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HBO Obtains DMCA Subpoena to Unmask 'Euphoria' Spoiler Account on X

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Re: HBO Obtains DMCA Subpoena to Unmask 'Euphoria' Spoiler Account on X

#51

Post by numpad0 »

dfxm12 wrote: post #6

The issued subpoena requires X to share information sufficient to identify the person behind the account. This includes names, addresses, telephone numbers, email addresses, account numbers, IP addresses, and any other contact or billing records held by the platform. Taking TF's reporting at face value, would twitter be able to sufficiently identify a user? Does Twitter have the address, real names, etc. of its users…

Isn't that how it always worked? You guys never heard of these things before?

You sue the social media to get the IP at time, then sue ISP with the reference to that suit to get IRL identity from IP + time, then sue the person using that IRL identity. Some parts of this has been simplified because courts having to process 3 lawsuits to move just couple grands for just a "@username I murder you this particular way and time" is ridiculous.

What if the accused used Tor or foreign VPN? I guess the matter goes to local FBI equivalent?

Re: HBO Obtains DMCA Subpoena to Unmask 'Euphoria' Spoiler Account on X

#52

Post by autoexec »

mlyle wrote: post #39
buran77 wrote: post #27

Earlier quoted context omitted.

A summary can't be a matter of copyright. It's probably just the vehicle HBO chose to be able to identify the leaker, because claiming copyright infringement these days is like a superpower, and then use different hammer to go after them.

This is a legally tricky minefield. Depending on what is in summary, it -may- be subject to copyright but be protected as fair use... but a work being unpublished weighs against (but does not preclude) free use. I could see an argument that it is a trade secret, too-- which could be used to oppose downstream dissemination.

I think it'd pretty much have to be a script, a screenshot, audio, or video to qualify as copyright infringement. I can tell you what a song is about without risk of violating copyright, but the moment I start quoting lyrics things get riskier.

Re: HBO Obtains DMCA Subpoena to Unmask 'Euphoria' Spoiler Account on X

#53

Post by autoexec »

numpad0 wrote: post #51
dfxm12 wrote: post #6

The issued subpoena requires X to share information sufficient to identify the person behind the account. This includes names, addresses, telephone numbers, email addresses, account numbers, IP addresses, and any other contact or billing records held by the platform. Taking TF's reporting at face value, would twitter be able to sufficiently identify a user? Does Twitter have the address, real names, etc. of its users…

Isn't that how it always worked? You guys never heard of these things before? You sue the social media to get the IP at time, then sue ISP with the reference to that suit to get IRL identity from IP + time, then sue the person using that IRL identity. Some parts of this has been simplified because courts having to process 3 lawsuits to move just couple grands for just a "@username I murder you this particular way and…

If it's the IP of a VPN the next step is to send legal requests to Microsoft, Apple, Facebook, Cloudflare, Steam, Google, popular MMOs, and video/music streaming services for all the information associated with that IP address around the same time.

Unless someone spent a lot of effort to avoid it, any person with a IP address probably had something that established a connection at some point to one of those companies and that connection probably contained an identifier of some kind. It might have been a software update check, some user telemetry, a browser tab open to social media, a connection to icloud etc.

Once you get a match you ask that company for a list of every IP address that was ever used by that user/account, and in that list you should get a bunch of connections from an IP that belongs to a regular ISP. Very few people are using a VPN 100% of the time.

Re: HBO Obtains DMCA Subpoena to Unmask 'Euphoria' Spoiler Account on X

#54

Post by autoexec »

ronsor wrote: post #11
landl0rd wrote: post #8

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Twitter has IP addresses at the very least. HBO will then subpoena the account's ISP. If the account had the checkmark pro plan or whatever it's called, it may have or be able to obtain legal name and address for payment details, or its payment processor (Stripe I think) would.

And all of this falls apart if you use Mullvad, who will be happy to fax HBO lawyers a blank sheet of paper.

Doesn't matter if the device you used phoned home with your IP address and any kind of identifier. Your OS that sends telemetry every 7 seconds, a windows update check, another tab with a social media account open. It's easy to cross reference that stuff and figure out what a person's regular ISP is. Almost nobody uses a VPN 100% of the time and at the router (because your OS will phone home before you desktop finishes loading).

Re: HBO Obtains DMCA Subpoena to Unmask 'Euphoria' Spoiler Account on X

#55

Post by autoexec »

fhdkweig wrote: post #12
embedding-shape wrote: post #9

Earlier quoted context omitted.

This is what TFA seems to say: > Unlike the DMCA notice, where WBD used “video” to describe the content, the declaration to the court by Michael Bentkover classifies the infringing content as “summaries of unpublished, character, setting, and plots of a forthcoming series”. Isn't that simply about spoiling people, or what's the "crime" here? The article also says "Copyright generally protects the expression of a work…

Most likely the culprit is someone on their staff that broke their NDA contract, but the DMCA is about stopping the proliferation of copyrighted material. They are misusing the DMCA because it has higher discovery/subpoena ability.

