Music Industry Wins Approval Of 871 Subpoenas Against Internet Users

from the 871-down,-many-millions-to-go dept

In case you were wondering just how many people the RIAA really does intend to sue, here's an idea. In the week or so since the RIAA has been sending out subpoenas, the courts have approved 871, with approximately 75 more being approved every day. The subpoenas are being sent to just about every ISP from the sound of it. The ISPs' fears of being "flooded" by subpoenas may be coming true. Verizon, who initiated concerns about that fear says they've received 150 already. The courts are saying that they've needed to reassign people to handle all the subpoena requests and have become little more than a "clearinghouse". Considering the RIAA's history with false claims against people for copyright violations, can those who are sued incorrectly fight back against a frivolous lawsuit filed without any actual evidence?
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  1. identicon
    Bob Bechtel, 19 Jul 2003 @ 4:13am

    Establishing the spin

    If you disagree with the RIAA, you point to the large additional burden this places on the courts (and the ISPs). If you support the RIAA (or are the RIAA), you point out how helpful Congress could be if they would let these subpoenas be issued directly on application by a clerk, rather than burdening a judge, as in terrorist wiretapping cases. (After all, aren't music sharers terrorists? They do threaten a core part of the free enterprise system.)

    link to this | view in thread ]

  2. identicon
    dee holland, 19 Jul 2003 @ 8:17am

    Internet violatons regarding burning CD's

    How in the world does whoever think we can all be sued from downloading music off the internet......appreciate your views.

    link to this | view in thread ]

  3. identicon
    Anonymous Coward, 20 Jul 2003 @ 6:04am

    No Subject Given

    Yet another reason for ISP not to maintain logs.

    link to this | view in thread ]

  4. identicon
    Chris, 21 Jul 2003 @ 5:34am

    Re: No Subject Given

    I think ISP's are required by law to maintain logs.

    link to this | view in thread ]

  5. identicon
    Anonymous Coward, 21 Jul 2003 @ 7:47am

    What about Canada / Mexico / Europe / rest of the

    Guess they can't stop file sharing anywhere outside the US, can they?

    link to this | view in thread ]

  6. identicon
    Oliver Wendell Jones, 21 Jul 2003 @ 8:13am

    Re: No Subject Given

    ISPs are not required to keep logs, but if someone asks them for their logs, they are not allowed to destroy the logs without providing the information. If they keep no logs, then they have no information to turn over.

    link to this | view in thread ]

  7. identicon
    CHIA GARCIA, 21 Jul 2003 @ 8:16am

    Re: No Subject Given

    Nope. No law that says they have to maintain logs. Otherwise Speakeasy users would be in a world of trouble for sharing their connections without installing special logging software.

    Also, this sort of thing is going to be more difficult for the RIAA to persue as file sharing networks become more sophisticated. Morphious and Kazaa already have tools to protect privacy and disabling certain "features" which made this all possible to begin with.

    link to this | view in thread ]


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