Under US copyright law, Internet service providers must terminate the accounts of repeat infringers "in appropriate circumstances."
Many ISPs have been reluctant to take such drastic measures, sparking a wave of copyright infringement lawsuits in recent years.
RCN Internet Provider is among the target providers. In 2021, the company was sued by various film companies, including the makers of The Hitman's Wife's Bodyguard, London Has Fallen, and Hellboy.
The film companies claimed that RCN was not doing enough to prevent subscribers from hacking into their network. Rather than terminate the accounts of persistent hackers, the Internet provider looked the other way, they argued.
The stakes are high in these liability lawsuits. Internet providers face damage claims running into the hundreds of millions of dollars, while tens of thousands of Internet subscribers risk having their accounts terminated.
Reddit users as evidence
RCN denied most of the charges and asked the New Jersey federal court to dismiss the case. that effort failed last October and the matter is now ongoing, with both sides gathering evidence.
The filmmakers have previously shown that they do not shy away from relying on the evidence of unrelated third parties. This includes Reddit users who have semi-anonymously shared their thoughts on hacking warnings and repeat infringer policies of internet providers.
In the case of RCN, this is no different. Lawyer Kerry Culpepper discovered several Reddit discussions with potentially relevant comments. Some Reddit users specifically mention RCN. Others refer to ISPs in more general terms, but could refer to RCN or other ISP brands. amazing conglomerate.
To gather more details, the filmmakers would like to know who these commenters are. To obtain their identities, they obtained a subpoena forcing Reddit to share basic account information, including IP address logs for 'ben125125', 'SquattingCroat', 'Griffdog21', 'aromaticbotanist', 'ChikaraFan', 'compypaq' , 'dotsamantha' , 'ilikepie96mng' and 'matt3324'โ.
Reddit Objects
Reddit is not satisfied with the request. On January 17, the company informed filmmakers that it would alert subscribers, allowing them to contest the subpoena. Additionally, Reddit suggested that handing over personal data could violate users' First Amendment right to anonymous expression.
Approximately two weeks later, none of the affected users had filed an objection in court. However, Reddit decided to share information about โben125125โ, while protecting other users.
As shown above, "ben125125" replied to a thread about hacking warnings and specifically mentions RCN. That wasn't so obvious in the other comments and Reddit feels that revealing their identities is going too far.
"Reddit maintains its objections to the remaining subpoena requests to identify information associated with the eight additional accounts listed in the subpoena," Reddit's attorneys informed the filmmakers in an email.
"Reddit has reviewed the examples provided by the plaintiffs and continues to believe that the requests for identifying information associated with the eight additional accounts are more in the nature of a fishing expedition and not relevant to or permitted under the First Amendment."
Among other things, Reddit emphasizes that some of the comments are well beyond the three-year statute of limitations. In fact, a comment was posted 13 years ago. Also, not all comments refer to RCN, the provider at the center of the dispute.
Filmmakers ask court to intervene
Rights holders see things differently. They asked a California court this week to compel Reddit to hand over the requested details and IP address logs, as these are highly relevant. Revealing the information is proportional to the needs of the case, they argue.
The comments may provide evidence that RCN is able to control subscriber conduct and did not have an adequate repeat infringer policy, with the latter acting as a lure for potential subscribers.
This includes a comment from user ChikaraFan about RCN's alleged "lax" policy for dealing with repeat offenders, which the filmmakers plan to use as evidence.
โThe plaintiffs wish to use ChikaraFan's statement as evidence that this 'rather lax' policy was a lure to become a customer.
โAlthough the statement was made eight years ago, Plaintiffs can use the information requested in the subpoena to contact ChikaraFan and authenticate their post to obtain evidence to support their claims.โ
Relevant and Proportional
Other posts are also relevant and proportional, rights holders argue. These include several comments suggesting that ISPs don't have very strict policies for repeat infringers, not to mention the names of the providers.
The filmmakers believe these can be very useful if you are dealing with RCN or one of the other ISP brands operated by parent company Astound.
The motion to compel also contradicts Reddit's First Amendment right to anonymous speech argument, noting that none of the users filed an official protest after being notified.
Reddit users apparently don't have to fear repercussions, as the film companies emphasize that they are not interested in pursuing legal action or financial claims against them.
โRather, Plaintiffs only wish to discuss the comments made by subscribers and use their comments as evidence that RCN monitors and controls the conduct of its subscribers, RCN does not have a meaningful policy to crack down on repeat infringers, and this lax or non-existent was an attraction to use the RCN Serviceโ, they write.
The matter is now in the hands of the court, which must decide whether Reddit can be compelled to identify the affected users. The list no longer includes 'dotsamantha', which has been removed from the application. Reddit, meanwhile, may have to say more on the matter.
Whatever is needed
If anything, the above shows that movie companies are willing to dig deeper to prove a point. This can drag relatively anonymous Reddit users into a lawsuit they've probably never even heard of.
The problem isn't limited to Reddit either; rights holders can get feedback from Twitter and other social media platforms.
Whether this unconventional tactic will produce results remains to be seen. Based on recent history, it's clear that the filmmakers and their lead attorney aren't giving up easily.
In a separate case last year, they won a $14 million copyright judgment against LiquidVPN. Since then, companies have done everything they can to get your money.
Last month, the filmmakers earned worldwide recognition asset restraint order (pdf) which prohibits the former operators of the defunct VPN provider from disposing of or transferring valuable assets. The same case also sparked a battle over a $300,000 yacht that was left abandoned after the verdict.
The RCN case and the Reddit dispute are more straightforward, but the tactics deployed show that the filmmakers are willing to do whatever it takes, using all legal means at their disposal.
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A copy of the motion to compel Reddit to comply with the subpoena, as filed in California court this week, is available here (pdf)
