available today using the WiMAX standard, you can get 3 to 6 Mbps on a normal basis, with bursts of to 10 Mbps.

WiMAX 4G is also not limited to mobile service the way that 2G and 3G are. It’s designed for both desktop and mobile service. That puts this 4G network in a class by itself. You can get a WiMAX modem for your desktop computer and a plug-in 4G aircard for your laptop computer. You’ll have the same service at your desk as you do on the road. There are even 4G phones coming out sometime this summer that look to become a game changer in the wireless service industry.

There are two standards that will dominate 4G service. One is LTE which will be deployed later this year and through 2011. The other is WiMAX broadband that is available now in many cities and states. Find out if your location qualifies for 4G wireless broadband
now.

Biggest Cisco Router Yet

If there is any doubt that we are smack in the middle of the information age, it was put to rest today with Cisco’s announcement of their newest and largest routing platform. The CRS-3 Carrier Routing System is an evolutionary upgrade to their CRS-1, used as a core router for Internet traffic and data center operations.

The CRS-3’s throughput of 322 Terabits per second is mind-boggling enough. But just as important is Cisco’s acknowledgement that the nature of Internet traffic is changing. What started as a packet data network is now quickly becoming dominated by video transmissions, mobile services, and new architectures such as cloud computing. You might yawn at the old benchmark of how long it takes to download the Library of Congress (1 second), but I’ll bet you’ll be impressed to know that the CRS-3 can stream every motion picture ever made in less than 4 minutes. Now, that’s video-ready!

Speaking of video-ready, check out this informational video from Cisco to see the CRS-3 in action and learn more about its capabilities:



Obviously, this isn’t something you’re going to install in the basement of your house or in the office of a quick serve restaurant. Entry level pricing is $90,000 and goes up from there. But if you are an Internet service provider or operate a fiber optic content delivery network, you may be eyeing one of these with a thought to purchase sooner than you think. Perhaps you’ll simply want to upgrade your CRS-1 Carrier Routing System as gigabits of video content grow geometrically.

AT&T can see the future coming. They recently tested the Cisco CRS-3 on a 100 Gigabit link between New Orleans and Miami. It’s not just server capacity that will have to grow by leaps and bounds. Network connections will also have to scale up across the board.

How’s your network capacity doing? Are you about to use up the remaining margin in your copper or fiber optic WAN? If so, you’ll be pleased to know that bandwidth upgrades at all service levels are more available and affordable than ever before. In many cases you can get more capacity for the same price you are paying now. Want to find out if that’s possible for your situation? Check out Gigabit bandwidth prices and availability now.