Dallas Buyers Club: Macek Declaration

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DECLARATION OF DANIEL MACEK - 1

Civil Action No. 2:14-cv-01153


INIP-6-0006P02 DEC_DM
UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT
WESTERN DISTRICT OF WASHINGTON AT SEATTLE
DALLAS BUYERS CLUB, LLC,
Plaintiff,
v.
DOES 1-10,
Defendants.
Civil Action No. 2:14-cv-01153
DECLARATION OF DANIEL MACEK IN
SUPPORT OF EX PARTE MOTION FOR
EXPEDITED DISCOVERY

I, Daniel Macek, declare as follows:
1. My name is Daniel Macek. I am over the age of 18 and am otherwise competent
to make this declaration. This declaration is based on my personal knowledge and, if called upon
to do so, I will testify that the facts stated herein are true and accurate.
2. I have been retained as a software consultant by Crystal Bay Corporation
(Crystal Bay), a company incorporated in South Dakota and organized and existing under the
laws of the United States, in its technical department. Crystal Bay is in the business of providing
forensic investigation services to copyright owners.
A. Peer-to-Peer Networks and the BitTorrent Protocol
3. The Internet is a vast collection of interconnected computers and computer
networks that communicate with each other. It allows users to freely and easily exchange ideas
and information, including academic research, literary works, financial data, music, audiovisual
Case 2:14-cv-01153-RAJ Document 5 Filed 07/30/14 Page 1 of 8

DECLARATION OF DANIEL MACEK - 2
Civil Action No. 2:14-cv-01153
INIP-6-0006P02 DEC_DM
works, graphics, and an unending and ever-changing array of other data. The Internet also
affords opportunities for the wide-scale infringement of copyrighted motion pictures and other
digital content. Once a motion picture has been transformed into an unsecured digital format, it
can be copied further and distributed an unlimited number of times over the Internet without
significant degradation in picture or sound quality.
4. To copy and distribute copyrighted motion pictures over the Internet, many
individuals use online media distribution systems or so-called peer-to-peer (P2P) or BitTorrent
networks. P2P networks, at least in their most common form, are computer systems that enable
Internet users to (1) make files (including motion pictures) stored on each users computer
available for copying by other users; (2) search for files stored on other users computers; and (3)
transfer exact copies of files from one computer to another via the Internet.
5. To use a P2P or BitTorrent distribution system requires more than a click of a
button. A substantial software installation and computer configuration process needs to take
place. At any given moment and depending on the particular P2P network involved, anywhere
from thousands to millions of people, either across the country or around the world, unlawfully
use the P2P network to connect to one anothers computers to upload (distribute) or download
(copy) copyrighted material. The P2P systems represent a viral distribution or, in other words,
systems that enable widespread distribution of digital files: each user of the system who copies a
digital file from another user can then distribute the file to still other users and so on, so that
complete digital copies can be easily and quickly distributed thereby eliminating long download
times.
6. Further, a person who uses a P2P network is free to use any alias (or network
name) whatsoever, without revealing his or her true identity to other users. Thus, while Plaintiff
has observed the infringement occurring on the Internet, it does not know the true identities of
those individuals who are committing the infringement.
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DECLARATION OF DANIEL MACEK - 3
Civil Action No. 2:14-cv-01153
INIP-6-0006P02 DEC_DM
7. Additionally, the P2P methodologies for which Crystal Bay monitored for
Plaintiffs motion picture make even small computers with low bandwidth capable of
participating in large data transfers across a P2P network. The initial file provider intentionally
elects to share a file using a P2P network. This is called seeding. Other users (peers) on the
network connect to the seeder to download. As additional peers request the same file, each
additional user becomes a part of the network (or swarm) from where the file can be
downloaded. However, unlike a traditional peer-to-peer network, each new file downloader is
receiving a different piece of the data from each user who has already downloaded that piece of
data, all of which pieces together comprise the whole.
8. This means that every node or peer user who has a copy of the infringing
copyrighted material on a P2P network can also be a source of download for that infringing file,
potentially both copying and distributing the infringing work simultaneously. This distributed
nature of P2P leads to a rapid viral spreading of a file throughout peer users. As more peers join
the swarm, the likelihood of a successful download increases. Because of the nature of a P2P
protocol, any seed peer who has downloaded a file prior to the time a subsequent peer downloads
the same file is automatically a possible source for the subsequent infringement.
B. Computer Forensic Identification of BitTorrent Infringement
9. All infringers connected to those files are investigated through downloading a part
of the file placed on their computer. This evidence is then saved on a secure server. Once the
forensic technology identifies an infringer in the way described herein for the motion picture for
which Plaintiff owns the exclusive licensing and distribution rights, it automatically obtains the
Internet Protocol (IP) of a user offering the file for download and saves it in a secure database.
10. The forensic technology used by Crystal Bay is propriety software that collects,
identifies and records the IP addresses in use by those people that employ the BitTorrent protocol
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DECLARATION OF DANIEL MACEK - 4
Civil Action No. 2:14-cv-01153
INIP-6-0006P02 DEC_DM
to share, copy, reproduce and distribute copyrighted works. In this way the software is connected
to files of illegal versions of the motion picture.
11. An IP address is a unique numerical identifier that is automatically assigned to an
Internet user by the users Internet Service Provider (ISP). It only enables Plaintiff to trace the
infringers access to the Internet to a particular ISP. An ISP can be a telecommunications service
provider such as Verizon, an Internet service provider such as America Online, a cable Internet
service provider such as Comcast, or even an entity such as a university that is large enough to
establish its own network and link directly to the Internet. Each time a subscriber logs on, he or
she may be assigned a different (or dynamic) IP address unless the user obtains from his/her
ISP a static IP address. ISPs are assigned certain blocks or ranges of IP addresses by the Internet
Assigned Numbers Authority (IANA) or a regional internet registry such as the American
Registry for Internet Numbers (ARIN). However, some ISPs lease or otherwise allocate certain
of their IP addresses to other unrelated, intermediary ISPs. These intermediaries can be identified
by the ISP and the intermediaries own logs will contain the subscriber information.
12. In logs kept in the ordinary course of business, ISPs keep track of the IP addresses
assigned to their subscribers. Once provided with an IP address, plus the date and time of the
detected and documented infringing activity, ISPs can use their subscriber logs to identify the
name, address, email address, phone number and other related information of the user/subscriber.
13. Only the ISP to whom a particular IP address has been assigned for use by its
subscribers can correlate that IP address to a particular subscriber. From time to time, a
subscriber of Internet services may be assigned different IP addresses from their ISP. Thus, to
correlate a subscriber with an IP address, the ISP also needs to know when the IP address was
being used. Unfortunately, many ISPs only retain for a very limited amount of time the
information necessary to correlate an IP address to a particular subscriber.
Case 2:14-cv-01153-RAJ Document 5 Filed 07/30/14 Page 4 of 8

