Hmm it seems like torrent users are to be careful. Reading this piece has shown that "boys are not happy" ie development of ip address, city software call maverickeye to help track seeders who torrent files, is now getting common. The Federal Court of Australia has ordered Australian internet service provider iiNet to hand over details of customers alleged to have pirated the film "Dallas Buyers Club" through torrenting software, in a landmark case for the regulation of piracy in Australia.
After a long-running legal battle over "preliminary discovery" of internet users' personal information, Justice Perram found in favour of Dallas Buyers Club LLC, agreeing that the rights holders should be able to obtain customer information matching the IP addresses of users torrenting the Oscar-winning film.
However, in handing down his judgement that preliminary discovery should be granted, Justice Perram said "there should be orders maintaining the privacy of the [customer] information provided." In addition, Perram stipulated that the content and form of any letter sent to iiNet customers alleged to have infringed copyright on the film must "first be submitted...for approval." This last stipulation may be a precaution against the alleged "scare tactics" used by Dallas Buyers Club LLCin dealing with piracy.
The news comes at a busy time in Australian copyright reform, just two months after Australian ISPs and content rights holders released a draft industry code for tackling piracyacross the country. The code, which was developed at the request of the Federal Government, outlined a three-strikes policy requiring ISPs to send escalating copyright infringement notices to their customers at the request of rights holders.
Australia's Attorney-General George Brandis also introduced new site-blocking legislationto Federal Parliament in March as part of a piracy crackdown. If passed, the laws would allow rights holders to seek a court injunction requiring ISPs to block overseas websites that are deemed to "facilitate" piracy.
Today's news is a big win for Dallas Buyers Club LLC, the company behind the film, as well as rights holders seeking to crack down on individual internet users caught pirating content online. While iiNet had long fought to keep its customer details under lock and key, the ISP will now be forced to hand over its customer information, potentially opening the door for individuals to face further legal action.
The legal battle so far
As part of its "preliminary discovery" case, Dallas Buyers Club LLC applied to the Federal Court to obtain the personal details of customers linked to 4,762 IP addresses that allegedly participated in torrent swarms -- a group of users all participating in the sharing of a file. The IP addresses were allocated to iiNet as well as a number of other smaller ISPs.
In response to the initial legal action, iiNet said it "would never disclose customer details to a third party, such as movie studio, unless ordered to do so by a court" and would fight the preliminary discovery attempts.
A large part of the case hinged on evidence provided by DBC's expert witnesses, which the rights holder said proved that iiNet users were sharing the film online.
Dallas Buyers Club used a German program known as MaverickEyeto detect IP addresses in torrent swarms between April 2 and May 27, 2014. According to an affidavit signed by expert witness and MaverickEye employee Daniel Macek, the software "mimics a user willing to act as a source of data," though "no actual transfer takes place." Once a file seeder -- someone sharing the file with other users -- is detected and a "sub-piece" of the film is received, the connection is terminated and the seeder's IP address, city and ISP is logged with a time stamp.
However, during cross-examination, counsel for iiNet pointed out that MaverickEye did not target those who only downloaded the film (known as torrent "leechers" and only detected a "sliver" of the downloaded file rather than a full copy of the film.
iiNet also cast doubt over DBC's witness, saying he only worked part-time at MaverickEye, that his affidavit was not written by him, and that he only had a "general" understanding of how the software functioned. Further, iiNet said there was no proof that MaverickEye's processes were "being done in a scientific and accurate way."
With Dallas Buyers Club LLC going to court to get personal information in order to pursue individual copyright infringers, the company was also forced to defend its history of dealing with pirates. A witness from Voltage Pictures, the company that claims copyright over "Dallas Buyers Club," said the company employed "no scare tactics" in sending infringement notices to internet users and that news stories about the company going after vulnerable people in court would "ruin" Voltage.
In and out of court
However, Dallas Buyers Club is no stranger to the courts. The distributor behind the film, Voltage Pictures, has pursued copyright infringement cases in the United States and Europe, winning a $14,000 settlement in the state of Oregon, and allegedly sending out letters of demand to pirates in Denmark.
Similarly, it's not the first time iiNet has been targeted by rights holders, with a landmark case against Village Roadshow ultimately coming down in favour of the ISP.
In 2008, 34 film studios including Village Roadshow, Warner Bros and Universal, began legal proceedings against iiNetsaying it failed to take reasonable steps to prevent its customers from pirating the studios' films. The Australian Federation Against Copyright Theft tracked infringing IP addresses and sent warning notices to iiNet, which AFACT alleged the ISP ignored.
The case was dismissed in 2010, with the presiding judge ruling that "the mere provision of access to the internet is not an authorisation of infringement." AFACT appealed the decision twice, but both the Federal Court and the High Court of Australia ruled in favour of iiNet.
Dallas Buyers Club has been contacted for comment, but did not immediately respond.
iiNet has also been contacted for comment, and is preparing a statement. This story will be updated when the statement is made public. http://www.cnet.com/news/dallas-buyers-club-wins-access-to-iinet-customer-information/ |
