Copyright piracy will probably forever remain a hot topic. Whatever one's views on the morality of pirating copyrighted works, be they games, movies, or otherwise, it is reasonable to assume that talking about it on the Internet will not cause a firestorm.

At least, not if these two film studios have their way: according to Ars Technica, film studios Voltage Holdings and Screen Media Ventures have taken to the Reddit platform to discuss media filed a motion to compel Reddit to respond to a subpoena asking it to provide IP address log information for six anonymous Reddit users who discussed piracy.

This is the first of several attempts to require Reddit to turn over user information in order to legally pursue the ISPs these Redditors discussed for being unable or at least unwilling to prevent media piracy using the connections Reddit provided. This is the latest in a series of copyright infringement cases over the past year by studios.

Two previous attempts failed, with the first being thrown out by a U.S. district court due to users' First Amendment rights to anonymous speech. However, the same company now attempted to sue another ISP for alleged copyright infringement using its network.

Once again, Reddit was subpoenaed for user account information, including IP addresses and logs, but the court again ruled against it on First Amendment rights grounds.

However, two of the studios involved in these first cases have decided that third time may be the charm, and both companies have now filed another attempt to have Reddit turn over user IP address log information to pursue ISPs. This time the target is Frontier Communications, which some Reddit users argue has been ineffective in stopping media piracy.

In 2022, in a post about another ISP's anti-piracy efforts, one user stated, "I've been using Frontier DSL for years" and "despite the shitty internet, they didn't care what I downloaded." They also reported receiving a total of 44 e-mails from Frontier regarding Torrent downloads and threats to shut down their service, but no action has yet been taken.

The studio claims that in these and other identified postings, "Reddit users are not aware of any privacy interest in IP addresses" and that the IP address logs are "clearly relevant and proportionate to the need in this case."

Whatever one's views on the legality or ethics of the great debate over piracy, or the wisdom of discussing illegal activity in a public forum in a dignified manner, the fact that these studios, in order to pursue legal action, simply for the crime of discussing the act itself, have the sensitive user data The fact that they feel the need to demand it from third parties is problematic.

There is no doubt that the contributors in this case were unwise, at least in openly posting about the illegal activities they engaged in, but to legally demand that the sites hosting these posts hand over identifiable user data because of that seems extreme.

Whether this particular attempt will be successful remains to be seen, but it serves as a reminder that online postings on any topic do not remain in a digital vacuum, and organizations are keeping a close eye on these kinds of discussions.

Needless to say, a post in a public forum is, well, public.