How will this help punish an Internet service provider that doesn't want to fight piracy?
As it became known, the film companies Voltage Holdings and Screen Media Ventures filed a lawsuit against the Internet provider Frontier Communications, accusing it of insufficiently effective fight against piracy. As part of this case, the studios demanded that Reddit provide logs of the IP addresses of six users who for several years actively discussed on the site the possibility of downloading pirated content through the Frontier network.
According to the plaintiffs, this information will prove that the provider deliberately ignored the complaints of copyright holders about the illegal use of protected content.
However, Reddit declined to disclose any personal information, citing users ' right to anonymity. This is the third such attempt by film studios to get information about users of the resource over the past year. And in the two previous cases, the court sided with Reddit.
However, this time, Voltage and Screen Media insist that the request concerns only IP addresses, and not other personal data. In their opinion, the authors of the comments cannot claim confidentiality in this case.
Film studios even cite specific statements as an example.
One of the users under the pseudonym throwaway2492872 stated that for several years he actively downloaded pirated content using Frontier. At the same time, the provider sent him as many as 44 warnings about the possible termination of service due to copyright infringement, but the subscription was never disabled.
Another user named FrontierFiOS also regularly downloaded content via torrents. According to him, the provider "didn't care" about it.
Interestingly, none of the discussions directly related to the plaintiffs ' films.
The deadline for providing evidence in this case expires in June.
Last year, Voltage Holdings filed a similar lawsuit against the Internet service provider Grande Communications, accusing it of aiding piracy. In October 2022, this claim was unexpectedly withdrawn without explanation.
Another similar case against the RCN provider, initiated by Voltage Holdings in 2021, is still pending in court.
At the same time, it is worth noting that the largest shareholder of Reddit is the media holding Advance Publications. He also owns the Condé Nast publishing house, which includes the Ars Technica technology portal.
In general, the confrontation between film studios and Internet platforms over user anonymity and copyright protection promises to be lengthy and ambiguous. And the future of Internet freedom and privacy largely depends on the outcome of such lawsuits.
As it became known, the film companies Voltage Holdings and Screen Media Ventures filed a lawsuit against the Internet provider Frontier Communications, accusing it of insufficiently effective fight against piracy. As part of this case, the studios demanded that Reddit provide logs of the IP addresses of six users who for several years actively discussed on the site the possibility of downloading pirated content through the Frontier network.
According to the plaintiffs, this information will prove that the provider deliberately ignored the complaints of copyright holders about the illegal use of protected content.
However, Reddit declined to disclose any personal information, citing users ' right to anonymity. This is the third such attempt by film studios to get information about users of the resource over the past year. And in the two previous cases, the court sided with Reddit.
However, this time, Voltage and Screen Media insist that the request concerns only IP addresses, and not other personal data. In their opinion, the authors of the comments cannot claim confidentiality in this case.
Film studios even cite specific statements as an example.
One of the users under the pseudonym throwaway2492872 stated that for several years he actively downloaded pirated content using Frontier. At the same time, the provider sent him as many as 44 warnings about the possible termination of service due to copyright infringement, but the subscription was never disabled.
Another user named FrontierFiOS also regularly downloaded content via torrents. According to him, the provider "didn't care" about it.
Interestingly, none of the discussions directly related to the plaintiffs ' films.
The deadline for providing evidence in this case expires in June.
Last year, Voltage Holdings filed a similar lawsuit against the Internet service provider Grande Communications, accusing it of aiding piracy. In October 2022, this claim was unexpectedly withdrawn without explanation.
Another similar case against the RCN provider, initiated by Voltage Holdings in 2021, is still pending in court.
At the same time, it is worth noting that the largest shareholder of Reddit is the media holding Advance Publications. He also owns the Condé Nast publishing house, which includes the Ars Technica technology portal.
In general, the confrontation between film studios and Internet platforms over user anonymity and copyright protection promises to be lengthy and ambiguous. And the future of Internet freedom and privacy largely depends on the outcome of such lawsuits.
