Getty Images | Noorfoto
Reddit has battled film industry attempts to identify users with whom it has discussed copyright infringement, and has told federal court that the studio’s request for the user’s real name should be denied, ruling out the studio’s claims. One states that it is “nonsense”.
“Courts have long recognized that the First Amendment to the U.S. Constitution protects online anonymity and have established strict standards for use in precisely this scenario. Litigants seek to unmask users for the purpose of providing evidence in lawsuits that don’t involve them…the plaintiffs are nowhere near meeting that exacting standard here,” Reddit said Tuesday in the Northern District of California. He said in a document filed with the district court.
Last week, we detailed an attempt by a movie studio to expose Reddit users. Reddit is not involved in the lawsuit that prompted the user to seek her ID. hell boy, Rambo V: Last Blood, Teslaand hitman bodyguard has sued cable broadband provider RCN in a separate court, alleging that RCN failed to terminate Internet subscribers who illegally downloaded copyrighted movies. (RCN is now known as Astound Broadband after merging with several other cable ISPs in the same ownership group.)
In an attempt to prove that RCN was turning a blind eye to users downloading copyrighted movies, the film studio filed a subpoena on Reddit to identify certain users who commented in threads related to copyright infringement. asked for the identity of After Reddit provided information about only one user of hers, while others called it a “phishing expedition,” the studio filed a motion to force Reddit to respond to the subpoena.
Reddit: User doesn’t even mention RCN
Reddit’s new allegation states that the movie studio “overrides the First Amendment rights of Reddit users because the user postings plaintiffs have identified as the basis for this subpoena are wholly unrelated to plaintiffs’ lawsuit.” You can’t.” Reddit continued:
4 out of 7 users in question have mentioned RCN based on evidence provided by plaintiff. They simply refer to “my provider” or “our ISP”. And all of these references are made in discussions about Comcast, not RCN. Plaintiff’s claim that it is “extremely likely” that a user is referring to her RCN should be dismissed as speculative. Two of her remaining three users mentioned her RCN, but were discussing copyright infringement and issues unrelated to plaintiffs’ claims (such as customer service experience). And the last user, nine years ago he once vaguely mentioned RCN, arguably in the context of piracy.
Reddit further claimed that plaintiffs could obtain information elsewhere. “Plaintiff has a myriad of ways in which he can obtain evidence regarding RCN’s repeat infringer policy without having to unmask his speaker Anonymous Online,” he said in court. said. “Most obviously, plaintiffs could seek discovery directly from RCN, which would be far more efficient than making wild guesses about which Reddit user. Might be so is an RCN customer, or Might be so I have been involved in copyright infringement at some point in the last ten years. More importantly, it does not constitute a waiver of fundamental First Amendment rights of uninvolved third parties. ”
Film studios such as Bodyguard Productions and Millennium Media argued that users would not be harmed if their identities were revealed. “Plaintiffs are not seeking to retaliate financially or formally against these subscribers,” the motion picture studio alleges. as evidence that the RCN monitors and controls subscriber behavior, and the RCN has no meaningful policy for terminating repeat infringers, and this laziness or lack of policy is an impediment to use. It was the trigger. RCN’s service.”
A hearing on the filmmakers’ motion is scheduled for March 23.
The thread was about Comcast’s compromised email
Reddit said that the studio’s claim that the four users posted on the Comcast thread were “very likely” to be RCN customers was an “unsupported opinion” and that it was “a user’s First Amendment.” It is simply insufficient to support plaintiffs’ claim to infringe their rights.”
The February 2022 thread was started by a user who “explained that he had received a copyright infringement email from Comcast and said he was ‘a bit concerned’,” Reddit wrote. “He’s been a year since, and that discussion has received over 240 replies. Among hundreds of comments about Comcast’s copyright practices, one You are referring to RCN. “
Reddit said it provided the plaintiff with the identity of that one user. “But the remaining four of his Comcast users are being targeted simply because they happened to post on the Comcast thread. none users responded to or mentioned discussions about the RCN, but no one mentioned the RCN itself,” Reddit wrote.
