A district court judge in Hawaii has slammed the brakes on an attempt to unmask dozens of alleged BitTorrent pirates using a DMCA subpoena. Movie companies Voltage Holdings, Millennium Funding, and Capstone Studios, served the subpoena on Cox Communications, which in turn gave those accused an opportunity to object to the disclosure of their identities. When one subscriber did just that, the court took a closer look at the DMCA subpoena disclosure ‘shortcut.’
Andy Maxwell writes:
…. In his order handed down this week, District Judge J. Michael Seabright provides an exceptionally clear overview of the four types of safe harbor available to ISPs under the DMCA. In doing so, the Judge also shows why the movie companies’ DMCA subpoena fails.
The breakdown seems to show why DMCA subpoenas issued under § 512(h) cannot be used to obtain the identities of P2P infringers when their ISP qualifies for protection under § 512(a). (For reference, the DMCA’s safe harbor provisions are detailed in full here)
Read more at TorrentFreak.