DECLARATION OF DANIEL MACEK - 5
Civil Action No. 2:14-cv-01153
INIP-6-0006P02 DEC_DM
14. Crystal Bay determined that the Doe Defendants identified in Exhibit C to the
complaint were using the ISPs listed in the exhibit to gain access to the Internet and distribute
and make available for distribution and copying Plaintiffs copyrighted motion picture.
15. It is possible for digital files to be mislabeled or corrupted; therefore, Crystal Bay
(and accordingly Plaintiff) does not rely solely on the labels and metadata attached to the files
themselves to determine which motion picture is being unlawfully distributed. This is done
through a visual comparison between the version of the movie made available on file sharing
networks by infringers and a control copy of Plaintiffs movie. Only when it is visually
confirmed that the two movies are the same does monitoring for that version of the movie
commence. To identify the IP Addresses of those BitTorrent users who were copying and
distributing Plaintiffs copyrighted motion picture, Crystal Bays forensic software scans peer-to-
peer networks for the presence of infringing transactions.
16. After reviewing the evidence logs, I isolated the transactions and the IP addresses
of the users responsible for copying and distributing the motion picture.
17. Through each of the transactions, the computers using the IP addresses identified
in Exhibit 1 hereto transmitted a copy or a part of a copy of a digital media file identified by the
hash value set forth in Exhibit 1. The IP addresses, hash values, dates and times and geolocation
contained in Exhibit 1 correctly reflect what is contained in the evidence logs. The subscribers
using the IP addresses set forth in Exhibit 1 were all part of a swarm of users that were
reproducing, distributing, displaying or performing the copyrighted motion picture.
18. Moreover, the users were sharing the exact same copy of the motion picture. Any
digital copy of an audiovisual work may be uniquely identified by a unique, coded, string of
characters called a hash checksum. The hash checksum is a string of alphanumeric characters
generated by a mathematical algorithm known as US Secure Hash Algorithm 1 or SHA-1.
Using hash tag to identify different copies of the motion picture, Crystal Bay is able to confirm
that these users reproduced the very same copy of the motion picture.
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EXHIBIT 1

Case 2:14-cv-01153-RAJ Document 5 Filed 07/30/14 Page 7 of 8
EXHIBIT 1
Dallas Buyers Club, LLC
v.
Does 1-10
No IP Address HitDate UTC (mm/dd/yy) File Name File Hash City
1 50.135.70.88 5/31/14 07:29:39 AM Dallas Buyers Club (2013) [1080p] SHA1: 9DE63BACB65CE4BBB853F57D4843410D1F09FFBD Bothell
2 24.17.62.184 5/14/14 04:09:11 PM Dallas Buyers Club (2013) [1080p] SHA1: 9DE63BACB65CE4BBB853F57D4843410D1F09FFBD Bothell
3 98.232.34.230 6/26/14 12:05:19 PM Dallas Buyers Club (2013) [1080p] SHA1: 9DE63BACB65CE4BBB853F57D4843410D1F09FFBD Bonney Lake
4 67.185.138.171 5/20/14 11:07:45 PM Dallas Buyers Club (2013) [1080p] SHA1: 9DE63BACB65CE4BBB853F57D4843410D1F09FFBD Monroe
5 50.135.196.210 6/14/14 11:12:40 PM Dallas Buyers Club (2013) [1080p] SHA1: 9DE63BACB65CE4BBB853F57D4843410D1F09FFBD Redmond
6 67.160.31.0 6/7/14 05:38:49 PM Dallas Buyers Club (2013) [1080p] SHA1: 9DE63BACB65CE4BBB853F57D4843410D1F09FFBD Auburn
7 98.232.126.27 5/27/14 09:49:28 PM Dallas Buyers Club (2013) [1080p] SHA1: 9DE63BACB65CE4BBB853F57D4843410D1F09FFBD Federal Way
8 76.28.197.136 5/20/14 12:28:09 AM Dallas Buyers Club (2013) [1080p] SHA1: 9DE63BACB65CE4BBB853F57D4843410D1F09FFBD Bellevue
9 24.16.219.187 5/15/14 08:39:59 PM Dallas Buyers Club (2013) [1080p] SHA1: 9DE63BACB65CE4BBB853F57D4843410D1F09FFBD Kent
10 67.185.106.96 6/15/14 10:02:14 AM Dallas Buyers Club (2013) [1080p] SHA1: 9DE63BACB65CE4BBB853F57D4843410D1F09FFBD Tacoma
Case 2:14-cv-01153-RAJ Document 5 Filed 07/30/14 Page 8 of 8

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