RIAA Suffers a Setback in Piracy Battle
 

RIAA Suffers a Setback in Piracy Battle
Mon Aug 11, 9:00 AM ET

Scarlet Pruitt, IDG News Service

Both the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (news - web sites) and Boston College won their requests to reject subpoenas issued by the Recording Industry Association of America (news - web sites) over jurisdictional issues, according the Electronic Frontier Foundation.

The universities argued that the subpoenas, which were filed in Washington D.C., did not apply to them in Massachusetts.

Massachusetts U.S. District Court Judge Joseph Tauro's ruling in the universities' favor could prove an obstacle for the RIAA's piracy offensive, given that the group has reportedly filed some 2,000 subpoenas through the Washington D.C. court, according to the EFF.
More Complicated
The ruling could mean that the group will have to file subpoenas in courts across the country where it believes infringement is occurring, a much longer and more complicated process, the EFF said.

EFF Staff Attorney Wendy Seltzer cheered the decision Friday, saying in a release that the ruling "confirms that due process applies to Internet user privacy nationwide." The EFF has been battling the RIAA campaign, saying that the group's efforts compromise the privacy of individual users.

The San Francisco-based privacy group isn't alone in its rejection of the RIAA's latest campaign. Pacific Bell Internet Services, a subsidiary of SBC Communications, has filed a suit in California alleging that the RIAA's subpoenas are a threat to subscribers' privacy and a burden on ISPs.

What's more, Senator Norm Coleman (R-Minnesota) has also publicly spoken out against the group, calling the subpoenas a "shotgun" approach to piracy.

Ongoing Battle

The RIAA's spraying of administrative subpoenas is just the latest strategy in a battle against Internet piracy that stems from the early days of Napster (news - web sites). And while the group's efforts to go after individual users have sparked some controversy and backlash, its campaign against piracy on the legal front has been mostly successful.

The group managed to knock Napster offline last year and has since won rulings in cases against Madster--formerly called Aimster--and other peer-to-peer file trading networks.

Having had success in cases against p-to-p networks, the industry has now focused on going after individual users with the aid of ISPs. Although Friday's ruling could slow down the subpoena process, that does not mean that ISPs won't eventually be ordered to comply.

Verizon Internet Services, for instance, lost its bid in June to protect the names of customers accused of illegal file trading.

The recording industry is using as its defense part of the 1998 U.S. Digital Millennium Copyright Act (news - web sites), which allows copyright holders to subpoena ISPs for the names of people they believe are using their copyrighted material without permission.

The EFF is campaigning for ISPs to notify users when their information is being sought. The group has also created an online database where users can check to see if their identifies have been subpoenaed by the RIAA. The database is at EFF.org.

The RIAA was not immediately available Monday morning to comment on the ruling.

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found this over at www.watchfarscape.com/forums/

Ashley

At least this is one step in stopping the RIAA (even tho it's temporary) from trying to go after people. In a world where piracy overpowers privacy, "tracking down" people isn't exactly a great idea if the RIAA hopes that people will continue to support them after this movement to stop p2p programs. It's one thing to make up for lost sales, but blaming it solely on others and not themselves is quite a bad ideal...

Hopefully at this rate they'll not want to waste their time and money on something that will never stop, no matter what.

o golly. i cant read all that. its too long! anyone care to summarize it for me? into like..ya know..one short paragraph? :)

Lazy bum. :P

It's out of the jurisidiction of the supoena if it isn't filled in the same state as the people their supoenaing (sp??) so, they'd have to go around filling supoenas in every state that people are in they want to supoena. That means more time and money for the RIAA.

Ashley

The RIAA is DUMB!

I thihk my point is justified. :roflmao

That's good news. I'm glad to hear it. THanks for the article. It's very nice to see people fight them and win.

OMG! ashley! THAT was not a simple paragraph. jeremy? big words? they dont go good together. supenoa?! wut the... =\ *lost*

:roflmao :roflmao

That was a big paragraph for you :laugh ? I think she meant to say "supoena", altho adding "ing" doesn't seem right :laugh !

hahahaha.. yeah.. that's what I meant to say.. lol

Ashley