A Hawaiian District Court confirmed that movie companies can't use a DMCA subpoena to unmask alleged BitTorrent pirates.

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Earlier this year, a Hawaiian District Court blocked movie companies’ efforts to unmask alleged BitTorrent pirates using a DMCA subpoena ‘shortcut’. The filmmakers asked the court to reconsider its position but without success; the ‘DMCA shortcut’ will remain closed. The rightsholders will appeal the order but won’t be able to use evidence previously obtained through settlements with pirating subscribers.

  • conciselyverboseEnglish
    17·
    8 months ago

    In the motion for reconsideration, the movie companies argued that Cox and other ISPs are not just mere conduit providers under DMCA §512(a); they would also fall under DMCA §512(d), as they can remove or disable ‘references or links’ to infringing content.

    If this argument succeeds, a DMCA subpoena would be valid, as these do apply to services that fall under DMCA §512(d).

    The movie companies used various arguments to make their case. For example, they argued that IP addresses are in themselves “references or links to infringing material” which can be disabled through null-routing. In addition, Cox can respond to takedown notices by implementing filters or blocking ports

    Seriously fuck off. That’s batshit insane.