Mon Sep 23 22:06:13 UTC 2024: ## Twitter Ordered to Reveal Identities of Genshin Impact Leakers
**San Francisco, CA** – In a blow to anonymity advocates, a California court has ordered Twitter, now known as X, to reveal the identities of four Genshin Impact leakers to the game’s publisher, Cognosphere.
The ruling, issued last week by Judge Peter H. Kang, denied X’s attempt to quash a DMCA subpoena demanding the leakers’ names, addresses, phone numbers, and email addresses. The subpoena, filed in November 2023, alleged copyright infringement based on leaks of upcoming Genshin Impact content.
X argued that the leaks were protected by First Amendment rights, but the judge disagreed, deeming the leaked content “not core First Amendment expression” and stating that Cognosphere had presented a “prima facie case of copyright violation”.
This isn’t the first time Cognosphere has pursued leakers. In 2021, they threatened legal action against those sharing information about an upcoming update and in 2022, sued Discord to reveal the identity of another leaker.
The judge’s ruling also included a sharp rebuke of X’s legal team, accusing them of unnecessarily delaying the process. The court criticized X’s stance that they must always seek to quash DMCA subpoenas, stating that “there is nothing in the text of the DMCA which prohibits reasonable resolution of DMCA subpoena disputes…without the need for a contested motion”.
This decision underscores the challenges faced by online anonymity in the face of copyright infringement claims. While the First Amendment protects free speech, it does not extend to the unauthorized distribution of copyrighted material. The ruling sets a precedent for social media platforms to cooperate in revealing the identities of alleged infringers, potentially impacting future efforts to protect anonymity online.
First Piper 