Hello.
I wasn't sure if I should post this in General or Off-Topic, but I thought it was kind of important for people to see it so I decided to post it here.
My ISP received this e-mail from the Motion Picture Assocation after I used Bit Torrent to download your Super Metroid speed run (which I really enjoyed):
Subject:
Case ID 10096615 - Notice of Claimed Infringement
Date:
Tue, 07 Sep 2004 22:04:11 -0400
From:
MPAACopyright <MPAA@copyright.org>
To:
{removed}
Motion Picture Association
Worldwide Anti-Piracy
15503 Ventura Boulevard
Encino, CA 91436
PHONE: (818) 728 - 8127
Email: MPAA@copyright.org <mailto:MPAA@copyright.org>
September 7, 2004
Name: {removed}
ISP: {removed}
Via Fax/Email
RE: Unauthorized Distribution of Copyrighted Motion Pictures
Protocol: BitTorrent
IP Address: {removed}
Date of Infringement: 9/6/2004 at 12:29 a.m. EDT (GMT -0400)
Dear TPG Internet Pte Ltd:
The Motion Picture Association (MPA) represents the following motion picture production and
distribution companies:
Columbia Pictures Industries, Inc.
Disney Enterprises, Inc.
Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer Studios Inc.
Paramount Pictures Corporation
TriStar Pictures, Inc.
Twentieth Century Fox Film Corporation
United Artists Pictures, Inc.
United Artists Corporation
Universal City Studios LLLP
Warner Bros. Entertainment Company Inc.
We have received information that you are providing Internet or Usenet access to the above
referenced account holder, or hosting the above referenced Internet site, which has made
available the download or streaming of copyrighted motion picture(s) including such title(s)
as:
SPEED
The distribution of unauthorized copies of copyrighted motion pictures constitutes copyright
infringement under the Copyright Act 1968 ("Act"). We draw your attention to section 101(1) of
the Copyright Act 1968 which provides:
"Subject to this Act, a copyright subsisting by virtue of this Part is infringed by a person,
not being the owner of the copyright and without the license of the owner of the copyright,
does in Australia, or authorizes the doing in Australia of, any act comprised in the
copyright."
Under sections 115 and 116 of the Act, a person whose rights are infringed in breach of the Act
may seek civil remedies including (amongst other remedies) an injunction and either damages or
an account of profits. Additional damages may be imposed by the court where warranted by the
nature of the infringement.
Additionally, if you fail to take the steps as set out below, you will be in breach of section
313(1) of the Telecommunications Act 1997 (Cth) which requires your company to use its best
efforts to prevent telecommunications networks and facilities from being used in the commission
of offenses against Commonwealth laws. Under section 132(2) of the Copyright Act, a
Commonwealth law, it is an offense knowingly to make cinematograph films available to be
downloaded without the permission of the owners of the copyright subsisting in those films.
The Telecommunications Act provides that a corporation may be liable for a penalty of up to $10
million (AUS) in respect of a breach of section 313(1). An individual who is knowingly
concerned in or party to the breach may be liable for a penalty of up to $50,000. We note that
under Act, your company, and its officers, employees and agents, will be protected from
liability damages arising from taking the steps outlined above if they do so in performance of
the obligation imposed by section 313(1).
We request that you immediately do the following:
1) Disable access to this site;
2) Remove this site from your server; and
3) Take appropriate action against the account holder under your Abuse Policy/Terms of Service
Agreement.
On behalf of the respective owners of the exclusive rights to the copyrighted material at issue
in this notice, we hereby state, that we have a good faith belief that use of the material in
the manner complained of is not authorized by the copyright owners, their respective agents, or
the law.
Also, we hereby state, that the information in this notification is accurate and that we are
authorized to act on behalf of the owners of the exclusive rights being infringed as set forth
in this notification.
Please contact us at the above listed address or by replying to this email should you have any
questions. Kindly include the above noted Reference number in the subject line of all email
correspondence.
