Copyright infringement and privacy case in France

Following a ruling (in French) from the Conseil d’Etat, or Council of the State or Supreme Court for administrative Justice of France, record companies can now automatically track the activities of users that share more than fifty files within 24 hours using Peer-to-Peer networks and keep their records for further legal proceedings. The decision follows a challenge by music labels and distributors of a order given by the Commission Nationale de l’Informatique et des Libertés, CNIL (National Commission of Information Technology and Liberties or French Data Protection Authority), which in 2005 ruled that automatic surveillance of P2P networks violated local privacy laws. Still, the Council upheld the a part of the CNIL decision that stated that copyrights holders cannot send users warning e-mails because translating their Internet Protocol addresses into e-mail accounts can only be done under a court order or police mandate.