AfterDawn: Tech news

Time Warner will not turn in info of alleged pirates

Written by Andre Yoskowitz @ 15 May 2010 5:55 User comments (22)

Time Warner will not turn in info of alleged pirates

In April we reported that the U.S. Copyright Group had filed lawsuits against 50,000 pirates, each alleged of downloading a number of films including "Steam Experiment," "Far Cry," "Uncross the Stars," "Gray Man" and "Call of the Wild 3D."
The Group has now demanded that Time Warner Cable, one of the largest ISPs in the U.S., hand over the identity of 2000 alleged pirates, and Time Warner has declined, saying it is too expensive, and "exceeds their current staffing capabilities."

The ISP says it would cost them about $45 USD each to send out the info on all the requests.

"Time Warner Cable does not have enough employees to respond to these requests. In a typical month, the company receives an average of 567 IP lookup requests, nearly all of them coming from law enforcement. These lookup requests involve everything from suicide threats to child abduction to terrorist activity," each of which takes "immediate priority" over copyright infringement cases.



The ISP's Subpoena Compliance team is currently only a five-man team and in addition to the "priority" requests, they can handle 28 non-critical subpoenas per month. The U.S. Copyright Group has so far asked for 809, just this month.

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22 user comments

115.5.2010 18:48

I must say Time Warner did show some balls here even despite well the money excuse, I am surprised they said no. Again Kudos to Time Warner

215.5.2010 19:01

Originally posted by Tristan_2:
I must say Time Warner did show some balls here even despite well the money excuse, I am surprised they said no. Again Kudos to Time Warner
Yup big respect for Time Warner, if that was comcast they would have gave that information up in a heart beat.

315.5.2010 19:28

Hah, TWC's customer service even gives the feds the bird! Gotta love it. So bad even the government can't get through to them!

415.5.2010 22:50

Originally posted by SProdigy:
Hah, TWC's customer service even gives the feds the bird! Gotta love it. So bad even the government can't get through to them!

priceless

515.5.2010 23:12

At least TWC has it's priorities in order. We should be going after REAL criminals like terrorists and not wasting time and tax dollars on persecuting, I mean prosecuting kids, teenagers and young adults with a computer and an internet connection.

616.5.2010 00:34

Quote:
each of which takes "immediate priority" over copyright infringement cases

Time Warner for the win! At least for now.

716.5.2010 02:32

Quote:
These lookup requests involve everything from suicide threats to child abduction to terrorist activity," each of which takes "immediate priority" over copyright infringement cases.
This is probably the best thing I've read concerning ISPs and the greedy MPAA/RIAA.

816.5.2010 09:58

This might be the first time that a shortage of employees has been given as the reason for better service.

916.5.2010 10:14

How about all ISPs charge 50$ per IP when they turn over data? This way only real crimes will be dealt and they can't spam lawsuits.

1016.5.2010 12:02

All I can say is....Thank You Time Warner!!

1116.5.2010 14:52

Originally posted by ZippyDSM:
How about all ISPs charge 50$ per IP when they turn over data? This way only real crimes will be dealt and they can't spam lawsuits.
No, they should charge $100-$200 for all lookups except for the ones made by law enforcement. They're a business and they gotta make money.

Anyways, at $100-$200 per lookup, those record companies would have to dish out $80,000 to $160,000 for these 800 names they want. Of course if all 800 of those people settle for $2k a piece then the record companies would get their money back.

1216.5.2010 16:09

Quote:
These lookup requests involve everything from suicide threats to child abduction to terrorist activity," each of which takes "immediate priority" over copyright infringement cases.
Help... This makes sense for some reason... Always regarded TimeWarner as evil... Mind Changing... Argg... the world no longer makes sense...

: )

-JamK

1317.5.2010 00:30

The only reason Time Warner looks those up is because they have to; they could get a serious lawsuit against them if they refused to help, and someone got hurt/killed. Rest assured, they do not do it out of charity.

1417.5.2010 13:27

Originally posted by KillerBug:
The only reason Time Warner looks those up is because they have to; they could get a serious lawsuit against them if they refused to help, and someone got hurt/killed. Rest assured, they do not do it out of charity.
Yeah I spose you're right but I wonder if there is any merit to the arguement they should be able to recoup the costs?

Also I wonder what all is involved in the process? How does it cost them $45? Wouldn't it just be a matter of hitting a few buttons on a kbd?


