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10) <h2>Response template for Tor relay operator to ISP</h2>

11) <hr>

12) <p>Written by the Electronic Frontier Foundation (<a
13) href="https://www.eff.org">EFF</a>). Last updated May 31, 2011.</p>
14) <p>Note to Tor relay operators: In this litigious era, anyone providing
15) routing services may face copyright complaints for transmitted content.
16) Fortunately, the Digital Millennium Copyright Act safe harbors should

17) provide protections from many of them both to you and to your upstream

18) provider. If your Internet host forwards a DMCA copyright complaint to
19) you, you can use this template to write a response, though you will need
20) to customize it to your situation. Please also ensure all the statements
21) are true for you.  (The Tor Project has an <a
22) href="https://trac.torproject.org/projects/tor/wiki/TheOnionRouter/TorAbuseTemplates">abuse
23) collection of templates</a> to help you respond to other types of abuse
24) complaints, too.) Before sending any response to your ISP, you may want
25) to seek the advice of an attorney licensed to practice in your
26) jurisdiction.</p>

27) <p>This template letter is for informational purposes only and does not
28) constitute legal advice. Whether and how you should respond when you or

29) your ISP has received a DMCA notice will turn on the particular facts of
30) your situation. This template is intended as a starting point, but you
31) should tailor it to your own circumstances. In addition, it's up to you
32) to comply with your ISP's terms of service. If you're not comfortable
33) including so much legal explanation, feel free to invite the ISP to
34) contact EFF for a fuller discussion. </p>
35) <p>If you do not believe the safe harbors apply to your particular
36) situation, don't use this template as a basis for your response.
37) Specific information about safe harbor qualification for "transitory
38) digital network communications" is provided on the Chilling Effects
39) website <a
40) href="https://www.chillingeffects.org/dmca512/faq.cgi#QID586">here</a>
41) and also in the template, below.</p>
42) 
43) <p>Also, if you received this document from anywhere other than the EFF
44) web site or <a
45) href="<page eff/tor-dmca-response>"
46) title="<page eff/tor-dmca-response>"><page eff/tor-dmca-response></a>,

47) it may be out of date. Follow the link to get the latest version.</p>

48) <blockquote><p>
49) Dear [ISP]:</p>

50) <p>Thank you for forwarding me the notice you received from [copyright

51) claimant] regarding [content]. I would like to assure you that I am not
52) hosting the claimed infringing materials, and furthermore, the Digital
53) Millennium Copyright Act's ("DMCA") safe harbors likely protect you from
54) liability arising from this complaint. The notice is likely based upon
55) misunderstandings about the law and about some of the software I
56) run.</p>
57) <p>As you know, the DMCA creates four "safe harbors" for service
58) providers to protect them from copyright liability for the acts of their

59) users, when the ISPs fulfill certain requirements. (17 U.S.C. § 512) The

60) DMCA's requirements vary depending on the ISP's role. You may be
61) familiar with the "notice and takedown" provisions of section 512(c) of
62) the DMCA; however, those do not apply when an ISP merely acts as a
63) conduit. Instead, the "conduit" safe harbor of section 512(a) of the
64) DMCA has different and less burdensome eligibility requirements, as the
65) D.C. Circuit Court of Appeals held in RIAA v. Verizon (see <a

66) href="https://www.eff.org/sites/default/files/filenode/RIAA_v_Verizon/20030121-riaa-v-verizon-order.pdf">
67) https://www.eff.org/sites/default/files/filenode/RIAA_v_Verizon/20030121-riaa-v-verizon-order.pdf</a>)

68) and the Eighth Circuit Court of Appeals confirmed in RIAA v. Charter

69) (see <a href="https://w2.eff.org/IP/P2P/Charter/033802P.pdf"
70) title="https://w2.eff.org/IP/P2P/Charter/033802P.pdf">https://w2.eff.org/IP/P2P/Charter/033802P.pdf</a>).</p>
71) <p>Under DMCA 512(a), service providers like you are typically protected
72) from damages for copyright infringement claims if you also maintain "a
73) policy that provides for termination in appropriate circumstances of
74) subscribers and account holders of the service provider's system or
75) network who are repeat infringers." If you have and implement such a
76) policy, and you otherwise qualify for the safe harbor, you should be
77) free from fear of copyright damages.</p>
78) 
79) <p>As for what makes a reasonable policy, as the law says, it's one that
80) terminates subscribers who are repeat infringers. The notification you
81) received is certainly not proof of the "repeat infringement" that is
82) required under the law before you need to terminate my account. In fact,

83) it's not even proof of any copyright infringement; a notice claiming

84) infringement is not the same as a determination of infringement. I have
85) not infringed any copyrights and do not intend to do so. Therefore, you
86) should continue to be protected under the DMCA 512(a) safe harbor
87) without taking any further action. </p>
88) <p>You may be curious about what prompted the faulty notice. It was
89) likely triggered by a program I run called Tor. Tor is network software
90) that helps users to enhance their privacy, security, and safety online.
91) It does not host any content. Rather, it is part of a network of nodes
92) on the Internet that simply pass packets among themselves before sending
93) them to their destinations, just as any Internet intermediary does. The

94) difference is that Tor tunnels the connections such that no hop can
95) learn both the source and destination of the packets, giving users

96) protection from nefarious snooping on network traffic. The result is
97) that, unlike most other Internet traffic, the final IP address that the
98) recipient receives is not the IP address of the sender. Tor protects

99) users against hazards such as harassment, spam, and identity theft.

100) Initial development of Tor, including deployment of a public-use Tor
101) network, was a project of the U.S. Naval Research Laboratory, with
102) funding from ONR and DARPA. (For more on Tor, see <a
103) href="https://www.torproject.org/"
104) title="https://www.torproject.org/">https://www.torproject.org/</a>.) I
105) hope, as an organization committed to protecting the privacy of its
106) customers, you'll agree that this is a valuable technology. </p>
107) <p>Thank you for working with me on this matter. As a loyal subscriber,

108) I appreciate your notifying me of this issue and hope that the

109) protections of DMCA 512 put any concerns you may have to rest. If not,
110) please contact me with any further questions. </p>
111) <p>Very truly yours,<br />
112) Your customer, [User]</p></blockquote>