Posted on: Tuesday, July 22, 2003
Courts grant 871 subpoenas in dispute over music-sharing
By Ted Bridis
Associated Press
WASHINGTON — The music industry has won at least 871 federal subpoenas against computer users suspected of illegally sharing music files on the Internet, with roughly 75 new subpoenas being approved each day, U.S. court officials said last week.
The effort represents early steps in the music industry's contentious plan to file civil lawsuits aimed at crippling online piracy.
Subpoenas reviewed by The Associated Press show the industry compelling some of the largest Internet providers, such as Verizon Communications Inc. and Comcast Cable Communications Inc., and some universities to identify names and mailing addresses for users on their networks known online by nicknames such as "fox3j," "soccerdog33," "clover77" or "indepunk74."
The Recording Industry Association of America has said it expects to file at least several hundred lawsuits seeking financial damages within the next eight weeks.
U.S. copyright laws allow for damages of $750 to $150,000 for each song offered illegally on a person's computer, but the RIAA has said it would be open to settlement proposals from defendants.
The campaign comes just weeks after U.S. appeals court rulings requiring Internet providers to readily identify subscribers suspected of illegally sharing music and movie files. The 1998 Digital Millennium Copyright Act permits music companies to force Internet providers to turn over the names of suspected music pirates upon subpoena from any U.S. District Court clerk's office, with no judge's signature required.
In some cases, subpoenas cite as few as five songs as "representative recordings" of music files available for downloading from these users. The trade group for the largest music labels, the Washington-based RIAA, had indicated that its lawyers would target those who offer substantial collections of MP3 song files but declined to say how many songs might qualify for a lawsuit.
"It doesn't sound like they're just going after a few big fish," said Alan Davidson of the Center for Democracy and Technology, a civil liberties group that has argued against the subpoenas.
The RIAA's subpoenas are so prolific that the U.S. District Court in Washington, already suffering staff shortages, has been forced to reassign employees from elsewhere in the clerk's office to help process paperwork.
