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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

#61

Post by fc417fc802 »

autoexec wrote: post #54
ronsor wrote: post #11

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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 finish…

Twitter won't have your various device IDs and VPN IPs are typically shared among many clients simultaneously. You could certainly generate a suspect list but I don't think you'll get conclusive evidence.

That said I don't know how much browser fingerprinting Twitter might be doing and if fingerprints from other services might be possible to crossreference. Much higher risk is probably visiting other sites both with and without the VPN using the same browser without thinking about it and thus leaking your fingerprint or even account cookies that way. Or if you don't run a filter then visiting a site without the VPN that embeds Twitter tracking assets would leak to them directly.

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

#62

Post by autoexec »

fc417fc802 wrote: post #61
autoexec wrote: post #54

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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 finish…

Twitter won't have your various device IDs and VPN IPs are typically shared among many clients simultaneously. You could certainly generate a suspect list but I don't think you'll get conclusive evidence. That said I don't know how much browser fingerprinting Twitter might be doing and if fingerprints from other services might be possible to crossreference. Much higher risk is probably visiting other sites both with…

You're right that you can end up with a suspect list instead of a direct answer, but it shouldn't be hard to narrow it down from there, especially in a case like this where most people wouldn't have access to privileged info about unaired shows to start with. It also helps if you have more than one IP address to start with. You can end up with multiple suspect lists, but only one or two people who show up on all of them.

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

#63

Post by fc417fc802 »

madars wrote: post #49
ronsor wrote: post #41

Earlier quoted context omitted.

You can pay $5 for a verification phone number. It's not hard.

There are so many more ways one could screw up, and you only need to screw up once. For example, does X do browser fingerprinting and did you ever use similar setup to use a more identifiable Twitter account? Are you using unique phrasings or behavioral patterns? These things can be solved to a satisfactory degree, but I don't think "it's not hard" captures it - for an average user it _is_ hard.

> Are you using unique phrasings or behavioral patterns?

Why would Twitter voluntarily run that sort of query to satisfy a subpoena?

Whether it's difficult and risky for the average user depends on the threat model. "Twitter doesn't directly have my name, address, or phone number sitting in their database next to my account" is easy. Other things are more difficult.

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

#64

Post by boristsr »

autoexec wrote: post #52
mlyle wrote: post #39

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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.

I think it depends on the depth of the summary, and the purpose. You can do quite an indepth analysis as part of educational material for example, which is one of the tests of fair use.

I think a key thing to remember when assessing your own liability is fair use is a defense, not an automatic guaranteed right for blanket uses.

Leaking spoilers of unpublished works can definitely cause market harm, and serves no wider good for the market the same way educational material would.

I wouldn't like to be on the receiving side of this lawsuit. At the very least it's going to be expensive to defend against.

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

#66

Post by madars »

fc417fc802 wrote: post #63
madars wrote: post #49

Earlier quoted context omitted.

There are so many more ways one could screw up, and you only need to screw up once. For example, does X do browser fingerprinting and did you ever use similar setup to use a more identifiable Twitter account? Are you using unique phrasings or behavioral patterns? These things can be solved to a satisfactory degree, but I don't think "it's not hard" captures it - for an average user it _is_ hard.

> Are you using unique phrasings or behavioral patterns? Why would Twitter voluntarily run that sort of query to satisfy a subpoena? Whether it's difficult and risky for the average user depends on the threat model. "Twitter doesn't directly have my name, address, or phone number sitting in their database next to my account" is easy. Other things are more difficult.

Phrasing idiosyncrasies are publicly observable and anyone can note - as external observers did in Kaczynski or Hanssen cases - that a particular phrasing is quaint. It is probably true that Twitter is unlikely to run a browser fingerprinting query to de-anonymize someone tweeting spoilers from a softcore porn show. But a potential leaker has to ask: "how sure am I of that?"

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

#67

Post by numpad0 »

tetrisgm wrote: post #59
numpad0 wrote: post #50

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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

Not with 600m organic global active users. The platform moral compass must align to the performance weighted sum total of its user, rather than the other way around.

Trying to bend the platform morality to suit your idealisms seriously ruin yours over time.

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

#68

Post by wellthisisgreat »

shermantanktop wrote: post #15
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

Can you describe what you found funny at the time? I'm genuinely curious what motivates behavior like this.

Not sure about funny, but the schadenfreude from spoiling a plot like this may come from spoilers seeing themselves as being “other” or feeling excluded from a group where the fascination with the media (Harry Potter fans) is the common trait. You may not want to be a Harry Potter fan, but seeing people obsessed with it and gathering around it may make you feel isolated

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

#69

Post by jasomill »

ethanrutherford wrote: post #23
shermantanktop wrote: post #15

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Can you describe what you found funny at the time? I'm genuinely curious what motivates behavior like this.

Finding something funny doesn't necessarily imply you endorse the behavior, believe it to be harmless fun, or even that you don't feel sorry for the victim. There's entire categories of entertainment media that use "unfortunate things happening to strangers" for comedic effect.

"Ow! My Balls!"

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FWfOMeLk6m0

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

#70

Post by tetrisgm »

numpad0 wrote: post #67
tetrisgm wrote: post #59

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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

Not with 600m organic global active users. The platform moral compass must align to the performance weighted sum total of its user, rather than the other way around. Trying to bend the platform morality to suit your idealisms seriously ruin yours over time.

I don't see how seeing the current feed of words and going "not this one" before they go online is difficult. You could literally filter 10 per minute and clean up the misfires
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