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[Dalek]

Court Orders Pornhub To Identify Potentially Thousands Of Users

Just like any other copyright holder, porn studios can — and do — exercise their rights under the Digital Millennium Copyright Act to force X-rated “tube” sites (think YouTube, but with more genitals) to take down infringing videos. One company has apparently gotten tired of this game of Whac-A-Mole and gotten a court order that could lead to legal threats against thousands of people who uploaded videos to one popular tube site.

The folks at Seychelles-based Foshan Ltd. (which operates porn websites under the “Wankz” brand) recently sought a subpoena requiring that Pornhub turn over the information on users accused of posting videos taken from one of Foshan’s sites.

A federal court in Los Angeles recently granted that subpoena [PDF], which includes a nearly 90-page list of all the allegedly infringing material. We didn’t count each title, but there appear to be somewhere between 1,600 to 2,000 videos referenced in the subpoena.

The subpoena gives Pornhub until May 1 to turn over the “names, email addresses, IP addresses, user history, posting history, physical addresses, telephone numbers, and any other identifying or account information” for these users. The company can also try to fight the order in court.

We’ve reached out to Pornhub and its parent company, MindGeek, about this subpoena and will update if we receive a response.

As TorrentFreak points out, this sort of subpoena is not the usual approach for dealing with infringement on tube sites. Typically, X-rated content companies will just send DMCA takedown notices, resulting in the offending videos being removed from the site.

Foshan says in its original court filing [PDF] that it did send a takedown notice, and it appears that Pornhub obliged this request. We spot-checked a handful of URLs listed in the subpoena (thank god Comcast is pinky-swearing it won’t sell my browsing history, right?) and each one led to a video that had been removed from Pornhub at the request of the copyright holder.

What remains to be seen is what Foshan would do with this information. It could use it to try to match this list to its own subscriber roster to weed out users for violating their agreement.

A more worrisome tactic would be for Foshan to take the porn “copyright troll” approach, where the copyright holder demands high-dollar settlements with alleged infringers out of fear of being publicly named in a lawsuit accusing them of uploading a video called “Injured Cheerleader Meets With Athletic Trainer For 1 On 1” (One of the few titles on the subpoena we could actually publish here without having to bust out the asterisks).

 

[strafer]

(which operates porn websites under the “Wankz” brand)

Amazing name.

 

[ghst]

make you wonder how many marketing consultations it took to come up with that.

 

[parrotbeak]

Is injury porn a thing? Like porn with people in crutches and casts?

 

[LookAtMeGo]

 

[guek]

 

[HawksWinStanley]

Is injury porn a thing? Like porn with people in crutches and casts?

If you can think of it it's a thing.

 

[xxracerxx]

Is injury porn a thing? Like porn with people in crutches and casts?

There has to be a porn of everything out there.

 

[Fat4all]

i never got the point of making an account on a porn site

do people need to read my witty comment under the hentai tentacle-orc gangbang video?

yes, they do. but not to the point where id register for an account

 

[hampig]

Is injury porn a thing? Like porn with people in crutches and casts?

Why do you ask?

 

[caliph95]

 

[FStubbs]

Is injury porn a thing? Like porn with people in crutches and casts?

John Wayne Bobbitt made a porno called "Frankenpenis" so I'm guessing yes.

 

[Stinkles]

 

[Escape Goat]

The folks at Seychelles-based

The United Arab Emirates arranged a secret meeting in January between Blackwater founder Erik Prince and a Russian close to President Vladi­mir Putin as part of an apparent effort to establish a back-channel line of communication between Moscow and President-elect Donald Trump, according to U.S., European and Arab officials.

The meeting took place around Jan. 11 in the Seychelles islands

 

[Reverend Funk]

i never got the point of making an account on a porn site

do people need to read my witty comment under the hentai orc gangbang video?

yes, they do. but not to the point where id register for an account

some people are really into porn

 

[wordballoons]

Well, it's been real y'all

 

[L Thammy]

Is injury porn a thing? Like porn with people in crutches and casts?

I've seen enough anime girls with unexplained eyepatches to be confident that there's a fetish for this.

 

[robotrock]

(which operates porn websites under the ”Wankz" brand)

.

 

[_Ryo_]

If you can think of it it's a thing.

Rule 34, bruh. Or sis.

There's even amputee porn.

If you can think of it, it probably exists.

 

[protomouse]

Is injury porn a thing? Like porn with people in crutches and casts?

Rule 34.

 

[LiK]

i never got the point of making an account on a porn site

do people need to read my witty comment under the hentai tentacle-orc gangbang video?

yes, they do. but not to the point where id register for an account

Some people feel the need to post comments.

 

[CountAntonius]

I don't even know how the porn industry(aside from streaming sites) even survive. I have never paid for porn and don't know anybody who ever has.

