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Every day, millions of people from all over the world submit posts, comments, and other content to Reddit.<\/p>\nEvery day, millions of people from all over the world submit posts, comments, and other content to Reddit.<\/p>\n
In many cases, discussion comments are read and soon forgotten but several old threads were brought back to life recently as part of piracy liability lawsuits.<\/p>\n
The comments in question were picked up by Kerry Culpepper, a copyright attorney who leads several piracy lawsuits against Internet providers on behalf of independent film companies. While they say they\u2019re not interested in pursuing legal action against these people, their comments could serve as important evidence.<\/p>\n
Early last year, the film companies subpoenaed Reddit for the first time<\/a>, requesting the personal details of several users. Reddit refused to cooperate, defending their users\u2019 right to anonymous speech, and found a California federal court in agreement<\/a>. <\/p>\n In a second attempt<\/a> a few weeks later, several film companies sent a similar subpoena to Reddit. This time, the request was more targeted, as all comments specifically referred to the ISP being sued; Grande Communications. <\/p>\n Reddit still refused to comply, however, stressing that its users\u2019 First Amendment rights would still be at stake. After hearing both parties, Magistrate Judge Laurel Beeler sided with Reddit<\/a> once again. <\/p>\n While the denial was another setback for the film companies and their attorney, they had no plans to abandon this route to evidence quite so easily. Last month, they were back in court<\/a> with a similar but tweaked request, this time related to a lawsuit<\/a> targeting Internet provider Frontier Communications.<\/p>\n Broadly speaking, the third case was comparable to the others. The film companies, including Voltage Holdings and Screen Media Ventures, wanted to use comments made by six Redditors to show that the ISP didn\u2019t take proper action against repeat infringers, or that \u2018lax\u2019 enforcement acted as a draw to potential pirates.<\/p>\n Contrary to the earlier requests, the film companies were no longer looking for any names or email addresses, only the applicable IP address logs. This would allow the commenters to remain anonymous because an \u2018IP-address is not a person<\/a>\u2018, their attorney argued. <\/p>\n Reddit, again, refused to hand over information, arguing it would violate users\u2019 right to anonymous speech<\/a>. The fact that it would only have to reveal IP-addresses wouldn\u2019t change that, Reddit argued. <\/p>\n After both sides had the chance to present their arguments, the matter landed on the desk of U.S. Magistrate Judge Thomas Hixson of the California federal court. After reviewing the paperwork, Judge Hixson denied the motion to compel. <\/p>\n Similar to the decisions in Reddit I<\/em> and Reddit II<\/em>, the court concluded that the First Amendment rights of individuals to speak anonymously weigh stronger than the interests of rightsholders. This is particularly true because the Redditors are third parties and not defendants in this case. <\/p>\n Of importance in this decision is the so-called \u20182TheMart.com\u2019<\/a> standard, which was also applied in the earlier two cases. From that perspective, the court sees no reason to reach a different conclusion. <\/p>\n This case deals with comments from six Redditors that could serve as evidence in the film companies \u2018legal battle with Frontier. However, the court believes that the rightsholders can obtain similar evidence from a more direct source. <\/p>\n In the legal proceeding against the ISP, the court previously ruled that the film companies can unmask several alleged pirate subscribers. This could be used to obtain comments directly from Frontier subscribers. <\/p>\n \u201c[T]here is information available from another source, as Movants themselves note the underlying bankruptcy court adjudicating the copyright litigation has already ruled they can obtain identifying information from Frontier for IP addresses known to have pirated using Frontier\u2019s network,\u201d Judge Hixson writes.<\/p>\n \u201cIf Movants sought further information, they need only subpoena the ISP for the subscriber information associated with that IP address, as the ISP does not share Reddit\u2019s interest in protecting the anonymity of that user.\u201d <\/p>\n Judge Hixson didn\u2019t elaborate in response to the filmmakers\u2019 novel argument that sharing IP-addresses wouldn\u2019t violate the First Amendment right to anonymous speech (\u2018not a person\u2019).<\/p>\n According to the ruling, current precedents suggest that it\u2019s not common to disregard the First Amendment argument when it comes to IP-address unmasking. <\/p>\n \u201cWhile the Court is unaware of any cases in the Ninth Circuit in which a court has declined to apply a First Amendment unmasking standard for IP addresses, other courts have recognized that IP addresses are essential to unmasking because an \u2018IP address cannot be made up in the same way that a poster may provide a false name and address\u2019.\u201d <\/p>\n \u201cFor this reason, the Court finds no reason to believe provision of an IP address is not unmasking subject to First Amendment scrutiny,\u201d Judge Hixson writes. <\/p>\n The court further added that the film companies can still use the Redditor\u2019s comments as evidence, as is. Printouts of webpages have been used at previous trials as well, so that could apply here. <\/p>\n Based on these and other arguments, Judge Hixson ultimately reached the same conclusion as the court did in the earlier two cases. <\/p>\n \u201cIn sum, the Court finds Movants cannot meet the 2TheMart standard because the evidence they seek can be obtained from other sources, including from Frontier in the normal course of discovery.\u201d<\/p>\n If the rightsholders are unable to obtain the desired evidence from Frontier, they could always try again, of course. If anything, the film companies have shown that aren\u2019t prepared to give up easily.<\/p>\n<\/p>\n \u2014<\/em><\/p>\n A copy of U.S. Magistrate Judge Thomas Hixson\u2019s order is available here (pdf)<\/a><\/p>\n From: TF<\/a>, for the latest news on copyright battles, piracy and more.<\/p>\nReddit III: Targeting IP-addresses<\/h2>\n
Court Sides with Reddit, Thrice<\/h2>\n
Anonymous IP-addresses?<\/h2>\n
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