“...an anonymous Reddit commenter who is facing an abusive copyright claim from the Watchtower Bible and Tract Society, a group that publishes doctrines for Jehovah’s Witnesses.”
Sounds like the Jehovah’s Witnesses are ripping off the Church of Scientology’s playbook.
Are the JWs sueing an unnamed party “John Doe” (aka “darkspilver”) and asking Reddit for, presumably, email and IP address data to try to associate a real person’s identity with their copyright lawsuit? They can’t sue a fictitious username that can’t appear in court..?
What’s the difference to Reddit if they say ‘yes’ or ‘no’ to the request? Do they have to?
Reddit was served with a DMCA 512(h) subpoena. Subpoenas are normally issued by a court, but 512(h) creates a special process where anyone can subpoena a website to reveal the identity of a user they accuse of infringing their copyright, with no prior judicial review:
Complying with a subpoena is mandatory; failure to do so is contempt of court. But you don't have to comply immediately, and in the meantime you or someone else can file a motion to quash, which puts it on hold. In this case, darkspilver (represented by the EFF) filed the own motion to quash, rather than Reddit itself.
Sounds like the Jehovah’s Witnesses are ripping off the Church of Scientology’s playbook.