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.'"
How about... (Score:5, Interesting)
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How about sending a Motion To Quash the subpoena to the court. Imagine if every reader of these blogs did that? The court would receive thousands, maybe tens of thousands of motions - that's how you send a message.
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How about someobody go postal on their asses, go into their building with a few AR-15s, shoot everybody and burn the fucking building to the ground?
Nah, that's too good for them.
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Just tell Obama (Score:3)
to order a drone strike on Prenda Law and drop a couple of Hellfires. Do it when the owner and key lackeys are present.
I'm against drone strikes in general but I'll make an exception in this case.
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Is there a $35 charge for that? ;)
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IANAL, but I _think_ that I would need to move for and receive an order giving permission to file a motion in that case, since I am not a party to the action? .. although, I suppose that if you are one of the John Doe's listed in the case (and didn't mind to identify yourself) - and were currently pro se? then I think you could file that motion. Who knows. Maybe everybody should try it and we'll see what happens.
Wouldn't that be an Amicus motion?
Worst case, the court throws out a thousand motions.
Anybody with some time and money to burn can file an amicus brief. I mean, you're practically begging the trolls to sue you and use your amicus brief as "proof" you're a "pireate," but if a million people did it then...
Re:How about... (Score:5, Funny)
Dear Prenda Law,
Our records indicate that the IP address range of 0.0.0.0/0 (and
Sincerely, Wordpress.
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.
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LOL, they should give them ALL the IP Addresses that connected and pad it with about a terabyte of possible IP addresses.
Technically they comply -- but trolls will have to sift out all the chaff.
Too funny.
Sine a lot of connectors IP addresses are going to change as the ISPs recycle them -- they could just leave off the dates and for the most part, having the IP address would be useless.
But it would really be sad if they had to comply with such a court order, as it totally abuses the justice system to intimi
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Technically they comply -- but trolls will have to sift out all the chaff.
You don't even need to pad.
"It's all the right octets. But not necessarily in the right order. [youtube.com]"
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Make sure to include all of Prenda's IPs. See if they sue themselves!
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Probably won't have to manually add them, someone at Prenda has to have gone to the blogs and seen something they don't like and would have only gotten worse as more people in the company go to the blog to see what all the fuss is about so their ips are most likely there already.
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Don't forget that they should be printed out, not electronic. This way, to properly sift through them, the trolls would need to re-type the whole thing back out. (Make sure to use a "creative" font to make scanning them difficult.)
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Wordpress has replied "no" (Score:5, Informative)
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--dave
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...even if you've never visited those sites, contact WordPress and tell them you want them to refuse.
This times a million: Make sure the understand that this will affect your decision about where to host your blog. They're in the free speech business: Time to sack-up.
Prenda website incompatible with your browser ... (Score:2)
What I found was a referring site (http://www.wefightpiracy.org/ that has a link to Prenda Law).
When I followed this link I was greeted by the following message: "This Site is not Compatible With Your Browser".
That's odd ... in fact it's a first. Well ... since I'm using Mozilla they just might refuse to interact with any browser but true and trusted Microsoft IE. So I went to another machine and used IE on the w
Fuck Prenda Law (Score:3, Insightful)
They're mutant vampire aliens sent from Xenu to do the Devil's bidding.
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I would like to think that Prenda Law is doing us all a favor. By putting the absurdity of copyright, patent, libel, and slander laws on full display, we could hopefully see a more widespread movement to abolish this nonsense.
Fightcopyrighttrollfighters.com (Score:1)
We can do this forever Brett!
Three words (Score:4, Insightful)
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Motion_to_quash
If you refuse the subpoena, the judge may decide that Wordpress is committing contempt of court. A better alternative would be to have their own lawyer request a motion to quash the subpoena.
Of course, the best thing Wordpress can do is to listen to corporate counsel and pay attention, but I'm no lawyer, so don't listen to me. :)
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If you could get the troll's IP addresses on both (Score:5, Funny)
Poison the well (Score:4, Interesting)
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Does that include the IP addresses of the 20 million visitors they will get over the next 48 hours for appearing on the Slashdot FP?
If I were a gambling man, my money would rest on "yes".
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"Well, at least the members of /. that break the rules and read linked articles :)"
And both of them are probably following this case very closely to see if their IP addresses are going to be released.
