Definitely. We are, and should be, treated as "mere conduit".
We have had probably two requests ever, one before RIPA and one under RIPA, from police.
It is a shame this needs no court order. The details released were pretty minimal.
Yes, regularly. We advise them that they have mistaken us for a court (if it is a civil issue)
or police (if criminal) and provide details of the web site for each.
No. We allocate IPs to accounts on a permanent basis (i.e. not dynamic)
but even then the IP is, at best, a machine on a network (a machine we cannot pin point), and not a "person".
Many people use NAT so the IP is a router. Even someone in the premises cannot say which machine it was if NAT is used,
let alone what person was using that machine when.
Copyright owners already have special protection in law, making some actions actually criminal.
There really is no reason for them to have this extra means to enforce punishment without due legal process.
The idea that the courts are costly to use is a matter to address and applies to all sorts of civil wrongs, not just copyright.
So the whole concept of such special legal help is flawed before you even look at any of the details.
The problem is that the business model is based on the idea that you can control copying of data by legal means.
Copyright as a concept is based on that and the music and film industry rely on that model.
The model is flawed because it is so easy copy now, something that was not envisaged when copyright was invented.
The industry has to change the business model to one that does not rely on control of copying.
Then the whole issue would go away and extra laws would not be needed.
It is like having a law saying people must not chew their finger nails.
The new DEA does not affect us yet, but is so full of holes.
The end user can migrate service quickly and easily. OFCOM have made sure of that.
So if someone has any problems or threats of disconnection they just migrate.
Old ISP has to keep the reports secret under DPA and throw the away once no longer a customer. Clean slate.
The Act allows for there to be internet users that are not subscribers (a concept OFCOM fail to understand)
so there may be no way to use this process for some (possibly many) end users.
We have no so called "black boxes" in our network, and we state this clearly if asked.
This means if ever we do, people will know because we stop answering that question.
Well, they make us look like puppets of a police state, if that is what you mean!