File sharing no longer to be punished in Germany

From P2P Blog: It's official: File sharing becomes a crime without punishment in Germany


In German:
- Staatsanwaltschaften verfolgen Filesharing nur noch bei großen Mengen
- Downloaden bleibt verboten, wird aber nicht mehr verfolgt

OK, those links say that some "States", will not prosecute for small time P2P. .Great..
But What about the private law firms that Represent the Copyright holders? Wouldn't they be free to come after you directly if they have your details? (Somehow without filing criminal charges)
Without the State prosecutor, it would be a trial between private lawyers, so the state wouldn't be involved.

PS: This was 1st brought-up way back in January. Now its just a bit more official - Link

As I understand it. the companies may have the IP address, which only the provider can match up with your details, however this info can only be given out by the providers to the state authorities, no one else. With this scenario, the companies went the official way, so state had to investigate, then the copyright holders dropped their official charges and followed up through the lawyers to get the money directly. This caused lots of overhead and costs for the authorities, that's mainly why this decision was taken.

Was reading a follow-up on this story on another Tech site. They stated that in the next few months a new law will go into effect that will allow the copyright holders
to get the users details directly from the ISPs without the need of a court order or criminal case being brought. If this happens then there is nolonger a need for them
to file with the states attorneys which then issue notice to the ISPs.

Any sources for that one?

That's quite a worrying law.

It basically says any firm can snoop in whatever client you are using and then go to your isp, present whatever evidence has been deemed enough and get your details.

Does that clash with data protection? As no criminal court case has been brought, they are basically going to get your data based on a non criminal, no processed accusation.

Anyone could go to any isp and say 'I am the copyright holder of this item - I have checked in a torrent client and I want the details of these people'. if that didn't work you could go to a lawyer and do it that way.

Regardless, you are going to get someones details without actually proving there is a case to answer.

Sounds a little illegal to me (well, at present it is).

Changes in the German copyright law


Also read the stories at the links provided at the bottom of the page.