Submitted via IRC for SoyCow8093
Internet provider Grande Communications is requesting assistance from U.S. Marshals to serve piracy tracking company IP-Echelon. As part of the RIAA lawsuit, the ISP wants to find out more about a scam where IP-Echelon's name was abused by scammers to extract payments. Thus far, however, it has been unable to reach the company at its Hollywood office.
They used the name of piracy-tracking firm IP-Echelon and several major copyright holders, including HBO, to demand settlements for allegedly pirated content.
The DMCA scam was pretty convincing. The emails lacked IP-Echelon’s PGP signature but were good enough to fool some Internet providers into forwarding them. If anything, it revealed that these type of notices should be carefully vetted.
While we haven’t seen any reports of these fraudulent notices since, Internet provider Grande Communications has taken an interest in the matter, in preparation for its piracy liability case against the RIAA.
This case relies on DMCA notices sent by IP-Echelon competitor Rightscorp. The ISP is therefore eager to hear out IP-Echelon to find out more about the issue, noting that they received the scam emails as well.
“Grande has also received IP-Echelon infringement notices, which include both authenticated, PGP-signed infringement notices from IP-Echelon, as well as fake, non-PGP-signed notices which falsely claim to be from IP-Echelon,” Grande informed the court late last week.
Source: https://torrentfreak.com/isp-wants-us-marshals-to-help-serve-piracy-tracking-outfit-180528/
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Sunday June 03 2018, @08:34PM
Nobody can do anything to your connection that you don't allow. I told you before, you alone are responsible for your own filtering. Nobody has any right to block what I wish to receive, regardless of offense taken. It is impossible to break any actual laws on the internet. And certainly nobody has any right to determine what is legal or illegal on any electronic/print medium. The attempt is confirmation of the absolute necessity of eliminating the ISP gatekeeper so we can put that stupid argument to rest once and for all. Yes, like the other AC said, they are in it for the money, and permission to operate. You already are trusting your government to define what is illegal in the digital world, through your ISP. Only their elimination can give us the dumb pipe on the WAN. This is not something to be put up for a vote. It is simply something that must be done regardless of public opinion. You are playing the fascist that pretends to 'protect' us from fascism.
Of course, if you are willing to acknowledge that we are bald apes with no free will, then all bets are off. Survival of the fittest is still the way of the universe.