BitTorrent: Australian sysadmins to face the music
The federal court has ruled two systems administrators from Internet service provider (ISP) Swiftel can be sued for alleged music piracy, overriding an earlier decision.
Perth-based Swiftel has been accused of copyright infringement by major record labels -- which claim the ISP's employees and customers created a BitTorrent file-sharing hub for hosting thousands of pirated sound and video recordings.
The labels allege Swiftel's senior systems administrators Melissa Ong and Ryan Briggs ignored calls to remove Web sites that were in breach of copyright, and instead "treated the infringement notices like spam."
In April, magistrate Rolf Driver refused to allow the pair to be added as respondents, saying at that stage there was no evidence they acted beyond the scope of their employment. However, this decision was overturned by Justice Catherine Branson on Friday.
Counsel representing the music industry -- including Warner Music Australia and others -- told the court Ong and Briggs had been well aware of alleged piracy on the Swiftel network.
