US ISP Refused to Disclose Data in Piracy Case
https://sp-security.blogspot.com/2015/04/us-isp-refused-to-disclose-data-in.html
American
Internet service provider Cox Communications refused to reveal
financial details in a piracy case. Music publishers currently sue the
ISP for a failure to disconnect 200,000 subscribers who are “repeat
copyright infringers”. The copyright owners want to receive detailed
financial data in order to prove that the ISP profits from its inaction
in the case.
Cox Communications forwards DMCA notices to its customers and has a strict set of rules in place to ensure that the subscribers understand the severity of the allegations. But the entertainment industry claimed that the ISP is doing not enough and sued Cox, accusing it of failure to terminate the accounts of repeat infringers.
This case may appear a critical precedent for the repeat infringer clause of the DMCA, and – consequently – the safe harbor protections the broadband providers enjoy. Now the parties are trying to collect as many details as they can for the upcoming trial. On the one hand, the ISP is looking into the ownership of the thousand works for which it received 7 million DMCA requests and into the source code of the crawler used to spot the alleged infringements. On the other hand, the two music publishers have requested details on the ISP’s policy towards repeat infringers and the financial data. Cox refused to provide the latter, saying that the request is too broad.
As a result, the music publishers filed a motion asking the court to force the broadband provider to comply, insisting that the financial data is required to calculate damages and prove that the ISP profits from persistent piracy. Now it’s up to the court to decide how many of its financial secrets the ISP must reveal.
Thanks to TorrentFreak for providing the source of the article.
By:
Cox Communications forwards DMCA notices to its customers and has a strict set of rules in place to ensure that the subscribers understand the severity of the allegations. But the entertainment industry claimed that the ISP is doing not enough and sued Cox, accusing it of failure to terminate the accounts of repeat infringers.
This case may appear a critical precedent for the repeat infringer clause of the DMCA, and – consequently – the safe harbor protections the broadband providers enjoy. Now the parties are trying to collect as many details as they can for the upcoming trial. On the one hand, the ISP is looking into the ownership of the thousand works for which it received 7 million DMCA requests and into the source code of the crawler used to spot the alleged infringements. On the other hand, the two music publishers have requested details on the ISP’s policy towards repeat infringers and the financial data. Cox refused to provide the latter, saying that the request is too broad.
As a result, the music publishers filed a motion asking the court to force the broadband provider to comply, insisting that the financial data is required to calculate damages and prove that the ISP profits from persistent piracy. Now it’s up to the court to decide how many of its financial secrets the ISP must reveal.
Thanks to TorrentFreak for providing the source of the article.
By:
