ISP Verizon must reveal identities of four alleged music pirates
Posted on 05/06/03 12:03 by Dennis                             
ISP Verizon must reveal identities of four alleged music pirates

Thanks to kamikazee we can inform you that ISP Verizon Communications must reveal the identities of four alleged music pirates. The ISP lost a legal battle against the RIAA, in which the RIAA demanded Verizon to disclose the identity of alleged file-sharing pirates.

When we reported about this earlier it was already pretty clear that they would have to reveal the names, but Verizon refused to do so and went to the U.S. Appeals Court, asking for a delay. Unfortunately the Appeals Court has refused to intervene in the case.

However, final victory for the recording industry is still a ways off, with a pending appeal scheduled for a hearing in September that could vindicate Verizon.

The case immediately exposes the four defendants to legal action. More broadly, it could pave the way for copyright holders to more easily identify people who trade pirated files on peer-to-peer networks. While file swappers may seek to conceal their identities online, they can usually be discovered by connecting online activity to records kept by Internet service providers (ISPs) such as Verizon.

At stake are subpoena powers granted under a controversial copyright law that aims to make it easier for content owners to combat Internet piracy. Unlike ordinary "John Doe" subpoenas, the Digital Millennium Copyright Act (DMCA) allows copyright holders to subpoena information without first seeking a judge's blessing, making it an easier and cheaper method for tracking down alleged copyright infringers.

Privacy experts have criticised such subpoenas, saying they violate consumers' privacy and give copyright holders too much power. Internet trade groups worry that it could shift the burden of copyright enforcement toward ISPs.

The RIAA has of course cheered the ruling. In September Verizon will have the chance to argue the validity of the disputed subpoenas at the hearing. When Verizon wins it could prevent them from having to turn over subscribers' identities in other cases.

Source: News.com

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By Sherrif, Fri 6 Jun 2003 06:28
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ISPs must act now to get legistation to protect consumer rights or rewrite their contractual obligations regarding privacy....one could see an immediate 20% drop in custom and a real increase in encryption if people couldn"t consider their online activities "safe". As I've stated before decisions like these should be fought in an international court. We have all read that the interest of law enforcement officers can be bought by self interest groups, why not judges....judgements like this will only bring about an increase in piracy as a "stick it in yer arse" message and more cyberattacks on associated corporations.......American lawmakers and proponents have got to realise america has not conquered the globe......yet ??............cool
[edited by Sherrif on 06.06.2003 06:29]
By chsbiking, Fri 6 Jun 2003 09:45
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NOTE: Sarcasim ahead. "We here at the RIAA are having a problem with P2P piracy, and there's nothing we can do about it, except watch the files go down the wire. We feel that if we go after peer to peer priates we will drive them farther underground motivating some users to build encrypted P2P programs that go through proxies to hide IP address. Now this won't stop piracy mind you, but it will leave us totally cluesles as to who's trading, and what they're trading." Of course when MS releases it's "secure" operating system which by the way has changed names from palladium to next-generation secure computing base and lobbies to get laws passed that only those types of computers can be used, and only those computer can connect to the Internet maybe it will be a different story. Oh has anyone mention that MS is lobbying right now to get laws passed for that?
By katastrofe, Fri 6 Jun 2003 14:10
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Don't be silly, the RIAA has no idea what proxies are. When they find out, they'll probably try to pass a law making them illegal!
By spacegrass, Fri 6 Jun 2003 20:12
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Is this in violation of the Fourth Amendment? What do we know about the four Verizon customers involved? One has made a statement that he has removed the file-sharing software from his computer.

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