Analysis and raw contents of a real copyright infringement notice

I’ve got a treat for you guys. I’ve been forwarded an email as a result of my Copyright Infringement Notice website that is a prime example of a copyright infringement notice with a settlement demand enclosed. (Here’s a link to my earlier copyright infringement notice post that inspired that site.)

Below is the full text of a Charter Internet e-mail DMCA notice sent by Copyright Enforcement Group, LLC.  The identifying information has been stripped and replaced with words in brackets. I want you to pay specific attention to a few things that often go unnoticed:

1. This is supposed to be a DMCA takedown notice. It is being abused to demand a settlement, rather than merely demand that infringement cease.
2. Note the XML section tag names and values, specifically the HashMatched and MetadataMatched values. What is notable here is that the hash and metadata are not the actual allegedly infringed content. Conspicuously absent is any indication that any of the file’s data was acquired from the alleged infringing party to ensure that they were actually offering out parts of the copyrighted material in question.
3. The hash is simply a calculated value based on the file(s) in the torrent that is likely to be unique, though it is possible for hash collisions to occur. Therefore, the hash under which someone is registered on a torrent tracker as a peer is not a reliable indicator of infringement. Being in a peer list for a theoretically infringing torrent and actually sending allegedly infringing data are very different things. Remember that a torrent peer list only lists IP addresses that supposedly have chunks of data for the hash in question and the only way to verify that the data is infringing is to actually acquire the data from the supposedly infringing party directly.
4. The metadata is information such as file names, sizes, and dates. Peer-to-peer file sharing has no way of enforcing the match between file metadata and file data, and in fact this was a severe real-world issue with the now-defunct Kazaa file sharing application, which was notorious for having incorrectly named files as well as having mismatched “file name” and “title” metadata. Again, the only way to verify that an offered file infringes is to fetch the file data from the person and verify that it contains the content described.
5. If a matching hash, matching metadata, IP address, port, and time are all the information that Copyright Enforcement Group, LLC can produce, they simply do not have enough information to prove that Joe Blow at 555 Foobar Avenue, Sunnyvale, CA is infringing on their copyrights.
6. I’ve noticed that in every single case where copyright infringement is alleged, the accusing party never offers up a complete copy of the file(s) alleged to be infringing; by extension, conspicuously absent is proof that the entirety of that infringing data was downloaded directly from the IP address in question rather than a combination of that IP address along with other peers in the same list for the hash in question.
7. The same accusers also fail to show that they have downloaded the file(s) in question themselves to verify that they are actually infringing. It can only be inferred that they are assuming the material infringes simply based on a matching piece of metadata (i.e. the file name contains a film name). Ask any file sharer who has downloaded an AVI file over the course of many hours or days only to discover it’s actually a password-protected RAR file how trustworthy such tagging is in practice.

The content of the infringement notice is below.

Dear Charter Internet Subscriber:

Charter Communications (“Charter”) has been notified by a copyright owner, or its authorized agent, that your Internet account may have been involved in the exchange of unauthorized copies of copyrighted material (e.g., music, movies, or software).  We are enclosing a copy of the Digital Millennium Copyright Act (DMCA) notice that Charter received from the copyright holder which includes the specific allegation.

Under the DMCA, copyright owners have the right to notify Charters register agent if they believe that a Charter customer has infringed on their work(s).  When Charter receives a complaint notice from a copyright owner, Charter will notify the identifiable customer of the alleged infringement by providing them a copy of the submitted DMCA notice.  As required by law, Charter may determine that the customer is a repeat copyright infringer and reserves the right to suspend or terminate the accounts of repeat copyright infringers.

It is possible that this activity has occurred without your permission or knowledge by an unauthorized user, a minor who may not fully understand the copyright laws, or even as a result of a computer virus.  However, as the named subscriber on the account, you may be held responsible for any misuse of your account.  Please be aware that using Charters service to engage in any form of copyright infringement is expressly prohibited by Charter’s Acceptable Use Policy and that repeat copyright infringement, or violations of any other Charter policy, may result in the suspension or termination of your service.  You may view Charter’s rules and policies, including Charters Acceptable Use Policy, under the policies section of charter.com.

We ask that you take immediate action to stop the exchange of any infringing material. For additional information regarding copyright infringement and for a list of frequently asked questions, please visit charter.com/dmca.

If you have questions about this letter, you may contact us at 1-866-229-7286.  Representatives will be available to take your call Monday through Friday 8am – 8pm, Saturday and Sunday 8am – 5pm (CST).

Sincerely,

Charter Communications Security Resolution Team

http://www.charter.com/security

— The following material was provided to us as evidence —

[Part 0 (plain text)]

—–BEGIN PGP SIGNED MESSAGE—–
Hash: SHA1

***NOTE TO ISP: PLEASE FORWARD THE ENTIRE NOTICE***
October 28, 2011
Re: Notice of Unauthorized Use of Registered Copyrights Owned by Diabolic
Case #: [case]

Dear Sir or Madam:

This notice is intended solely for the primary Charter Communications internet service account holder. Someone using this account has engaged in the illegal copying and/or distribution of pornographic movies. This notice may contain the titles of those movies, and therefore may contain text that is offensive to some readers.

