I recently received a message from a hackaday reader informing me of 20th Century FOX takedown notices that are beginning to frequent, oh, hundreds of thousands of fans inboxes. The letters are being sent courtesy of BayTSP.
I've attached a copy of the infringement notice as it provides some clues as to what sort of information is being tracked and how FOX, in particular, intends to pursue copyright infringement by fans of the Star Wars series.
Please continue reading to see the full notice. Remember, we appreciate your efforts toward this common goal.
Update: Boingboing readers have had some really insightful comments regarding this post (suggestions and discussion after the break):
Note: The message has been altered to remove any identifying information of the recipient. If
you have any questions regarding this notice, you can either send in a comment or refer your questions to the BayTSP
contact information at the bottom of the letter.
 ——-BEGIN PGP SIGNED MESSAGE——-
  Hash: SHA1
  Re:  Unauthorized Use of  Twentieth Century FOX Film Corporation Property
  Notice ID:xxxNotice IDxxx
  Notice Date:21 May 2005 xx:xx:xx GMT
  Dear Sir or Madam:
  TWENTIETH CENTURY FOX FILM CORPORATION and its affiliated companies
 (collectively, "FOX") are the exclusive owners of copyrights in motion
 pictures.
  It has come to our attention that xxxService Providerxxx is the service provider for the IP address listed
below, from which unauthorized copying and distribution (downloading, uploading, file serving, file "swapping" or other
similar activities) of  FOX'S  property is taking place.  The documentation included at the end of this
notice specifies the location of the infringement. Â We believe that the Internet access of the user engaging in
this infringement is provided by xxxService Providerxxx or a downstream service provider who purchases this
connectivity from xxxService Providerxxx. Â
  This unauthorized copying and distribution constitutes copyright infringement under Section 106 of the
U.S. Copyright Act. Â Depending upon the type of service xxxService Providerxxx is providing to this IP address, it
may have legal and/or equitable liability if it does not expeditiously remove or disable access to the property listed
below, or if it fails to implement a policy that provides for termination of subscribers who are repeat infringers
(see, 17 U.S.C. §512). Â
  Although various legal and equitable remedies may be available to FOX as a result of such infringement,
FOX believes that the entire Internet community benefits when these matters are resolved cooperatively. Â We urge
you to take immediate action to effect removal of the detected infringement listed in the attached report,
including:
  (1) Notify the account holder of this infringement
  (2) Require the account holder remove the infringing material
  (3) Disable access to the infringing material
  (4) Take appropriate action against the account holder under your Abuse Policy/Terms of Service
  We appreciate your efforts toward this common goal.  Please send us a prompt response indicating the
actions you have taken to resolve this matter. Â Please reference the above noted Notice ID in all correspondence,
which should be directed through:
  http://webreply.baytsp.com/webreply/webreply.jsp? xxxIdentifying Information Removedxxx
  The undersigned has a good faith belief that use of FOX's property in the manner described herein is not
authorized by FOX, its agents or the law. Also, we hereby state, under penalty of perjury, under the laws of the
State of California and under the laws of the United States, that the information in this notification is accurate and
that the undersigned is authorized to act on behalf of FOX with respect to this matter.
  Please be advised that this letter is not and is not intended to be a complete statement of the facts or
law as they may pertain to this matter or of FOX's positions, rights or remedies, legal or equitable, all of which are
specifically reserved. Â
  Please contact us at the above listed address or by replying to this email should you have any questions.
 This infringement notice contains an XML tag that can be used to automate the processing of this data.  If
you would like more information on how to use this tag, please do not hesitate to contact BayTSP.
  Very truly yours,
  Sarah Bergman
  Compliance Manager
  BayTSP, Inc.
  PO Box 1314
  Los Gatos, CA 95031
  v: 408-341-2300
  f:  408-341-2399
  [A pgp public key is available on the key server at
ldap://keyserver.pgp.com if you would like to verify the authenticity of
 this notice.]