1517.5.2010 13:42

Originally posted by bomber991:
Originally posted by ZippyDSM:
How about all ISPs charge 50$ per IP when they turn over data? This way only real crimes will be dealt and they can't spam lawsuits.
No, they should charge $100-$200 for all lookups except for the ones made by law enforcement. They're a business and they gotta make money.

Anyways, at $100-$200 per lookup, those record companies would have to dish out $80,000 to $160,000 for these 800 names they want. Of course if all 800 of those people settle for $2k a piece then the record companies would get their money back.

I can agree with that!

1617.5.2010 23:04

"The ISP says it would cost them about $45 USD each to send out the info on all the requests."
Where do they get $45 from? Surely the employee would be getting minimum wadge, so around $6 an hour, and surely they could process several in an hour. There's the cost of paper, which is less then $1 a paper I would guess. Figure electricity and network costs, and that still doesn't add up to $45 per request. We're talking a few dollars a day give or take for network costs assuming they would need internet access to pull up a customers info. Electricity would be a few dollars a day as well. So all things considered I ca;t see where $45 comes from. Not that I am disappointed by Time Warner fighting this, but I fail to see where they can get a figure like this.

1719.5.2010 18:33

Originally posted by Xplorer4:
Where do they get $45 from?
I don't know where that amount came from as it wasn't me that said it. However, where does the RIAA get their $2000 "settlement" cost from? If the RIAA can get away with charging $2000 to "settle" a lawsuit Time Warner should get away with charging $45 for an IP Lookup of a non-violent, non-threatening person.
This message has been edited since its posting. Latest edit was made on 19 May 2010 @ 6:34

1819.5.2010 21:11

Originally posted by Xplorer4:
"The ISP says it would cost them about $45 USD each to send out the info on all the requests."
Where do they get $45 from? Surely the employee would be getting minimum wadge, so around $6 an hour, and surely they could process several in an hour. There's the cost of paper, which is less then $1 a paper I would guess. Figure electricity and network costs, and that still doesn't add up to $45 per request. We're talking a few dollars a day give or take for network costs assuming they would need internet access to pull up a customers info. Electricity would be a few dollars a day as well. So all things considered I ca;t see where $45 comes from. Not that I am disappointed by Time Warner fighting this, but I fail to see where they can get a figure like this.
Remember, there are only 4 of them, and no way are they getting paid minimum wage (which is over $7, btw). Likely they are paid $10-15 an hour, and include in Internet, paper costs, etc, as you noted.

1920.5.2010 01:22

im sure time warner will hand over the information for the right amount of money.

2020.5.2010 10:16

Originally posted by DVDBack23:
Originally posted by Xplorer4:
"The ISP says it would cost them about $45 USD each to send out the info on all the requests."
Where do they get $45 from? Surely the employee would be getting minimum wadge, so around $6 an hour, and surely they could process several in an hour. There's the cost of paper, which is less then $1 a paper I would guess. Figure electricity and network costs, and that still doesn't add up to $45 per request. We're talking a few dollars a day give or take for network costs assuming they would need internet access to pull up a customers info. Electricity would be a few dollars a day as well. So all things considered I ca;t see where $45 comes from. Not that I am disappointed by Time Warner fighting this, but I fail to see where they can get a figure like this.
Remember, there are only 4 of them, and no way are they getting paid minimum wage (which is over $7, btw). Likely they are paid $10-15 an hour, and include in Internet, paper costs, etc, as you noted.
Nah, they are a call center in India more than likely. If they make $10-15 outsourced, Time Warner should be hung out to dry!

2121.5.2010 16:29

It is the loss of business. They are probably getting over $100 per customer per month TV and cable. Comcast also refused, after first agreeing to send letters out then refusing to saying whoever was not going to pay them enough to do it. I don't have TM but I hear they do their own policing. Warning you and/or suspending you if you torrent too much. Losing 2K of customers would be a killer for them. Of course the slime balls don't want to fork over even $45! so that they can lose over $1000 per customer per year.

This message has been edited since its posting. Latest edit was made on 21 May 2010 @ 5:34

2231.5.2010 17:17

The COST is POINT "dumbasses" its the principle. TW just don't wanna do it. That's all.

Kudos to TimeWarner for standing to the "EVIL EMPIRE and the terrorist group RIAA".

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