Film companies, including Voltage Holdings and Screen Media Ventures, argued that comments on Reddit showed internet service provider Frontier Communications was not properly addressing piracy. They asked Reddit to disclose the IP addresses of six commenters, saying it would not violate anonymity because “an IP address is not a person.”
Reddit denied the request, citing users’ privacy and First Amendment rights to anonymous speech. Judge Thomas Hickson sided with Reddit and emphasized:
Users’ First Amendment rights outweigh the interests of the movie companies, especially since reviewers are not direct participants in the litigation.
Movie companies can obtain similar evidence directly from Frontier that can identify subscribers hiding behind known IP addresses associated with piracy.
Source: Ferra
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