Re: Botmasters/Victims and DMCA

[Lane Christiansen <lanec42 () gmail com>]

On Tuesday 15 September 2009 10:09:40 am Viva Colombia wrote:
> Hi all, my question (for a legal paper that I'm writing) is whether a
> botmaster and a person whose computer has been recruited in a botnet
> can be considered as service providers, according to the broader
> definition of service provider provided by 17 USC§512(k)(A-B). I've
> found court decisions and some opinions, but none refer to botmasters,
> they would only allow me to conclude that if theirs is an IRC botnet
> and they provide, for example, chatting services through their command
> & control bots, then they would indeed be service providers as per the
> DMCA; but I found nothing related to whether peers in P2P botnets or
> networks can be taken as service providers, bearing in mind that they
> are used as storing devices and communications or transmittal nodes.
>
> I'm trying to analyze whether they could be held liable for violations
> of the Copyright Act when said violations take place through and
> thanks to the botnets and thanks to the negligence of the owner of the
> infected machine (who did not protect it appropriately), and if they
> two could successfully use the safe harbor provisions on their behalf.
>
> I hope I'm not too confusing...
>
> Thx!
I can't comment on this (IANAL), but I'd be very interested in reading your 
paper - it'd be awesome if you could post it here when you're finished!

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