We thank you for your cooperation in this matter. Your prompt response is requested.
Respectfully,
Motion Picture Association
------------------------------
Infringement Detail:
Infringing Work: SPEED
Filepath: supermetroid-speedrunv3-frenom-avi.torrent/
Filename: supermetroid-speedrunv3-frenom.avi
First Found: 6 Sep 2004 00:29:14 EDT (GMT -0400)
Last Found: 6 Sep 2004 00:29:14 EDT (GMT -0400)
Filesize: 182,426k
IP Address: {removed}
IP Port: 26887
Network: BTPeers
Protocol: BitTorrent
I don't know if anyone else has been receiving these, but perhaps you may want to take up a complaint with the Motion Picture Association over this.
Joined: 5/20/2004
Posts: 118
Location: Over there!
MPAA = retarded.
They think you downloaded the film 'Speed', but it is obvious that this isn't the case simply from looking at the filename.
Tell this to your ISP, and then sue the MPAA for harassment.
Edit: Hell... let's throw in 'Causing undue stress' as well. I'm sure being falsely accused of breaking the law is having a very severe emotional impact on you and your family... *cough* :P
Thankfully I don't live in the USA.
MPAA needs their heuristics updated. Because you downloaded a file called supermetroid-speedrunv3-frenom.avi, their robots are assuming you are download a movie called "Speed".
If I did live in USA, I'd probably still ignore this "warning".
You can explain your ISP whatever you want. See if they care.
Edit: I agree with the previous poster.
Joined: 3/11/2004
Posts: 1058
Location: Reykjavík, Ísland
Yeah, I've seen this before. It's the dreaded RIAA-MPAA robot that scours the internet looking for file names that loosely resemble movie and music names.
People have gotten these letters because of hosting small 12k files with the letter X in the file name (because obviously, they were episodes of X-Files).
Actually I have no idea what to do over this. Perhaps you could submit a story to Slashdot, I know they'd be all over this. I think these letters can probably be ignored.
Joined: 7/29/2004
Posts: 136
Location: Temple City, CA
I also agree with SprintGod, though lawsuits cost money unfortunately.
They also have just lied to your ISP in a legally binding document when stating:
"Also, we hereby state, that the information in this notification is accurate and that we are
authorized to act on behalf of the owners of the exclusive rights being infringed as set forth
in this notification. "
"How can you prove you exist? Maybe we don't exist..."
-Vivi Ornitier (Final Fantasy IX)
Joined: 3/11/2004
Posts: 1058
Location: Reykjavík, Ísland
Too bad there's not much that can be done since with the legal system in the USA, whoever has more money will win any one of those types of lawsuits. At least that's what I understand, maybe there is a shred of justice but I haven't heard of it yet.
Joined: 9/11/2004
Posts: 10
Location: East Bay, California
Three words, and I'm reluctant to say them (we're over-litigious as it is): class-action lawsuit. I'm sure that the Ninth Circuit (you know, the one that ruled P2P services were legit in a remarkable retread of the Betamax decision) would NOT be amused by the recent actions of the MPAA bots (breaking and entering, felony trespass and eavesdropping on electronic devices). Also, I can guarantee you that kind of thing doesn't sit well with a lot of agencies - in particular the CIA and so on and so forth, THEY like to be the only ones spying. ;)
Pursue them in justice for menacing you. What do they think they are!? Is the word ''Speed'' copyrighted!? They sucks.
Unfortunately, the legal system doesn't quite work like that.
MPAA sent a C&D letter to the ISP, which basically says, "Cut this guy's access, or we'll sue you."
It acts as a -warning-, but is not something that is legally enforcable until someone actually goes to court and tries to get a judge to agree to it.
To secure his innocence, if MPAA took him to court, the guy would basically need to just show up in court with a CD rom of the file in question so that he could play it for the court. A matching file length would likewise be important.
Whichever automated program is sending these things out, it's horribly inaccurate; I recall seeing a C&D letter about a segment of source code, and a text adventure.
