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Post by Rain on May 24, 2015 21:36:12 GMT -5
A court in the United States has ordered an Internet Service Provider to produce personal details of account holders linked to IP addresses allegedly used to pirate music using BitTorrent software. Cox Communications must identify the account holders behind the "Top 250" IP addresses from a total of more than 150,000 IP addresses. BMG and Round Hill Music sued Cox last year claiming that the ISP had forfeited protection under the DMCA's safe harbor provisions by failing to disconnect repeat infringers. Out of 150,000 alleged piracy-linked IP addresses, BMG and Round Hill initially requested the identification of account holders linked to 500. Cox refused, citing the Cable Privacy Act preventing it from disclosing information of its subscribers. Last week, a U.S. court ordered that Cox provide information on the "Top 250" accounts, including name, address, account number and the bandwidth speed associated with each account. More information on the case, and a list of IP addresses, is available at TorrentFreak torrentfreak.com/court-orders-cox-to-expose-most-egregious-bittorrent-pirates-150523/
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Post by Rain on May 24, 2015 21:42:35 GMT -5
GOOGLE FIBER SENDS AUTOMATED PIRACY ‘FINES’ TO SUBSCRIBERS
Google Fiber is forwarding copyright infringement notices to its subscribers including controversial and automated piracy fines. Through these notices, rightsholders demand settlements of up to hundreds of dollars. Google's decision to forward these emails is surprising, as the company generally has a good track record of protecting consumer interests.
googlefiberlogoEvery month Google receives dozens of millions of DMCA takedown requests from copyright holders, most of which are directed at its search engine.
However, with Google Fiber being rolled out in more cities, notices targeting allegedly pirating Internet subscribers are becoming more common as well.
These include regular takedown notices but also the more controversial settlement demands sent by companies such as Rightscorp and CEG TEK.
Instead of merely alerting subscribers that their connections have been used to share copyright infringing material, these notices serve as automated fines, offering subscribers settlements ranging from $20 to $300.
The scheme uses the standard DMCA takedown process which means that the copyright holder doesn’t have to go to court or even know who the recipient is. In fact, the affected subscriber is often not the person who shared the pirated file.
To protect customers against these practices many ISPs including Comcast, Verizon and AT&T have chosen not to forward settlement demands. However, information received by TF shows that Google does take part.
Over the past week we have seen settlement demands from Rightscorp and CEG TEK which were sent to Google Fiber customers. In an email, Google forwards the notice with an additional warning that repeated violations may result in a permanent disconnection.
“Repeated violations of our Terms of Service may result in remedial action being taken against your Google Fiber account, up to and including possible termination of your service,” Google Fiber writes.
fiberwarning Below Google’s message is the notification with the settlement demand, which in this example was sent on behalf of music licensing outfit BMG. In the notice, the subscriber is warned over possible legal action if the dispute is not settled.
“BMG will pursue every available remedy including injunctions and recovery of attorney’s fees, costs and any and all other damages which are incurred by BMG as a result of any action that is commenced against you,” the notice reads.
bmgwarning Facing such threatening language many subscribers are inclined to pay up, which led some to accuse the senders of harassment and abuse. In addition, several legal experts have spoken out against this use of the DMCA takedown process.
Mitch Stoltz, staff attorney at the Electronic Frontier Foundation (EFF) previously told us that Internet providers should carefully review what they’re forwarding to their users. Under U.S. law they are not required to forward DMCA notices and forwarding these automated fines may not be in the best interest of consumers.
“In the U.S., ISPs don’t have any legal obligation to forward infringement notices in their entirety. An ISP that cares about protecting its customers from abuse should strip out demands for money before forwarding infringement notices. Many do this,” Stoltz said.
According to Stoltz these settlement demands are often misleading or inaccurate, suggesting that account holders are responsible for all use of their Internet connections.
“The problem with notices demanding money from ISP subscribers is that they’re often misleading. They often give the impression that the person whose name is on the ISP bill is legally responsible for all infringement that might happen on the Internet connection, which is simply not true,” he notes.
While Google is certainly not the only ISP that forwards these notices it is the biggest name involved. TF asked Google why they have decided to forward the notices in their entirely but unfortunately the company did not respond to our request for comment.
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Post by Jessica on May 25, 2015 7:31:29 GMT -5
You can't argue for an ISP letting its customers getting away with 7 million+ infringements (according to the full complaint), especially when those top guys have 10,000-50,000 different files to their IPs. They knew it was happening in these numbers, they ignored it, and chose to disregard their own policies in place. And because torrenting can really hog up your connection, they even most likely got these people to upgrade to higher speeds. No, IPs don't identify people, but we shouldn't be playing stupid to what goes on in our home networks. Google knows what IP address/browser you use to sign into Gmail, and it has web history from years ago up to what you searched this morning. If any company could pinpoint the abusers and have the evidence to prove it, it would be them. Google replied BTW: torrentfreak.com/google-targeting-downloaders-not-the-best-solution-to-fight-piracy-150522/
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Post by Beady’s Here Now on May 25, 2015 15:46:40 GMT -5
Didn't really skim the majority of either article, but basically light activity is never going to get you in trouble. They just go for the heavy users. And a lot of this is just scare tactics. Remember a decade ago articles about the RIAA suing individual member for hundreds of thousands? Yeah, how did that work out for them....?
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