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I clicked the link intentionally. They can have my IP address. I'm not scared and it would give me something interesting to talk about should they come bug me. I have far more free time than they do.
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Whooooooooooooooooosh.
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Does that include the IP addresses of the 20 million visitors they will get over the next 48 hours for appearing on the Slashdot FP?
Sorry but a low end android phone could handle the load from a slashdotting these days.
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Here's my IP address. go:fuck:your:self (Score:1)
Re:Here's my IP address (Score:3)
That's not a valid IPv6 address. Remember, an address does have to be hex.
But here are my IP addresses - 192.168.10.106 for IPv4, or fe80::1c98:3703:3f57:f595%16 for IPv6. Have fun!
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That's not a valid IPv6 address. Remember, an address does have to be hex.
But here are my IP addresses - 192.168.10.106 for IPv4, or fe80::1c98:3703:3f57:f595%16 for IPv6. Have fun!
Okay fine, I'll hex it. beef::cafe:fa65:1410:face
Directed at Prenda, not you, kind sir. :)
Fact finding by dragnet. (Score:1)
I wonder what they think they gain with that sort of stance. Gather up all IP addresses (which are NOT personal identification) and sue everyone remotely associatable? Including, say, google for indexing those sites? What?
If wordpress somehow cannot refuse (or just doesn't have any balls; this is a possibility) the least they can do is heap all the IP addresses together without specification. It seems that mounting a legal attack on such a broad range of hosts is sure to flounder.
And you'd think even copyri
Re:Fact finding by dragnet. (Score:5, Insightful)
They want to intimidate.
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One octet per sheet of paper
With each IP put a code at the bottom of the page that match each octet.
Hashed and salted.
What? Did the subpoena specify what format the IP addresses had to be in?
*evil grin*
Re:Fact finding by dragnet. (Score:4, Funny)
And then fax it to them via an email to fax service taking care to invert the colours first.
In the UK... (Score:2)
... we have the Data Protection Act (the US doesn't have anything like this, unfortunately).
You could quite legitimately say that in accordance with your data protection policies, you will quite happily hand over the IP addresses and other information associated with them, no problem at all.
Just as long as you get written permission from the person who was using that IP address first.
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Well kind of, but it's more that you can write - and legally enforce - a policy at your company that says that you will hand over any information about your customer on request, just so long as the person requesting it has that customer's explicit written permission to do so.
Now consider how this would work when they want to find out who has been torrenting from a particular IP address...
"We want the name and the address of the person using *this* IP at *this* date and time"
"Sure, just get me written permis
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It's pretty clear from the summary what they want.
They want the IP Addresses then will cross check then against their list of IP Addresses of people who have pirated stuff then go after those guys.
Sure the cases may be dismissed, but some will pay and others will hire a lawyer out of their own pocket to fight it. Either way he pirates who visited the site will pay.
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Now you're just being pedantic.
I was not going to go into the difficulties of IP Addresses being used as an identifier for piracy as it's pretty much assumed anyone reading this probably has already read 100+ other articles about just that thing and I was not going to waste my time and effort re-explaining it.
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They are going after visitor IP Addresses and comparing it to the list of pirating IP Addresses they already have.
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They are going after visitor IP Addresses and comparing it to the list of pirating IP Addresses they already have.
Because, apparently, alleged pirates do not have a 1st Amendment right.
Anonymity? (Score:2)
Hey, where did all of those people who say anonymity on the Internet isn't necessary run off to?
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He's Spartacus!
No, I am Spartacus.
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He's Spartacus!
No, I am Spartacus.
No, I am Spartacus.
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I'm Batman.
Old timer (Score:2)
OK I'm an old timer who was on the internet when everyone used their real names and an employer email address. Shoot what did you want to say?
Anonymity dates back to the old days (Score:3)
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The idea of online anonymity dates back to the days when September was not the only month online.
+1 Eternal September [knowyourmeme.com] reference. God damned AOL'ers. I knew it would come to this, back in '93. I just fucking knew it.
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Hey, where did all of those people who say anonymity on the Internet isn't necessary run off to?
I'm sorry, could you repeat your question? I couldn't make it out with the extreme echo in the room...
Give'm Hell!! (Score:5, Informative)
FightCopyrightTrolls.com [fightcopyrighttrolls.com]
Dietrolldie.com [dietrolldie.com]
Or maybe... (Score:5, Interesting)
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...Prenda just wants proof that lots and lots of unique visitors have viewed the allegedly-defaming content as justification for seeking a giant-size judgement.