 

[L Thammy]

i never got the point of making an account on a porn site

do people need to read my witty comment under the hentai tentacle-orc gangbang video?

yes, they do. but not to the point where id register for an account

Now, I don't choose porn sites for their comment sections, but all the porn site comment sections I've seen have been far less about witty comments and more about complaining about black people.

 

[Fat4all]

Some people feel the need to post comments.

thats all well and good, but I'd prefer if they would choose to not use their penis as an avatar pic

 

[parrotbeak]

So the tag would be something like "injured" or "girl with leg in cast" or...? Are there specialty sites out there? I'm just curious because it seems so weird and not something I'd be interested in at all. There are so many porn sites out there and I'm not sure what search terms to use.

 

[caliph95]

Who the hell posts comments.
I will at the very least accept asking for names but nothing else.
I don't need to hear your review of how believable and passionate that doggystyle was.

 

[Netherscourge]

“names, email addresses, IP addresses, user history, posting history, physical addresses, telephone numbers, and any other identifying or account information”

Wait - people actually make accounts for that stuff?

 

[robotrock]

Who the hell posts comments.
I will at the very least accept asking for names but nothing else.
I don't need to hear your review of how believable and passionate that doggystyle was.

pornhub has the best math homework helping community i've encountered on the internet tbh

 

[caliph95]

Wait - people actually make accounts for that stuff?

Maybe they really wanted to share that Brittany White video

 

[Morts]

i never got the point of making an account on a porn site

do people need to read my witty comment under the hentai tentacle-orc gangbang video?

yes, they do. but not to the point where id register for an account

Like, who uses those Facebook/Twitter share buttons on those sites?

 

[D4Danger]

names, email addresses, IP addresses, user history, posting history, physical addresses, telephone numbers, and any other identifying or account information

lol who's giving their phone or address to a porn site.

 

[xxracerxx]

pornhub has the best math homework helping community i've encountered on the internet tbh

Do they put all thought questions into speed of sperm hitting a woman's face?

"Johnny is standing a foot away and is blasting his load at 14 minutes and 39 seconds and it takes 0.5 seconds to reach Ashley's face, how fast is the ejaculate traveling?"

 

[Gentleman Jack]

Who the hell posts comments.
I will at the very least accept asking for names but nothing else.
I don't need to hear your review of how believable and passionate that doggystyle was.

it is apparently A Thing to take pornhub comments and put them on stock photos of people at computers.

buzzfeed
chive
tumblr

 

[Stallion Dan]

i never got the point of making an account on a porn site

do people need to read my witty comment under the hentai tentacle-orc gangbang video?

yes, they do. but not to the point where id register for an account

I guess save favourite videos, follow uploaders for new videos etc.

Not that I expect real details to ever be used.

 

[strafer]

lol who's giving them phone or address to a porn site.

I want Aria to call me and have some phone sex.

 

[Hjod]

Who the hell posts comments.
I will at the very least accept asking for names but nothing else.
I don't need to hear your review of how believable and passionate that doggystyle was.

 

[Fat4all]

Like, who uses those Facebook/Twitter share buttons on those sites?

I don't even use the ones on Gaf

 

[ChemicalCutthroat]

it is apparently A Thing to take pornhub comments and put them on stock photos of people at computers.

buzzfeed
chive
tumblr

They can be pretty funny.

 

[Beartruck]

some people are really into porn

There are 2 points at which you have a problem:
1. You leave a comment on a porn site.
2. You pay for it.

 

[capitalCORN]

Oh, I thought it was another Traci Lords situation.

 

[Ivan 3414]

i never got the point of making an account on a porn site

do people need to read my witty comment under the hentai tentacle-orc gangbang video?

yes, they do. but not to the point where id register for an account

That's how you save your favorites, champ

 

[strafer]

There are 2 points at which you have a problem:
1. You leave a comment on a porn site.
2. You pay for it.

Why do you care so much what people do? Let them live their own damn life.

 

[Gentleman Jack]

This is awesome

 

[Persona7]

this is the only funny thing to come out of the whole harambe thing

 

[hodayathink]

There are 2 points at which you have a problem:
1. You leave a comment on a porn site.
2. You pay for it.

Once again showing that porn piracy is the only piracy on NeoGAF that is not only acceptable, but encouraged. You wouldn't say that about any other form of media.

 

[Beartruck]

Why do you care so much what people do? Let them live their own damn life.

Sorry you were offended by a flippant joke? You act like im signing legislation here or something.

 

[caliph95]

Once again showing that porn piracy is the only piracy on NeoGAF that is not only acceptable, but encouraged. You wouldn't say that about any other form of media.

That and manga (possibly anime)

 

[Admiral Woofington]

There are 2 points at which you have a problem:
1. You leave a comment on a porn site.
2. You pay for it.

I always love the comments though. It's always the same

"ooh she should visit me I'll show her a real man"

I wish there were more thoughtful comments for like very emotional porn like one I read a long time ago that said something along the lines of "I came here to cry with my penis, not my eyes"

 

[Fades]

What a load of wankers.

 

[L Thammy]

Or did they?