{"id":69241,"date":"2022-12-06T09:02:11","date_gmt":"2022-12-06T09:02:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.cryptocabaret.com\/?p=69241"},"modified":"2022-12-06T09:02:11","modified_gmt":"2022-12-06T09:02:11","slug":"filmmakers-want-to-link-isp-subscriber-data-to-pirating-yts-and-reddit-users","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.cryptocabaret.com\/?p=69241","title":{"rendered":"Filmmakers Want to Link ISP Subscriber Data to \u2018Pirating\u2019 YTS and Reddit Users"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"pirate-flag\"WOW! is being sued by a group of smaller movie companies, including Millennium Media<\/a> and Voltage Pictures<\/a>. <\/p>\n

The filmmakers accuse the ISP of failing to terminate<\/a> the accounts of subscribers who were repeatedly flagged for sharing copyrighted material. They want to hold WOW! liable for these pirating activities, which could lead to millions of dollars in damages. <\/p>\n

The ISP challenged the claims and filed a motion to dismiss the case. Among other things, it argued that an IP address is not sufficient to prove that subscribers downloaded or shared any infringing material. The filmmakers opposed this motion, which has yet to be decided on by the Colorado federal court.<\/p>\n

Filmmakers Want Subscriber Details<\/h2>\n

In the meantime, another issue has raised its head. Both sides are gathering evidence to prepare for the case moving forward. As part of that process, the filmmakers have demanded the personal details of roughly 14,000 subscribers whose WOW! accounts were allegedly used to pirate content.<\/p>\n

WOW! objected to this request, arguing that the names and addresses of its subscribers are irrelevant to the core question of whether it reasonably implemented a repeat infringer policy. The filmmakers disagreed, noting that the information can be cross-checked to determine whether the ISP notified its subscribers and terminated accounts in response to infringement notices.<\/p>\n

After hearing both sides, the Court eventually came up with a compromise. The filmmakers offered to reduce the targeted IP-addresses to the 375 top pirating unique IP addresses<\/a>. The Court saw this as a reasonable request, especially considering the damages at stake.<\/p>\n

168 Objections<\/h2>\n

The Court said that objections from subscribers would be dealt with at a later stage. That time has come. Over the past several months, 168 subscribers filed objections and the filmmakers and WOW! disagree on how these should be handled. <\/p>\n

The subscriber\u2019s arguments are not available to the public, but the filmmakers suggest that aside from two subscribers who passed away, they boil down to straightforward denials. <\/p>\n

The filmmakers are not convinced by the objections. They want WOW! to hand over the data nonetheless, as these will allow them to check whether the \u2018repeat\u2019 notices were sent to the same subscribers each time.<\/p>\n

\u201c[T]he subscriber names are relevant because they will show whether the IP address was assigned to the same subscriber during the duration of the notices,\u201d the filmmakers informed the Court.<\/p>\n

Links to YTS and Reddit Users?<\/h2>\n

The filmmakers also want to check if the subscribers had accounts with the popular torrent site YTS. The companies previously obtained data from the YTS user database<\/a> as part of a settlement with the torrent site. Since then, this information has been used as evidence in several lawsuits<\/a>. <\/p>\n

On top of that, the movie companies argue that they may be able to link the publicly available data of two Reddit users. These anonymous Redditors claimed to use WOW!\u2019s service to pirate content.<\/p>\n

\u201cMoreover, the subscriber names are relevant because Plaintiffs can compare the subscriber names to the email addresses of the users that registered for accounts with the piracy website YTS or to those that have boasted on social media how Defendant allows them to pirate content without any problems.\u201d<\/p>\n

If the filmmakers find any links to YTS or the two Reddit users, they may argue that the subscribers in question are deliberate and repeat infringers.<\/p>\n<\/p>\n

One of the Reddit comments<\/strong><\/center>
\"reddit<\/center><\/p>\n

WOW! Can Help without Exposing Subscribers<\/h2>\n

WOW! doesn\u2019t agree with the filmmakers\u2019 reasoning. The ISP believes that it\u2019s not necessary to share the personal details of subscribers, as there are alternative means available. <\/p>\n

For example, the Internet provider says that it can check its own systems to establish whether a particular IP address was assigned to one subscriber or multiple subscribers over time.<\/p>\n

Instead of handing over the names and contact information, WOW! can simply share the associated account number, which would suffice. The ISP can also help to determine whether any of the objecting subscribers were YTS users, by cross-referencing data on their end without exposing their personal information.<\/p>\n

No Signs of YTS and Reddit Users<\/h2>\n

Thus far there are no signs of YTS users. The filmmakers previously shared an exhibit with nine IP-addresses and emails of YTS users, but none of these matched the objecting subscribers.<\/p>\n

\u201cNone of those IP addresses corresponds to an Objector, and Plaintiffs do not suggest otherwise,\u201d WOW! writes. <\/p>\n

\u201cPlaintiffs could obtain information concerning the alleged YTS users without involving Objectors or other third parties, for example by serving discovery on WOW regarding whether WOW\u2019s subscriber records include any of the nine email addresses referenced in Plaintiffs\u2019 exhibit.\u201d<\/p>\n

Similarly, the ISP argues that there\u2019s no public information that suggests that the two Redditors are among the objecting subscribers.<\/p>\n

\u201cThere is no reason to believe these two users are among the Objectors. In fact, from the objections the Court has received, it is apparent that none of Objectors\u2019 names have any passing resemblance or connection to \u2018Servalpur\u2019 or \u2018rickselest\u2019.\u201d<\/p>\n

In addition to the arguments discussed above, the parties also disagree on the type of notice that\u2019s required before any data is handed over. <\/p>\n

After hearing all parties involved, the Court now has to decide how to move forward. Does WOW have to hand over all data, or are objections warranted?<\/p>\n

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

A copy of the filmmakers\u2019 motion to compel is available here (pdf)<\/a> and WOW!\u2019s objections can be found here (pdf)<\/a> and 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":"

WOW! is being sued by a group of smaller movie companies, including Millennium Media and Voltage Pictures. The filmmakers accuse the ISP of failing to terminate the accounts of subscribers who were repeatedly flagged for sharing copyrighted material. They want to hold WOW! liable for these pirating activities, which could lead to millions of dollars […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":69242,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[308],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-69241","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\/69241","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=69241"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.cryptocabaret.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/69241\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.cryptocabaret.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/69242"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.cryptocabaret.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=69241"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.cryptocabaret.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=69241"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.cryptocabaret.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=69241"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}