BitTorrent site ordered to enable server logs, turn them over to MPAA: In a ruling made last month but only unsealed last Friday, a federal judge ordered BitTorrent site Torrentspy.com to begin tracking its users as possible evidence in a copyright infringement lawsuit filed by a handful of movie studios and the MPAA. According to the terms of the order (PDF), TorrentSpy will be required to keep server log files detailing its users' activities while on site, including IP addresses and torrent files downloaded.

The judge's ruling would force TorrentSpy to act in a manner contrary to its privacy policy, which says that the site does not collect any personal information about its users. In a message to the "friends of TorrentSpy" published on the TorrentSpy front page, its administrators say that they are appealing the judge's order and will not create logs of what its users do throughout the site without their consent.

TorrentSpy was targeted by the MPAA in a series of lawsuits that also named other BitTorrent sites IsoHunt, NiteShadow.com, TorrentBox.com, and BTHub.com, along with an eDonkey site and three membership-based sites that provide access to binaries posted on Usenet. The suit accuses the sites of providing illegal access to tens of thousands of copyrighted works, including feature films.

(Read Original Article - Via Law & Disorder Section - Ars Technica.)