Another ISP Gives Up Storing IP Addresses to Protect Customers

The Sweden's anti-piracy law backfires - ISPs determined to protect their users (personal info will be erased)

Tele2 AB, one of the leading Swedish Internet service providers came forward yesterday with a statement definitely not to the liking of record industry. The ISP announced it will no longer store the IP addresses of its customers as a result of the new anti-piracy law the government in Sweden has recently put in force and which allows copyright owners seek court orders to force ISPs reveal confidential data about their subscribers. Less than two weeks ago, Bahnhof, another Swedish ISP,  made a similar announcement.

The new anti-file sharing legislation, which is based on the European Union's Intellectual Property Rights Enforcement Directive (IPRED), was implemented on April 1. The Stockholm-based ISP explained that after studying thoroughly the new law it realized there was no legal requirement regarding the storage of customers data.

"It's good that you've got an operator that is willing to defend the rights of the users and is willing to respect that we do have rights," commented Monica Horten, a U.K.-based Internet policy researcher and also founder of IPtegrity.com.