Reddit does not have to comply with a subpoena demanding the IP addresses of six users who anonymously discussed pirating movies on the website, a federal magistrate judge ruled on Feb. 7.
In his ruling, Judge Thomas S. Hixson, of the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California, argued the companies that subpoenaed Reddit had failed to show the private information they sought was available elsewhere.
“Movants ... cannot show that the information they seek here is unavailable from other sources,” Judge Hixson wrote. “Frontier has indicated it will provide Movants with identifying information for those IP addresses upon receipt of a subpoena. If Movants sought further information, they need only subpoena the [internet service provider] for the subscriber information associated with that IP address, as the ISP does not share Reddit’s interest in protecting the anonymity of that user.”
Judge Hixson issued the ruling in response to a “proofs of claim” form filed by movie companies, including Voltage Holdings LLC and Screen Media Ventures LLC, back in 2020. The movie companies submitted the form against internet service provider and telecommunications company Frontier Communications Corporation shortly after it filed a voluntary petition for Chapter 11 bankruptcy.
Users ‘Boasted’ About Piracy
A bankruptcy court later ruled that the two film companies had established “good cause” to require Frontier to disclose the personal information of the alleged copyright-infringing individuals.As a result, the companies served a subpoena to Reddit requesting the IP address log information dating back from 2017 to the present day from six users of the site, all of whom used the platform pseudonymously.
In the users’ posts, which are included in the court documents, they acknowledge using Frontier’s service to pirate material from various websites, with one user stating that they have been “torrenting unprotected for like a decade.”
Others claim to have received warnings from Frontier that their accounts risk being terminated if they continue to violate copyright infringement laws.
Subpoena Amounts to ‘Unmasking’ of Users
The movie companies argued that the information they sought was “relevant and proportional” because they supported assertions that individuals were drawn to becoming a Frontier subscriber because they would be able to pirate content efficiently “without any consequences,” and that the service provider did not have an effective policy in place for terminating repeat infringers.Reddit, however, declined to share the IP addresses of users who posted the piracy-related comments, arguing that doing so would violate their First Amendment right to anonymous speech.
Specifically, the website claimed that the subpoena amounted to an “unmasking” of users, and targeted “a potential witness rather than a potential defendant.”
They further argued the evidence the film companies sought could easily be obtained from both the firms themselves and the internet service provider.
The petitioners in the Reddit case were unable to show that the private information they seek here is unavailable from other sources, he said.
“Movants justify their request by arguing that they seek evidence: (i) that ”the ability to freely pirate“ drew customers to Frontier, and (ii) that Frontier failed to implement a repeat infringer policy. But evidence on those issues is available and obtainable outside of these six targeted Reddit users such that it is not ”essential“ and fails 2TheMart,” he said.
“In sum, the Court finds Movants cannot meet the 2TheMart standard because the evidence they seek can be obtained from other sources, including from Frontier in the normal course of discovery,” Judge Hixson concluded.
