While we can be pretty confident that Reddit has its own motivations (i.e. self-interest) for fighting these lawsuits, this is still a good news story for pirates.

  • jeffw@lemmy.world
    link
    fedilink
    English
    arrow-up
    224
    ·
    10 months ago

    Food for thought: Lemmy instance admins probably can’t afford $800 an hour corporate attorneys to fight off subpoenas.

  • Kissaki@feddit.de
    link
    fedilink
    English
    arrow-up
    48
    ·
    edit-2
    10 months ago

    Firms wanted seven years’ worth of IP address logs

    I doubt - or hope they don’t - Reddit stores them for that long?

    • jabjoe@feddit.uk
      link
      fedilink
      English
      arrow-up
      32
      ·
      10 months ago

      It’s data that could have value, so I doubt they don’t store it. I think the movie studios didn’t offer enough. Or Reddit thought it was too damaging for this particular sale.

        • jabjoe@feddit.uk
          link
          fedilink
          English
          arrow-up
          1
          ·
          10 months ago

          I always assumed this would happen, so had a second account. Which had a special email address both of which I only used via Tor and private brower mode.

  • doctorcrimson@lemmy.today
    link
    fedilink
    English
    arrow-up
    13
    ·
    edit-2
    10 months ago

    It was insane to think they would comply with this to begin with. Downloading pirated media isn’t illegal, neither is discussing piracy. What is illegal is redistribution, and good luck proving that on a large scale community like this.

    EDIT: These are 2 USA based companies, US Laws apply to this context.

    • Wolf_359@lemmy.world
      link
      fedilink
      English
      arrow-up
      27
      ·
      10 months ago

      Careful with this. Downloading pirated content can definitely be illegal depending on where you live.

      It’s just not usually enforced as heavily as redistributing.

      • doctorcrimson@lemmy.today
        link
        fedilink
        English
        arrow-up
        9
        ·
        edit-2
        10 months ago

        More specifically there is no US Federal Law about obtaining pirated works, only the Redistribution

        17 U.S. Code § 506 - Criminal offenses
        
        (a)Criminal Infringement.—
        (1)In general.—Any person who willfully infringes a copyright shall be punished as provided under section 2319 of title 18, if the infringement was committed—
        (A)for purposes of commercial advantage or private financial gain;
        (B)by the reproduction or distribution, including by electronic means, during any 180–day period, of 1 or more copies or phonorecords of 1 or more copyrighted works, which have a total retail value of more than $1,000; or
        (C)by the distribution of a work being prepared for commercial distribution, by making it available on a computer network accessible to members of the public, if such person knew or should have known that the work was intended for commercial distribution.
        (2)Evidence.—
        For purposes of this subsection, evidence of reproduction or distribution of a copyrighted work, by itself, shall not be sufficient to establish willful infringement of a copyright.
        (3)Definition.—In this subsection, the term “work being prepared for commercial distribution” means—
        (A)a computer program, a musical work, a motion picture or other audiovisual work, or a sound recording, if, at the time of unauthorized distribution—
        (i)the copyright owner has a reasonable expectation of commercial distribution; and
        (ii)the copies or phonorecords of the work have not been commercially distributed; or
        (B)a motion picture, if, at the time of unauthorized distribution, the motion picture—
        (i)has been made available for viewing in a motion picture exhibition facility; and
        (ii)has not been made available in copies for sale to the general public in the United States in a format intended to permit viewing outside a motion picture exhibition facility.
        

        So, basically, downloading cracked adobe products is always right. It’s always morally acceptable. But your provider is risking their ass.

        The big industry names want to make you believe that you’ll be punished for downloading a car. It’s all fearmongering.

        • onion@feddit.de
          link
          fedilink
          English
          arrow-up
          1
          ·
          10 months ago

          Yes but you commented on a global website, so your previous generalist statement definetly doesn’t apply to everyone reading it :)

            • wick@lemm.ee
              link
              fedilink
              English
              arrow-up
              2
              ·
              10 months ago

              America is such a small country though, no one would assume anything said online is directed at it’s miniscule population without an explicit reference.

            • wick@lemm.ee
              link
              fedilink
              English
              arrow-up
              2
              ·
              10 months ago

              And that’s why they specifically referred to “your previous generalist statement” where you didn’t do that.

              • doctorcrimson@lemmy.today
                link
                fedilink
                English
                arrow-up
                1
                ·
                10 months ago

                Listen, they either reply to the comment they wanted to reply to, or they did it wrong. They replied to the comment that prefaced with a statement about US Law in particular. It should be clear to them that the statement applies to US Law.

        • doctorcrimson@lemmy.today
          link
          fedilink
          English
          arrow-up
          2
          ·
          10 months ago

          The US Media Companies demanding user details from a US Social Media Company is in the USA though. In case that was unclear to some people.

  • AutoTL;DR@lemmings.worldB
    link
    fedilink
    English
    arrow-up
    4
    ·
    10 months ago

    This is the best summary I could come up with:


    In a motion to compel that was filed last month, movie companies Voltage Holdings and Screen Media Ventures argued that “Reddit users do not have a recognized privacy interest in their IP addresses.”

    But in Wednesday’s ruling, US Magistrate Judge Thomas Hixson said, “The Court finds no reason to believe provision of an IP address is not unmasking subject to First Amendment scrutiny.”

    Voltage Holdings and Screen Media Ventures previously sued the Internet service provider Frontier Communications, alleging that it is liable for its users’ copyright infringement.

    The fact that movie companies only sought IP addresses instead of names this time around wasn’t enough to sway the court.

    As in the previous cases, the movie companies “cannot show that the information they seek here is unavailable from other sources,” Hixson wrote.

    Voltage Holdings and Screen Media Ventures cited Reddit posts in which users say that Frontier didn’t terminate their Internet service despite sending many copyright infringement notices about torrent downloads.


    The original article contains 598 words, the summary contains 160 words. Saved 73%. I’m a bot and I’m open source!