June 20, 2012 | Online

Corbin Fisher lawsuit gets EFFed up

The Electronic Frontier Foundation (EFF), a group that was created to "confront cutting-edge issues defending free speech, privacy, innovation, and consumer rights," has opted to side with alleged content pirates in a court case filed by Corbin Fisher.

The suit revolves around the online trading of Corbin Fisher's Down on the Farm video. EFF filed a friend-of-the-court brief for the defendants. At issue: two roommates were named in the lawsuit; one is blaming the other for the copyright piracy.

The EFF claimed the case was about "copyright trolls attempt[ing] to game the legal process, using improper claims and procedures to pressure alleged copyright infringers into settling lawsuits against them even where they have legitimate defenses."

Gill Sperlein, who works as an attorney within the adult industry, argued that EFF's claims were out of line.

"It concerns me that the EFF, which used to be a really great organization, now unabashedly encourages piracy," he said. "The use of inflammatory statements on their website and their consistent reference to copyright trolls seems more about getting press and raising donations than about protecting privacy rights."

The CF lawsuit argues that Cary Tabora knew his roomate, Schuyler Whetstone, was using Tabora's Internet connection to illegally download content, so Tabora is equally guilty of copyright infringement.

EFF contended that if Corbin Fisher is successful in this suit, it puts at risk all Wi-Fi providers for the actions of others. Public Wi-Fi spots would have to be shut down for fear of how someone might use them.

"We got involved in this particular case because the law is clear that Internet subscribers have no legal responsibility to be private copyright police, monitoring their connections to make sure no one uses them to infringe copyrights," Mitch Stoltz, a staff attorney at the EFF, said. "In fact, U.S. law protects Internet providers and subscribers from liability for the actions of others."

While we do support adult companies in their pursuit of online pirates, perhaps going after roomies is overreaching. 

EFF Blasted for Move Into Gay Porn Piracy Suit [XBiz]