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THE makers of the Matthew McConaughey hit Dallas Buyers Club claim they are defending the rights of all feature filmmakers in their quest to gain confidential details of individuals illegally downloading the Academy Award winning film.In a significant test case, the Federal Court in Sydney heard the Dallas Buyers Club company was demanding internet providers hand over confidential email addresses, postal addresses and phone numbers of people thought to have participated in illegal downloads of the film via peer-to-peer file sharing.The BitTorrent protocol allows users to share files over the internet in a process of communal uploads and downloads of many small parts of a larger file. The system means no one individual is responsible for uploading and downloading illegally pirated content.Acting on behalf of Dallas Buyers Club, Ian Pike SC said it was “the first case of its kind in Australia”, but that the case was “not dealing with an isolated matter”.Pointing to a growing amount of case law in the US pursuing BitTorrent pirates, Mr Pike said the issue would affect “every other motion picture to be released”.Through its use of German-based company Maverikeye UG, DBC has identified about 6000 IP addresses it claims have been illegally downloading the film since mid-2013 — even before its release at the cinema.Internet providers, including iiNet, Dodo Services and Internode, are fighting the attempt to provide the information, arguing DBC was not the company losing out. Rather, they claim, it was distributors Pinnacle, Voltage and Picture Perfect as part of complex agreements in the US and Australia.The hearing continues today.