  Evidentiary Information:
  Notice ID: xxxNotice IDxxx
  Asset:  Star Wars - Episode III: Revenge of the Sith
  Protocol:  BitTorrent
  IP Address: xxx.xxx.xxx.xxx
  DNS: xxxresolved.dns.addressxxx
  File Name:  Star Wars III Revenge of the Sith
  File Size:  1545132231
  Timestamp:  20 May 2005 xx:xx:xx GMT
  Last Seen Date:  20 May 2005 xx:xx:xx GMT
  URL: xxx.xxx.xxx.xxx:6881\Star Wars III Revenge of the Sith
  Username (if available): Â
  - —-Start ACNS XML
 Â
 Â
 xsi:noNamespaceSchemaLocation= "http://mpto.unistudios.com/xml/Infringement_schema.xsd">
  Â
    xxxNotice IDxxx
    Pending
  Â
  Â
    BayTSP, Inc. on behalf of Fox
    Sarah Bergman, Compliance Manager
    P.O. Box 1314, Los Gatos, California 95123 United States of
 America
    (408) 341-2300,
    sarahb@baytsp.com
  Â
  Â
    xxxService Providerxxx
    xxxService Provider Addressxxx
    xxx@xxx.xxx.xxx
  Â
  Â
    xxx.xxx.xxx.xxx
    xxxResolved Addressxxx
    BitTorrent
   Â
    1
    False
  Â
  Â
   Â
     Star Wars - Episode III: Revenge of the Sith
     Star Wars III Revenge of the Sith
     1545132231
     xxx.xxx.xxx.xxx:6881\Star Wars III Revenge of the Sith
     2005-05-20Txx:xx:xx.xxxZ
   Â
  Â
 Â
  - —-End ACNS XML
Neil Marshall suggests using Protowall and Blocklist Manager to
prevent companies like BayTSP from viewing your shared folder. I'm curious to know how often BayTSP and similar
prying eyes alter their IPs. For a large movie release, there is every possibility that they have previously
non-blacklisted IPs waiting to be used to catch folks before the IPs can make it to the public blacklists.
Ernest Millar was also quick to point out that you are implicitly distributing your downloaded file if you are using
BitTorrent. It's just the way it works. From the
BitTorrent FAQ regarding the download process, "BitTorrent
trades pieces you have with pieces your peers have."Â
Ernest
puts it really well in another article on the subject. He writes:
Why the focus on copyright infringement? In any case, is it really true that this is a major setback to the
anti-infringement groups? After all, BitTorrent remains one of the easiest ways to track infringement and sue the
users.
Am I wrong in thinking that the "uploading" that is taking place when a person makes use of BitTorrent to download a
file is qualitatively different from putting a file up on an FTP server or initially creating a torrent for a
file? The latter is a process directly initiated by the user for the purpose of distributing content and the
former, in some respects, is merely a technical byproduct of the protocol. I hate to go too far out on a limb
here because I can already hear it creaking. What do you folks think?
3. Does anyone with a legal background have an opinion on their request for a response with detailed information on what action was taken?
From what I understand, one of the services that BayTSP provides is a complete record of the case which can then be used to as evidence for the prosecuting party. I'd be curious to know whether it's better to delete and ignore -vs- delete and respond with more information that can be used against you in a suit.
I wonder how many little coffee shops with wifi access are freaking out right now.
4. While I personally beleive that the hype generated by a "pre-release" on the internet bolsters the revenue of the production (ex. Revenge of the Sith: highest first day revenue) - because more people are talking about the movie, legally it must be understood that by using two way file-sharing protocols you are implicit in also being a distributor - regardless of whether you were ignorant in doing so.
In addition, if you were to download the entire movie, it only makes common sense that you are then knowingly in posession of an illegal copy and that this was your objective throughout the entire file downloading (and sharing) process.
Meanwhile, I dont think that the production industry is making any friends by suing it's biggest fans (who else spends 18 hours downloading a movie that is often of sub-par quality to the DVD that will inevitably be for sale for $20 in a month or two) into submission.
I think a more appropriate response would be act aggressively to isolate those who initially make it available on the internet such as the guys in the theatre with a camera, the in-industry guy who leaks the pre-screener, or the guy who is upping or hosting torrents and seeding the file on the network.
IMHO "How do you expect your movie not to get around if you have guys you're allowing the film to be leaked?"
5. how did BayTSP acquire this data? could they have been hosting a torrent of their own- and then pulled who they were sharing with? i would guess the only way they could be tracking people/IPs would to be involved with sharing the file themselves.
