SoftwareSecurityHave you discussed pirating media on the internet? These film studios might like a wordWhen you purchase through links on our site, we may earn an affiliate commission.Here’s how it works.
SoftwareSecurityHave you discussed pirating media on the internet? These film studios might like a wordWhen you purchase through links on our site, we may earn an affiliate commission.Here’s how it works.
When you purchase through links on our site, we may earn an affiliate commission.Here’s how it works.
(Image credit: Blizzard Entertainment)
Piracy is, and shall likely forever remain, a topic of hot-debate. Whatever your views on the morality of pirating copyrighted works, be they games, films or otherwise, it would seem reasonable to assume that you could talk about it on the internet without getting yourself into hot water.
That might not be the case, at least if these two film studios get their way. ViaArs Technica, film studios Voltage Holdings and Screen Media Ventures have fileda motion to compelReddit to respond to a subpoena which asked the company to provide the IP address log information for six anonymous Reddit users who discussed pirating media on its platform.
This is the latest move in a series of copyright infringement cases in the past year from multiple studios attempting to demand Reddit hand over user information, in order to legally pursue the ISPs that these redditors discussed as being unable, or at the very least unwilling, to prevent them from pirating media using the connections provided.
Again, Reddit was subpoenaed for user account information including IP addresses and logs, and again a courtruled against it, citing First Amendment rights.
However, two of the studios involved in these initial cases seem to have decided that the third time might be the charm, as both have now filed a motion in yet another attempt to make Reddit hand over users IP address log information in order to pursue an ISP. The target this time is Frontier Communications, which several of these Reddit users discussed as being ineffective at stopping them from pirating media.
In 2022, one user mentioned ina postregarding a different ISPs piracy protections that they’d “been using Frontier DSL for years” and that “Despite the shitty internet, they didn’t give a shit what I downloaded”. Another reported that they’dreceived a total of 44 emailsfrom Frontier in regards to downloading torrents, and a threat to terminate the service, but as yet no action had been taken.
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The studios argue that in these and other identified posts “The Reddit users do not have a recognized privacy interest in their IP addresses” and that the IP address logs are “clearly relevant and proportional to the needs of the case”.
Whatever your take on the legality and ethics of the great piracy debate, or perhaps even the wisdom of discussing an illegal activity openly on a public forum, it’s troubling that these studios feel it necessary to demand sensitive user data from a third party in order to pursue legal action, simply for the crime of discussing the activity itself.
There’s no doubt that the posters involved here were, at the very leastunwisein their decision to post so openly about the illegal activity they had partaken in, but using it as cause to legally demand that the site hosting these posts hands over identifying user data seems extreme.
While it remains to be seen whether this particular attempt will be successful, it does serve as a reminder that your online posting does not remain in a digital vacuum, whatever the subject, and that organisations are on the lookout for these sorts of discussions.
It should go without saying, but your posts on a public forum are, well, public, and so caution in what you discuss is most certain to be advised.
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