DMCA Violation?

Thu May 8 15:31:44 UTC 2003

[Snipped]
>
> 2. Some of these letters only provide IP address and Song title or Movie
> title. I'm not a lwayer, but they don't have a leg to stand on if they
> don't follow the law they are quoting:
>
>  `(3) ELEMENTS OF NOTIFICATION-
>
>    `(A) To be effective under this subsection, a notification of claimed
>    infringement must be a written communication provided to the designated
>    agent of a service provider that includes substantially the following:
>
> ...blah...blah
>
>       `(iv) Information reasonably sufficient to permit the service
>       provider to contact the complaining party, such as an address,
>       telephone number, and, if available, an electronic mail address at
>       which the complaining party may be contacted.
>
> *** End
>
> By my understanding, an IP address is not listed on any of that. I
> don't have to waste time sifting through dialup logs, or even using an
> automated process I have in place for subpoenas to answer this
> request. At least if they subpoena the information they have to prove to a
> judge they have a good claim. I wish I had the reference at hand, but when
> they subpoena information, we bill the requestor $450 for the time to
> lookup the user information. (Your Lawyer should be able to tell you the
> maximum now you can request for subpoena information.)
>
[Snipped]

Paragraph (iv) from above states the the contact information must be for the
Complaining party. Not the Offender. The Complaining Party would be, in this
case, Universal Studios / MPAA. In all the DMCA letters I have recieved,
right after the "Very truly yours," contains a name, phone number, and
e-mail address...which satisifes paragraph (iv).

Thanks,

Adam Debus
Linux Certified Professional, Linux Certified Administrator #447641
Network Administrator, ReachONE Internet
adam at reachone.com