Copyright Enforcement Group, LLC, (“We”) represent Diabolic. Diabolic owns all right, title and interest to the registered copyrights listed below.

Evidence:
Infringement Title: No Swallowing Allowed
Infringement File Name: No Swallowing Allowed
Infringement Hash: c2c389655c099a8de9c5dc039597b32af8b1ac9f
Infringement File Size: 3375105242 bytes
Infringement Protocol: BitTorrent
Infringement Timestamp: 2011-10-28 00:08:57 North American Eastern Time
Infringers IP Address: [ip_address]
Infringers Port: [port]

The following files were included in the download:
File 1: No Swallowing Allowed/1 Tami Lynn.mkv
File 2: No Swallowing Allowed/10 Luci Thai.mkv
File 3: No Swallowing Allowed/11 Katin.mkv
File 4: No Swallowing Allowed/2 Luci Thai.mkv
File 5: No Swallowing Allowed/3 Dana Vespoli.mkv
File 6: No Swallowing Allowed/4 Hollie Stevens.mkv
File 7: No Swallowing Allowed/5 Tami Lynn.mkv
File 8: No Swallowing Allowed/6 Luci Thai.mkv
File 9: No Swallowing Allowed/7 Hollie Stevens.mkv
File 10: No Swallowing Allowed/8 Dana Vespoli.mkv
File 11: No Swallowing Allowed/9 Cris Taliana.mkv
File 12: No Swallowing Allowed/bonus Hollie Stevens.mkv

You are hereby notified that your unauthorized copying and/or distribution infringes the registered copyrights of Diabolic under the U.S. Copyright Act, 17 U.S.C. 106. In this regard, demand is hereby made that you and all persons using this account immediately and permanently cease and desist the unauthorized copying and/or distribution of the registered copyrights listed in this notice or otherwise owned by Diabolic.

You may also be held liable for monetary damages, including attorney’s fees and court costs if a lawsuit is commenced against you. You have until Sunday, November 27, 2011 to access the settlement offer and settle online. To access the settlement offer please visit http://www.copyrightsettlements.com/ and enter Case #: P8087946 and Password: u2oim. To access the settlement offer directly please visit https://www.copyrightsettlements.com/?u=P8087946&p=u2oim.

Settlement Information:
Direct Settlement Link: https://www.copyrightsettlements.com/?u=[case]&p=[password]
Settlement Website: http://www.copyrightsettlements.com/
Case #: [case]
Password: [password]

If you fail to respond or settle within the prescribed time period, the claim(s) will be referred to our attorneys for legal action. At that point the original settlement offer will no longer be an option and the amount will increase as a result of us having to involve our attorneys.

Nothing contained or omitted from this correspondence is, or shall be deemed to be either a full statement of the facts or applicable law, an admission of any fact, or waiver or limitation of any of the Diabolic’s rights or remedies, all of which are specifically retained and reserved.

The information in this notice is accurate. We have a good faith belief that use of the material in the manner complained of herein is not authorized by the registered copyright owner, its agent, or by operation of law. We swear under penalty of perjury, that we are authorized to act on behalf of Diabolic.

Sincerely,

Dale Spislander
Copyright Enforcement Agent

Copyright Enforcement Group, LLC
8484 Wilshire Boulevard, Suite 220
Beverly Hills, CA 90211

Local: 310-526-8610 Ext. 2
Toll Free: 877-5-COPYRIGHT (877-526-7974)
Email: X
Website: www.copyrightsettlements.com

- —-Start ACNS XML
<?xml version=”1.0″ ?>
<Infringement xsi:schemaLocation=”http://www.movielabs.com/ACNS/ACNS2v1.xsd” xmlns=”http://www.movielabs.com/ACNS” xmlns:xsi=”http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema-instance”>
<Case>
<ID>[case]</ID>
<Status>OPEN</Status>
<Severity>Normal</Severity>
</Case>
<Complainant>
<Entity>Copyright Enforcement Group, LLC</Entity>
<Contact>Dale Spislander</Contact>
<Address>Copyright Enforcement Group, LLC, 8484 Wilshire Boulevard, Suite 220, Beverly Hills, CA 90211</Address>
<Phone>310-526-8610 Ext. 1</Phone>
<Email>X</Email>
</Complainant>
<Service_Provider>
<Entity>Charter Communications</Entity>
<Contact></Contact>
<Address>12405 Powerscourt Drive, St. Louis, MO 63131-3674</Address>
<Phone></Phone>
<Email></Email>
</Service_Provider>
<Source>
<TimeStamp>2011-10-28T00:08:57-04:00</TimeStamp>
<IP_Address>[ip_address]</IP_Address>
<Port>[port]</Port>
<Type>BITTORRENT</Type>
<UserName></UserName>
<Number_Files>1</Number_Files>
</Source>
<Content>
<Item>
<TimeStamp>2011-10-28T00:08:57-04:00</TimeStamp>
<AlsoSeen Start=”2011-10-27T22:46:35-04:00″ End=”2011-10-28T02:38:42-04:00″></AlsoSeen>
<Title>No Swallowing Allowed</Title>
<Artist></Artist>
<FileName>No Swallowing Allowed</FileName>
<FileSize>3375105242</FileSize>
<Type>Movie</Type>
<Hash Type=”SHA1″>c2c389655c099a8de9c5dc039597b32af8b1ac9f</Hash>
</Item>
</Content>
<History></History>
<Notes></Notes><Type Retraction=”false”>DMCA</Type>
<Detection>
<Asset>
<OriginalAssetName>No Swallowing Allowed</OriginalAssetName>
</Asset>
<HashMatched>true</HashMatched>
<MetadataMatched>true</MetadataMatched>
</Detection>
<Verification>
<VerificationLevel Type=”DT”>2</VerificationLevel>
</Verification>
<TextNotice><![CDATA[***NOTE TO ISP: PLEASE FORWARD THE ENTIRE NOTICE***
October 28, 2011
Re: Notice of Unauthorized Use of Registered Copyrights Owned by Diabolic
Case #: [case]

