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The Courts Privacy The Internet

Judge Orders Cloudflare To Turn Over Identifying Data In Copyright Case (techspot.com) 56

Posted by BeauHD from the de-anonymized dept.
Cal Jeffrey reporting for TechSpot: Back in May, several studios started targeting movie-pirating sites and services. Dallas Buyers Club, Cobbler Nevada, Bodyguard Productions, and several other copyright owners filed a lawsuit against ShowBox, a movie-streaming app for mobile devices. The companies tried pressuring CDN and DDoS protection provider Cloudflare into releasing information on the operators of some of these platforms. However, Cloudflare told them if they wanted such information they would have to get it the right way -- through legal action.

The plaintiffs did just that. A subpoena was issued in the case from a federal court in Hawaii. The documents were not made public, but TorrentFreak was able to obtain a portion of the subpoena from a source. The court order demands the details of the operators behind the Showboxbuzz website, Showbox.software, website Rawapk, Popcorn Time, and others. Cloudflare has not filed a motion to quash, so it appears likely that the company will hand over the requested data.
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Judge Orders Cloudflare To Turn Over Identifying Data In Copyright Case More

Judge Orders Cloudflare To Turn Over Identifying Data In Copyright Case

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  • Suspicious. (Score:5, Interesting)

    by Gravis Zero ( 934156 ) on Sunday September 23, 2018 @04:39PM (#57365244)

    It seems exceptionally suspicious that they chose to take legal action in Hawaii (halfway around the world) especially when their very names indicate their location on the US mainland. Seems like they may have found their eastern Texas of copyrights.

    I'm not saying it's illegal but it's definitely not aboveboard.

    • Re: (Score:1)

      by Anonymous Coward

      It seems exceptionally suspicious that they chose to take legal action in Hawaii .

      -

      It's called "having a judge in your pocket".

    • "Dallas Buyers Club" is the name of a movie. It is not a local business in Dallas.

    • SOTA is the plaintiff's name, he lives in Hawaii and the suit was filed on his behalf.

    • Re: (Score:2)

      by vakuona ( 788200 )

      I am not a lawyer, but if I could guess, I reckon they filed it in Hawaii because:
      - It's being filed in a federal court, therefore the jurisdiction of the court is probably "all of the USA"
      - Likely Cloudflare has business in Hawaii, therefore they can be sued anywhere they do business.
      - Plaintiffs will then sue / file wherever they believe they are likely to get a favourable outcome. This part is basic strategy. Why would they file where they might not get a favourable outcome?

      • Re: (Score:2)

        by nasch ( 598556 )

        - It's being filed in a federal court, therefore the jurisdiction of the court is probably "all of the USA"

        I had a hard time finding information on this, but I thought only the Supreme Court has jurisdiction over the whole country (other than some courts in specialized areas). I'm pretty sure the decisions of circuit courts are only binding within that circuit, which would seem to imply they can only hear cases that arise from within the circuit in some way. Anyone have more information?

  • Yes-ish... (Score:4, Informative)

    by Anonymous Coward on Sunday September 23, 2018 @04:44PM (#57365278)

    Generally speaking subpoenas are signed by attorneys licensed to practice before the court rather than by the judge as a practical matter, although there are some exceptions. Then if the subpoena is not legit the person or entity being asked to provide the information can fight it if it makes sense to do so. A judge likely hasn't looked at this yet and won't unless Cloudflare decides they want to fight it, since why would you get a judge involved if everyone agrees on what their legal obligations are with regard to disclosing the information about the customers?

  • Cloudflare doing it right (Score:5, Insightful)

    by jaa101 ( 627731 ) on Sunday September 23, 2018 @04:44PM (#57365280)

    Cloudflare is doing the right thing. They are neither handing over customer data on the request of copyright holders nor wasting time trying to protect customers from the law. They've required a judge to decide on the need to disclose customer's identities, so their customers can hardly complain.

  • This is supposed to be how it works (Score:5, Insightful)

    by dirk ( 87083 ) <dirk@one.net> on Sunday September 23, 2018 @04:50PM (#57365302) Homepage

    I have no issue with this at all as this is exactly how it is supposed to work. They should go before a judge and prove they have enough evidence that supports their case that the judge feels ti is worth while to release the information. ISPs and other companies shouldn't release this information without a court order, but should comply with a court order if one is obtained.

    • Re: This is supposed to be how it works (Score:5, Insightful)

      by im_thatoneguy ( 819432 ) on Sunday September 23, 2018 @04:58PM (#57365322)

      Yeah I think this is far from an abuse of the legal system. Someone has a complaint, they go to a judge and that judge allows them to subpoena relevant info to the case.

      As to copyright enforcement. I still think th only reason the holders lost public support is the absurd punishment. If people had been slapped with $40 fines like a parking ticket I think the legal and public opinion landscape would be radically different.

      âoeYou downloaded a Metallica album. That will be $52.â
      âoeDamn you got me. Here you go.â

      Instead when a single mother is on the hook for $10,000 to an industry based on spurious evidence... the moral reaction is to fight back.

      $10k+ fines are definitely warranted for developers profiting like Popcorn Time but there needs to be a proportional response for run of the mill infringement akin to taking your chances by not paying the meter while running in to a store.

      • Re: (Score:2)

        by AmiMoJo ( 196126 )

        Why use a court of Hawaii though? That sounds like abuse, selecting a venue presumably because it is favourable to the claimant.

    • 28 years. Yeah, yeah, I know, go get the law changed if I don't like it. That'd be great if I wasn't going up against multi-billion dollar corporations and a heavily rigged system of democracy...

      • Re: (Score:2)

        by nasch ( 598556 )
        It used to be 28 years (sort of). What it's supposed to be is a matter of opinion. I would say 28 years is too long.
    • Comment removed based on user account deletion

  • Ahh, Venice PI LLC (Score:5, Interesting)

    by viperidaenz ( 2515578 ) on Sunday September 23, 2018 @06:17PM (#57365526)

    The company that sued a dead man who suffered from dementia for apparently torrenting their movie.
    https://www.techdirt.com/artic... [techdirt.com]

  • Why Hawaii? So people WANT to visit the court and work on the case!

    That's also why the annual CFD conference is in Hawaii.

    I'm not really interested in attending conferences in Chicago, Atlanta, Boston, LA, Dallas, Vegas, Seattle .... but Hawaii? I'm there!

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