> but the DMCA is about stopping the proliferation of copyrighted material.

If the videos posted to twitter were just summaries and not actual video of the unreleased show it seems unlikely that there was any copyrighted material being proliferated

Re: HBO Obtains DMCA Subpoena to Unmask 'Euphoria' Spoiler Account on X

#56

Post by autoexec »

stavros wrote: post #37
embedding-shape wrote: post #9

Earlier quoted context omitted.

This is what TFA seems to say: > Unlike the DMCA notice, where WBD used “video” to describe the content, the declaration to the court by Michael Bentkover classifies the infringing content as “summaries of unpublished, character, setting, and plots of a forthcoming series”. Isn't that simply about spoiling people, or what's the "crime" here? The article also says "Copyright generally protects the expression of a work…

The crime is that we're living in a society where different laws apply to corporations than to people. If a corporation doesn't like you, you're toast, no matter whether you're wrong or right. There are enough laws that they'll find something to nail you on.

Even if they don't have a legal leg to stand on they can bankrupt you with legal fees and lawsuits dragged out until you're ruined anyway.

Re: HBO Obtains DMCA Subpoena to Unmask 'Euphoria' Spoiler Account on X

#57

Post by autoexec »

bitwize wrote: post #35
embedding-shape wrote: post #9

Earlier quoted context omitted.

This is what TFA seems to say: > Unlike the DMCA notice, where WBD used “video” to describe the content, the declaration to the court by Michael Bentkover classifies the infringing content as “summaries of unpublished, character, setting, and plots of a forthcoming series”. Isn't that simply about spoiling people, or what's the "crime" here? The article also says "Copyright generally protects the expression of a work…

Under the DMCA, you can claim copyright over damn near anything and force a provider to take it down. If there is any ambiguity as to whether you are the owner of the allegedly copyrighted material, like for example legitimate fair use, they still are required to take it down—unless the alleged violator files a DMCA counterclaim in which they must supply their legal name and address to the original claimant. This has…

A takedown from the entity hosting the content is one thing, but forcing them to give up someone's ID is another.

Re: HBO Obtains DMCA Subpoena to Unmask 'Euphoria' Spoiler Account on X

#58

Post by autoexec »

rectang wrote: post #20
tombert wrote: post #14

Reminds me of the Snape Kills Dumbledore spoiler initiative that happened in 2005, where people would drive around bookstores with people yelling in line and spoiling it. Admittedly, kind of a dick move, but I have to admit I did find it kind of funny at the time. https://knowyourmeme.com/memes/snape-kills-dumbledore

A mild reminder that humans tend towards inflicting pain on their fellow humans when there are no consequences.

I'd rather remind people that only a very small number of dicks have any desire or interest in inflicting pain on their fellow humans even when there were no consequences.

Assholes do exist, and you should be aware of them, but assholes are a tiny minority of the population. There are far more people who aren't assholes, and an even greater number of people who are just doing their own thing and can't be bothered to go through the effort to hurt others just for kicks.

Re: HBO Obtains DMCA Subpoena to Unmask 'Euphoria' Spoiler Account on X

#59

Post by tetrisgm »

numpad0 wrote: post #50
tetrisgm wrote: post #44

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The other day, I looked at the trending topics. Top one was "Lesbians". I was wondering if there was some kind of development in politics. Nope. It was all porn. I was on a call with a friend and he checked from his account too and it was there as well, so this wasn't some kinda A/B test thing. It disappeared after a bit. My point is the algo is a bit wonky.

Twitter had always been the modern day Playboy mag from Sci-Fi era. So there's Bradbury, Lenna, geopolitics, all bound in one. The catch is it's a UGC based algorithmic system with instant feedback, which means the fastest adapting contents with most bandwidth absolutely wins, which tends to be, like that. Does anyone have the solution to this problem anyway? I thought this was always inevitable on WWW.

You’d think one person eyeballing topics and flagging stuff would solve it

Re: HBO Obtains DMCA Subpoena to Unmask 'Euphoria' Spoiler Account on X

#60

Post by autoexec »

tombert wrote: post #24
rectang wrote: post #20

Earlier quoted context omitted.

A mild reminder that humans tend towards inflicting pain on their fellow humans when there are no consequences.

I feel like "pain" is a strong word here. It was a book spoiler. I wasn't laughing at people being punched or hurt or anything. I acknowledge it's a dick move, but it really is just a spoiler for a book, not exactly life ruining and really shouldn't even be day-ruining. I had the book spoiled for me too and it was just something I moved on from, somehow.

> not exactly life ruining and really shouldn't even be day-ruining.

These were people who lined up for hours outside of a bookstore still waiting to get in after midnight. Many of those people were young and the lack of perspective and experience at young ages often results in assigning a disproportionate weight to the emotional events they experience. An event like that might not have been day-ruining for you, but I have no doubt that there were people who were genuinely hurt by it.

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