6. I downloaded the file in order to do a bit of snooping -- a rough description of my findings can be found at http://dashslot.co.uk/modules/news/article.php?storyid=148 -- and as many people have observed this has undoubtedly been leaked by a Lucasfilm employee. (And for any lawyers watching, I believe this is covered by the fair use doctrine as it was for "research purposes", and I have since deleted the infringing material anyway.)
It's also true that the majority of people who downloaded it are fanboys who'll be going to the cinema countless times, buying every version of the DVD, and generally lining Lucas' pockets with gold, so Fox, Lucasfilm and the MPAA should STFU about losing billions of dollars...
7. the mpaa and others are setting up false trackers sending out bogus torrent files to catch people downloading movies and other downloads that is how people are getting caught as well as there is now a "in the wild mp3 virus" that if it gets on your computer it will seek out all of your mp3's first and delete them and then it starts on your hard drive itself....this has been reported by trend micro systems and is being spread by the p2p networks again as a bogus file!all of the above are true and are beinf implimented by the money grubbing higher class industry people!
When I download movies via BitTorrent (which is rare, they're much easier to find on Usenet, and no way to track all the downloaders without subpoena'ing every Usenet server that gets alt.binaries.* world-wide), I burn them to DVD-R and then delete them (after seeding just long enough to keep my ratio above 1.0, of course) along with the torrent file.
If someone comes knocking on my door, I point to my AirPort Express Base Station and say "See that? Yep, that's the IP address you're saying was downloading movies. But hey, I didn't do it. Someone in my neighborhood must've broken into my wireless network and did it."
Think about it. The only IP address and Ethernet address the outside sees is the wireless router's. Unless there's some way to reverse-map the NAT'ed traffic from the source port numbers (which I doubt), there's absolutely no way they can prove for certain that it came from your machine when you sit behind a wireless router. They can *claim* it has to be yours, but there's no *definitive proof* that it was you.
About the only way I could see them proving it *was* you was if they seized the router, somehow broke into it administratively, and saw that it was configured to port-forward the BitTorrent ports to a particular internal DHCP address, i.e. your own. Which is something to think about when clicking on that "How to configure your router to allow fast BitTorrent downloads" link in the MOST COMMENTED ON section, hmmn ;) )
9. I wonder If it would be legal to Hack into BayTSP's Server and snoop about for awhile. After all that would seem to be what they are doing to their customers. This constitutes a(n) illegal search by a third party, without proper authority. Slap them with an Invasion Of Privacy civil suit worth millions!
Posted at 4:31AM on Dec 19th 2005 by Travis Hedglin
10. When is someone, ANYONE, going to go to court over this stuff? Seriously, we're getting to the point where we need some precedent here. If BayTSP is downloading data from you, they are committing a crime and the evidence they gather is inadmissable in court. If BayTSP is merely seeing that your IP address is on the swarm, they can say you were downloading a torrent with a certain name. But until they commit the crime of downloading it themselves, they can't vouch for what that torrent is of.
Also, IP addresses can be spoofed. Mac addresses can be spoofed. They prove nothing. And your ISP should get sued by you if they provide your account name to these BayTSP people just because they happen to show up, claim they're benevolent, and have an IP address.
It'll be funny the day Joe Kiddydiddler gets an IP address of a kid off of Yahoo IM or something, calls the ISP and gets an account name, owner name, phone number and home address (all things ISPs furnish with no hesitation) just by saying he vaguely has something to do with investigating copyright infringement. Privacy IS important. Let's just hope once this gets abused badly enough that people will wake up and smack the MPAA, RIAA, BayTSP, and all capitulating ISPs back into last week.
#7 - You're stupid. Don't write comments when you've only half-overheard things.
Posted at 4:31AM on Dec 19th 2005 by Dustin Rodriguez
11. Re #8...you argument does seem plausible, and obviously thousands of ppl have come to that same conclusion, including myself. i did however come accross a legal discussion on a website that went into that defense exactly, and describes how u do not get off guilt free in this circumstance. ill post the link when i get home.
sam
We saw it coming. BayTSP's claim that they could track BitTorrent file swapping, the recent MPAA threats targeted at Revenge of the Sith downloaders, and an overall increasing presence from the dark side have been a few clues.
1. This is nothing new.
Bittorrent notices have been being served out by bayTSP for over a year now.
Posted at 4:31AM on Dec 19th 2005 by johnsee