Dear Sir or Madam:

This notice is intended solely for the primary Charter Communications internet service account holder. Someone using this account has engaged in the illegal copying and/or distribution of pornographic movies. This notice may contain the titles of those movies, and therefore may contain text that is offensive to some readers.

Copyright Enforcement Group, LLC, (“We”) represent Diabolic. Diabolic owns all right, title and interest to the registered copyrights listed below.

Evidence:
Infringement Title: No Swallowing Allowed
Infringement File Name: No Swallowing Allowed
Infringement Hash: c2c389655c099a8de9c5dc039597b32af8b1ac9f
Infringement File Size: 3375105242 bytes
Infringement Protocol: BitTorrent
Infringement Timestamp: 2011-10-28 00:08:57 North American Eastern Time
Infringers IP Address: [ip_address]
Infringers Port: [port]

The following files were included in the download:
File 1: No Swallowing Allowed/1 Tami Lynn.mkv
File 2: No Swallowing Allowed/10 Luci Thai.mkv
File 3: No Swallowing Allowed/11 Katin.mkv
File 4: No Swallowing Allowed/2 Luci Thai.mkv
File 5: No Swallowing Allowed/3 Dana Vespoli.mkv
File 6: No Swallowing Allowed/4 Hollie Stevens.mkv
File 7: No Swallowing Allowed/5 Tami Lynn.mkv
File 8: No Swallowing Allowed/6 Luci Thai.mkv
File 9: No Swallowing Allowed/7 Hollie Stevens.mkv
File 10: No Swallowing Allowed/8 Dana Vespoli.mkv
File 11: No Swallowing Allowed/9 Cris Taliana.mkv
File 12: No Swallowing Allowed/bonus Hollie Stevens.mkv

You are hereby notified that your unauthorized copying and/or distribution infringes the registered copyrights of Diabolic under the U.S. Copyright Act, 17 U.S.C. 106. In this regard, demand is hereby made that you and all persons using this account immediately and permanently cease and desist the unauthorized copying and/or distribution of the registered copyrights listed in this notice or otherwise owned by Diabolic.

You may also be held liable for monetary damages, including attorney’s fees and court costs if a lawsuit is commenced against you. You have until Sunday, November 27, 2011 to access the settlement offer and settle online. To access the settlement offer please visit http://www.copyrightsettlements.com/ and enter Case #: [case] and Password: [password]. To access the settlement offer directly please visit https://www.copyrightsettlements.com/?u=[case]&amp;p=[password].

Settlement Information:
Direct Settlement Link: https://www.copyrightsettlements.com/?u=[case]&amp;p=[password]
Settlement Website: http://www.copyrightsettlements.com/
Case #: [case]
Password: [password]

If you fail to respond or settle within the prescribed time period, the claim(s) will be referred to our attorneys for legal action. At that point the original settlement offer will no longer be an option and the amount will increase as a result of us having to involve our attorneys.

Nothing contained or omitted from this correspondence is, or shall be deemed to be either a full statement of the facts or applicable law, an admission of any fact, or waiver or limitation of any of the Diabolic’s rights or remedies, all of which are specifically retained and reserved.

The information in this notice is accurate. We have a good faith belief that use of the material in the manner complained of herein is not authorized by the registered copyright owner, its agent, or by operation of law. We swear under penalty of perjury, that we are authorized to act on behalf of Diabolic.

Sincerely,

Dale Spislander
Copyright Enforcement Agent

Copyright Enforcement Group, LLC
8484 Wilshire Boulevard, Suite 220
Beverly Hills, CA 90211

Local: 310-526-8610 Ext. 2
Toll Free: 877-5-COPYRIGHT (877-526-7974)
Email: X
Website: www.copyrightsettlements.com]]></TextNotice>
</Infringement>
- —-End ACNS XML

This is an automated email. If you have questions or concerns, please visit us at http://www.copyrightsettlements.com/contact_us.html. Replies sent to X are not read.

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