Copyright Trolls Order Wordpress To Disclose Critics' IP Addresses 119
TrueSatan writes "Notorious copyright troll Prenda Law has sent a subpoena to WordPress attempting to force the disclosure of all IP addresses related to two WordPress-hosted sites that specialize in monitoring and encouraging action against copyright trolling. The sites in question are fightcopyrighttrolls.com and dietrolldie.com. These sites state their aims as: 'To keep the public and fellow victims informed and to ensure that through activism, trolls make as little money as possible.' These are goals which almost anyone (bar a copyright troll, or lawyer acting for one) might well applaud. Prenda Law's demand is not for a subset of addresses that might have posted in a manner that could be construed as legally defamatory but for all IP addresses that have accessed these sites, irrespective of the use made of them. Prenda Law has filed three defamation lawsuits already against the individuals who run Fightcopyrighttrolls, and one has been dismissed (PDF). Dietrolldie released the following warning: 'As there is a possibility that a release could occur, the public IP address (date/time stamp) could fall into the hands of Prenda. I would expect that they would then try to cross-reference the IP address with their list of alleged BitTorrent infringement IP addresses ... If you have ever gone to this site or Fightcopyrighttrolls.com since 1 January 2011, you may want to contact WordPress. Tell them you want them to refuse this overly broad request and at least wait until the issue of the case being moved to the Federal court is answered before releasing any information.'"
Give'm Hell!! (Score:5, Informative)
FightCopyrightTrolls.com [fightcopyrighttrolls.com]
Dietrolldie.com [dietrolldie.com]
Legal blog summary (Score:5, Informative)
Popehat (a great legal blog - I have no affiliation, just a fan) has a great and hilarious summary of the case including why Prenda's lawyers could be facing jail on March 11:
http://www.popehat.com/2013/03/05/prenda-law-researches-streisand-effect-says-i-gotta-get-me-some-of-that/ [popehat.com]
and
http://www.popehat.com/2013/03/06/what-prenda-law-is-facing-in-los-angeles/ [popehat.com]
Wordpress has replied "no" (Score:5, Informative)
Re:How about... (Score:4, Informative)
With a bit of local cooperation, Wordpress could actually do that - they just need someone nearby to set up a script to try and open those sites from every available (legitimate) IP address ("spoofing," possible for IPv4, no so much for IPv6). Then Wordpress would actually have every address in their logs.