ISPs Ask Judge To Reconsider Order Allowing Copyright Trolling To Move Forward
from the time-to-reconsider dept
There have been a bunch of rulings in a variety of district courts around the country rejecting a variety of ways in which copyright trolling operations have been seeking to use the judicial system as a part of their business model -- not to actually take anyone to court, but merely to (a) identify people they can threaten and (b) threaten them with the possibility of a lawsuit if they don't pay up. Thankfully, an increasing number of judges have been calling the trolls out on this, and saying they won't be a part of this. Usually this comes in the form of rejecting a request for expedited discovery (which would allow the trolls to subpoena subscriber info from ISPs) or arguing that lumping together so many users into a single case was improper.However, there has been one major exception to these rejections: the case in the DC district court by Judge Beryl Howell... who just happens to have been a former RIAA lobbyist, who only recently left that job to take a seat on the bench. The Howell ruling is regularly cited by trolls as proof that there's nothing wrong with the way in which they pursue these lawsuits -- ignoring a massive number of rulings that say otherwise.
The ISPs in that original case, though, filed by AF Holdings, represented by Prenda Law (which, you may recall, is connected to John Steele), are asking Judge Howell to reconsider (especially in light of all those other rulings). On top of that, they're saying that if she won't reconsider, they'd like to take the issue up to the appeals court before proceeding with the rest of the case. That could become important, as it would be the first time an appeals court weighs in on this. Some public interest groups, including the ACLU and EFF, have filed an amicus brief as well, asking Judge Howell to change her decision concerning discovery.
The hearing on this is today, and we'll let you know what happens.
Thank you for reading this Techdirt post. With so many things competing for everyone’s attention these days, we really appreciate you giving us your time. We work hard every day to put quality content out there for our community.
Techdirt is one of the few remaining truly independent media outlets. We do not have a giant corporation behind us, and we rely heavily on our community to support us, in an age when advertisers are increasingly uninterested in sponsoring small, independent sites — especially a site like ours that is unwilling to pull punches in its reporting and analysis.
While other websites have resorted to paywalls, registration requirements, and increasingly annoying/intrusive advertising, we have always kept Techdirt open and available to anyone. But in order to continue doing so, we need your support. We offer a variety of ways for our readers to support us, from direct donations to special subscriptions and cool merchandise — and every little bit helps. Thank you.
–The Techdirt Team
Filed Under: aclu, beryl howell, copyright troll, eff, riaa, shakedown
Companies: af holdings
Reader Comments
Subscribe: RSS
View by: Time | Thread
the case in the DC district court by Judge Beryl Howell... who just happens to have been a former RIAA lobbyist
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
Re: the case in the DC district court by Judge Beryl Howell... who just happens to have been a former RIAA lobbyist
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
Re: Re: the case in the DC district court by Judge Beryl Howell... who just happens to have been a former RIAA lobbyist
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
Re: the case in the DC district court by Judge Beryl Howell... who just happens to have been a former RIAA lobbyist
< / sarcasm >
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
Re: the case in the DC district court by Judge Beryl Howell... who just happens to have been a former RIAA lobbyist
To be honest, I suspect that if you went by the strict letter of the rules, it's not a conflict. However, there's something to be said for following the spirit of the rule to prevent the appearance of impropriety. Failing to do so just leads people to lose confidence that you will do anything but game the system for your own personal gain.
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
Re: Re: the case in the DC district court by Judge Beryl Howell... who just happens to have been a former RIAA lobbyist
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
Days of the freetard are over!
Busk up, you'll get lots of fresh air in the gulag.
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
Re: Days of the freetard are over!
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
A ruling..
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
Still..
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
Re: Still..
The people allow it.
We let judges do this then pay them. Then honor them.
Sleep well.
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
Re: Re: Still..
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
price list
hugs y'all
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
Prenda is going down in flames...
When a Doe gets unmasked and fights back they quickly move to drop them from the case. This tactic has failed them recently. Steele still has time to troll the boards talking about how amazing he is, as his cases go boom over and over.
Reading the EFF info on this case, this is forum shopping.
There is little doubt that there is only a tiny number of people Howell would have jurisdiction over but she wants to just hand over 1000 names across the country from her court room.
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
Re: Prenda is going down in flames...
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
[ link to this | view in chronology ]