Time Warner Cable refuses to expose porn pirates

Time Warner Cable, one of the nation's largest Internet service providers, has refused to turn over customers accused in a lawsuit by Larry Flynt Publishing of pirating one of the company's porn films, according to Flynt's attorney.

In October, Dallas-based attorney Evan Stone filed three separate lawsuits against more than 4,000 "John Does," alleging the defendants illegally shared the movie "This Ain't Avatar XXX." The copyright suit was filed on behalf of Larry Flynt Publishing (LFP), which oversees Flynt's adult-entertainment empire, including Hustler magazine.

The identities of the accused are unknown because Stone only possesses Internet protocol addresses of people alleged to have used peer-to-peer software to pirate films. To identify the defendants, he needs each person's ISP to match IP addresses to names. Stone said TWC agreed to only turn over 10 names per month, an amount that he said is totally unsatisfactory. A TWC spokesman declined to comment.

For more on this story, read ISP won't reveal names of alleged porn pirates on CNET News.