Further Misadventures of the MPAA and the ESA:
http://www.worldofspectrum.org/showwrap.cgi?case=idsa/DMCA-922932.casehttp://www.seebs.net/log/archives/000195.htmlhttp://gauley.ucs.indiana.edu/~cshields/dmca_letter
Joined: 5/20/2004
Posts: 118
Location: Over there!
Suggestion: If possible, block the MPAA from accessing this site and it's contents. That should stop them from bothering anyone else.
MPAA IP Ranges:
63.199.57.96 - 63.199.57.111
63.199.57.120 - 63.199.57.127
64.60.194.0 - 64.60.194.7
64.166.187.128 - 64.166.187.158
67.125.49.192 - 67.125.49.199
81.4.78.0 - 81.4.78.255
194.183.226.144 - 194.183.226.151
194.183.226.192 - 194.183.226.223
198.70.114.0 - 198.70.114.255
208.49.164.0 - 208.49.164.255
208.50.66.224 - 208.50.66.255
Taken from this list:
http://dialspace.dial.pipex.com/town/pipexdsl/o/aoxw32/BlueTack/antip2p.txt
I don't know how to ban IP ranges in BitTorrent tracker. Maybe firewall...
In any case, I want more confirmation that these are actually MPAA's addresses.
I don't like the idea of blocking anyone (since I'm not sharing anything illegal here), but I think I can't support any organization in their actions that may cause problems for users of ISPs that could become scared of formal-looking lies.
Look into a program called peerguardian.
It blocks a bunch of "evil" ip addreses. The MPAA is almost certainly on it. Not sure if you can adresses to it though. I think my computer takes a performance hit when running it though.
Joined: 5/20/2004
Posts: 118
Location: Over there!
The list I linked is the one that PeerGuardian uses :)
http://www.bluetack.co.uk/
Lots of info here, and it's the source of the aforementioned IP list.
http://www.methlabs.org/
PeerGuardian. Nuff said.
They sent me the same thing! Only.. their warning was accurate. I got nailed for downloading Dogma.. Ah well, such is life.
Hilarious on your end, though.
-Oz.
If practice makes perfect, but nobody's perfect, why practice?
Thanks for the replies, everybody. I feel somewhat satisfied in knowing that people are blocking the MPAA's IPs from their torrents.
I did immediately contact my ISP regarding the matter, but they have yet to reply. It seems as though they aren't going to do anything about it and just wanted to let me know that they received a complaint.
I don't live in the USA, but I've heard that the MPAA is currently hunting down Australian internet users.
One of my internet friends just notified me of an article posted on www.hardocp.com that I thought that you might find amusing:
http://news.zdnet.co.uk/business/0,39020645,39167160,00.htm
MPAA Linux Blunder:
Apparently the MPAA isnt up to date on Linux lingo. The MPAA threatened action over two software titles, Twisted and Grind, thinking they were movie titles. Oops.
What seems to be an embarrassing blunder by the Motion Picture Association of America (MPAA) in its hunt for online pirates has prompted Linux Australia to contact its legal representatives and warn of a possible breach of Australian law.
I might consider legal action depending on how that turns out :D
The only semi-amusing story about the RIAA I know is that Hilary Rosen, the CEO and president of the RIAA from 1988 to 2003, officially resigned in January 2003 because of the conflict of interest between her job at the RIAA (limit rights) and her lesbian partner's job as the head of the Human Rights Campaign (extend rights). She chose to resign as president in order to spend more time with her family (the aforementioned partner, Elizabeth Birch, and their twin daughters).
someone is out there who will like you. take off your mask so they can find you faster.
I support the new Nekketsu Kouha Kunio-kun.
i sugest you all get protowall insted of peer guardian you will see a tremendous drop in reasourse use and it blocks more protocalls such as udp often used with fileshareing i dont know the url so have fun finding it
ps dont get version 2. the last version of 1 is the best
