Your IP address will betray you

Strike3 Holdings, an adult film company, is described as using IP address subpoenas to extract settlements from people accused of downloading its videos, a practice Judge Royce Lamberth called extortionate. The article says the company monitors BitTorrent, sues "John Doe" defendants, and obtains names and addresses from ISPs, and that many defendants settle to avoid public exposure. It cites Lamberth's note that Strike 3 filed 1,849 such cases in courts nationwide over thirteen months, and a South Florida grandmother who denies downloading 26 videos. The article also argues that IP addresses are an imperfect way to identify who performed an activity, citing an SDNY case in which a roommate was contacted over a validator node.