{"id":53185,"date":"2020-12-20T09:02:31","date_gmt":"2020-12-20T09:02:31","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.cryptocabaret.com\/?p=53185"},"modified":"2020-12-20T09:02:31","modified_gmt":"2020-12-20T09:02:31","slug":"cosplay-models-want-cloudflare-to-stop-indulging-pirate-sites","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.cryptocabaret.com\/?p=53185","title":{"rendered":"Cosplay Models Want Cloudflare to Stop \u2018Indulging\u2019 Pirate Sites"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"cosplayEarlier this year Texas-based model Deniece Waidhofer<\/a> sued Thothub for copyright infringement after the site\u2019s users posted many of her \u2018exclusive\u2019 photos. <\/p>\n

Soon after the complaint was filed Thothub went offline<\/a>. This prompted Waidhofer to shift priorities. <\/p>\n

In an amended complaint, submitted a few weeks ago, Thothub is no longer a defendant. Instead, the lawsuit now focuses on several sites and services that did business with the pirate site, including CDN provider Cloudflare.<\/p>\n

Cosplay Models Join Case Against Cloudflare<\/h2>\n

Another significant change is that Waidhofer is no longer the sole plaintiff. She is now joined by two cosplay artists, Ryuu Lavitz<\/a> and Margaret McGhee, better known as OMGcosplay<\/a>. Together, these models have millions of online followers. <\/p>\n

When the original case was filed, Lavitz and McGhee hadn\u2019t registered their photos at the Copyright Office. Both submitted their registrations for hundreds of works in September, after which they were able to join the case. <\/p>\n

In addition to removing Thothub as a defendant and adding two plaintiffs, some of the strongest allegations were stripped from the original complaint. Cloudflare is no longer alleged to be part of a RICO conspiracy but is accused of direct and contributory copyright infringement.<\/p>\n

The models claim that Cloudflare has carved out a competitive niche by serving illegal pirate sites that other large CDN companies like Akamai Technologies would not. It \u2018helps\u2019 these sites by concealing the real IP-address and by \u2018storing\u2019 their content, it\u2019s alleged. <\/p>\n

Motion to Dismiss<\/h2>\n

Cloudflare replied to these allegations by pointing out that it\u2019s merely a middleman. The company has no knowledge of the traffic that passes through its network and doesn\u2019t store content permanently, in most cases, but simply makes temporary \u201ccache\u201d copies.<\/p>\n

\u201cUnder Plaintiffs\u2019 wildly expansive theory of liability, the owner of any computer connected to the Internet could potentially be exposed to unlimited liability,\u201d Cloudflare argued, adding that the complaint doesn\u2019t show bad \u201cintent\u201d.<\/p>\n

Based on these and various other deficiencies, the CDN provider asked the court to dismiss the case. However, the models disagree and recently submitted several counterarguments.<\/p>\n

\u2018Cloudflare Helps Pirate Sites\u2019<\/h2>\n

The models argue that Cloudflare was aware of the copyright infringements on Thothub, but chose not to do anything. Instead, it helped the site to cope with vast amounts of traffic so it could stay online. That\u2019s what the site does for other pirate sites as well. <\/p>\n

\u201cCloudflare easily could have limited Thothub\u2019s infringement simply by terminating service, or by not delivering URLs that it had already been notified contained infringing content. But Cloudflare stood behind Thothub instead, as it does regularly for pirates everywhere. Indeed, Cloudflare has made a cottage industry out of indulging pirates.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/p>\n

\"insta<\/center> <\/p>\n

The plaintiffs say that Cloudflare is liable for contributory copyright infringement. The company\u2019s decision not to take action helped Thothub to stay online and operate more efficiently. That is enough to be held liable, the models argue, referencing the ALS Scan case<\/a> against Cloudflare.<\/p>\n

\u201cCloudflare enabled Thothub to be operated securely on a vast scale. The law recognizes this as a material contribution that, with knowledge, creates liability,\u201d they write.<\/p>\n

Thothub Alternatives Still use Cloudflare<\/h2>\n

Without Cloudflare, Thothub\u2019s site would have been \u201coverrun and crashed.\u201d Although it may have come back, that \u2018simple measure\u2019 would have made a difference, at least briefly. Cloudflare, however, decided not to act and it does the same for many similar sites today. <\/p>\n

\u201cThe Complaint identifies nearly two dozen other pirate sites \u2014 all Cloudflare clients \u2014 that are Thothub copycats, including one called Thothub.ru that is nearly a direct clone,\u201d the plaintiffs write.<\/p>\n

In addition to contributory infringement, the models also accuse the company of direct infringement. They argue that the CDN provider made copies of Thothub files on its own accord and continued copying works after takedown notices were sent.<\/p>\n

The reply to Cloudflare\u2019s motion to dismiss is filled with allegations that will eventually have to be backed up with evidence. In addition to focusing on the case at hand, it also references an EU report which concluded that 62% of the world\u2019s top 500 pirate sites use Cloudflare. <\/p>\n

Daily Stormer and 8Chan<\/h2>\n

And, as we predicted a few years ago<\/a>, Cloudflare\u2019s decision to ban The Daily Stormer is also being brought up. <\/p>\n

\u201cDespite serving most of the world\u2019s top pirate sites, on information and belief, Cloudflare has never voluntarily terminated services to a customer for repeat copyright infringement. Cloudflare has, however, voluntarily terminated services for other customer sites, including the American Neo-Nazi group Daily Stormer and the conspiracy website 8chan,\u201d the reply reads.<\/p>\n

It is now up to the US District Court for the Central District of California to decide whether the case against Cloudflare should be dismissed, or if the models can pursue their claims at trial.<\/p>\n

\u2014<\/em><\/p>\n

A copy of Cloudflare\u2019s motion to dismiss the first amended complaint is available here (pdf)<\/a> and the reply from the models can be found here (pdf)<\/a><\/p>\n

From: TF<\/a>, for the latest news on copyright battles, piracy and more.<\/p>\n

Powered by WPeMatico<\/a><\/small><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Earlier this year Texas-based model Deniece Waidhofer sued Thothub for copyright infringement after the site\u2019s users posted many of her \u2018exclusive\u2019 photos. Soon after the complaint was filed Thothub went offline. This prompted Waidhofer to shift priorities. In an amended complaint, submitted a few weeks ago, Thothub is no longer a defendant. Instead, the lawsuit […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":53186,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[308],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-53185","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-torrent"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.cryptocabaret.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/53185","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.cryptocabaret.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.cryptocabaret.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.cryptocabaret.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.cryptocabaret.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=53185"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.cryptocabaret.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/53185\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.cryptocabaret.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/53186"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.cryptocabaret.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=53185"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.cryptocabaret.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=53185"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.cryptocabaret.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=53185"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}