Maybe they should do some crying in front of the judge and jury. You know, make it look like it hurts really badly to have common folk calling you an ass when you're an ass. ;)
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]
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I love 47 U.S.C. 230 [cornell.edu] Paragraph (e) -- (provided by Cornell Law School)
"(e) Effect on other laws
(1) No effect on criminal law
Nothing in this section shall be construed to impair the enforcement of section 223 or 231 of this title, chapter 71 (relating to obscenity) or 110 (relating to sexual exploitation of children) of title 18, or any other Federal criminal statute.
(2) No effect on intellectual property law
Nothing in this section shall be construed to limit or expand any law pertaining to intellectual prop
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There are a number of problems with this subpoena.
First, once Cooper and Godfread filed their notice of removal, the state court lost all jurisdiction over the matter (at least unless or until the case is sent back) and all proceedings in state court halted by operation of law — including the obligation to respond to outstanding discovery. Prenda Law would need to re-issue the subpoena in the federal proceeding.
Second, though I am looking into it, it's not clear to me whether Prenda Law followed the requisite procedure under the Uniform Interstate Discovery Act required for them to serve a subpoena on a California company in an Illinois case. We'll see.
Third, the subpoena is ridiculously overbroad. It asks for the IP addresses of everyone who visited the sites, not just people who made specified comments — let alone comments that could plausibly be deemed defamatory. Moreover, it demands IP addresses for a period in 2011 before Prenda Law existed, and therefore before it plausibly could have been defamed or wronged.
Fourth, under emerging doctrines governing attempts to discover the identity of anonymous commenters, it is doubtful that Prenda Law can justify its broad subpoena. Prenda's lawsuit, as I earlier pointed out, is a mish-mash of complaints about statements of fact (which could conceivably be defamatory) and statements of opinion (which cannot). Under these circumstances a court should quash the overbroad subpoena under the increasingly prevalent rule that a plaintiff must make some sort of preliminary showing to discover information about the identities of anonymous speakers.
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Tor ftw? (Score:2)
Seems like it's a good time to think about plugging the cable modem into a persistent Tor connection or something. If the courts can't protect 1st amendment rights, Tor would at least make it harder for the Trolls to drag you through legal mire over a basic right that's supposed to be protected under the constitution.
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SLAPP (Score:5, Interesting)
I'm surprised they can't get these cases moved to SLAPP status... The same corp filing 3 cases in 3 courts over "defamation" sounds like they are using the courts to shut up people they don't want to hear from. These sites are naming names and events, so they might get them on technicalities... But then FOX news got a pass that FABRICATIONS were still not defamation... So the only possible purpose of the suits is to collect information to harass the readers later.
Part of the problem revolves around court culture. Lawyers are used to going to court and calling defendants, plaintiffs all kinds of names, making grand requests for judgements that are hundreds of thousands of dollars... Then packing their briefcases and going out to lunch with the other lawyers.
Judges don't like reporters going after the LAWYERS in a case because "it's just business". Except in these cases, the lawyers ARE the ones causing the problems .. Courts don't really censor what lawyers say in court... But then what they say HAS to be taken as intent to keep these threats...
It takes time for the judges to pick up that these guys are running the same thing in every town... The legal PROCESS can't keep up rules to prevent this stuff.
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If you read the full story behind what's going on here [popehat.com], you'll see that the lawyers who filed this motion are all getting dragged in front of a federal judge that they've managed to piss off. The judge has been throwing phrases like "defraud the court" and "incarceration" so Monday's hearing should be fun to watch.
Best use of slashdot effect. (Score:4, Insightful)
Just one (Score:2)
You can still Copy/paste the redacted PDF (Score:1)
So? (Score:2)
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Just get your own domain! (Score:2)
No worries how this will turn out. (Score:2)
Usually when a copyright or patent troll lawsuit appears on Slashdot, there's the very real possibility that the results will make no sense and be totally unfair, because of the courts' (EVERY courts') tendency to lose their collective minds and forget 100 years of jurisprudence when the phrase "on the internet" or "on a computer" appears in a proceeding.
This time, that won't be a problem. Why? Because it's not even going to get to that part of the lawsuit. Prenda was apparently so sloppy that they're go