BayTSP

BayTSP is a copyright enforcement company based in Los Gatos, California. BayTSP was formed by CEO Mark M. Ishikawa that offers defensive services to owners of intellectual property concerned about potential unauthorized distribution through the Internet. The company also has a branch in Des Moines, Iowa.

Although Ishikawa describes the DMCA as a "flawed piece of legislation, one of BayTSP's primary services involves searching the Internet for copyright infringement and issuing DMCA takedown notices to the Internet service provider that acts as host to the disputed content.

BayTSP's role as internet detectives

Although much of BayTSP's exact methodology is currently unknown, it can be ascertained from press releases and news sources that the company makes extensive use of automated webcrawler technology and databases of digital fingerprints. BayTSP's digital fingerprinting technology has been used in efforts to curb both Internet piracy and child pornography.

Mr. Ishikawa's often sensationalist claims, such as "We can find a file posted five years ago and find every place it's posted now, and "We have 100 percent coverage of peer-to-peer file sharing, If you are illegally sharing copyrighted materials, we know who you are. combined with his self-admitted "hacker" background have caused some speculation as to the ethical tenets of BayTSP.

BayTSP does issue several thousand DMCA takedown notices per year to Internet users and providers suspected of hosting or distributing copyrighted material. Questions about the covert methods employed by BayTSP in the identification of copyrighted works and DMCA takedown process have generated hostility toward the company from the Internet file sharing community.

A few examples of BayTSP DMCA takedown notices to alleged copyright infringers can be found at the Stanford and Harvard Law project to document the DMCA's impact on the Internet.