Comcast said a cease-and-desist letter issued to TorrentFreak on grounds of an alleged copyright violation was issued by mistake, as the data presented by the site originated from a public court document.
“This notice was sent in error, and we have advised TorrentFreak to disregard it. We apologize for any confusion,” Comcast said in a statement issued Wednesday.
The original letter stirred up a bit of a storm Wednesday. TorrentFreak, a news site focused on file-sharing and privacy and copyright issues, said it received the original letter following an article it posted with evidence linking Prenda Law to the operation of a pirate honeypot aimed at luring Internet users into downloading copyrighted material. The story included a copy of the publicly available subpoena that likewise included a scan of a fax document containing information about a Comcast subscriber.
As a result of Comcast’s original letter, TorrentFreak faced a temporary threat of being shut down by its hosting provider, LeaseWeb. Comcast’s follow-up statement and apology appears to have cleared up the matter.
