RIAA trounced in PA
p2pnet.net News:- The Big Music cartel demanded that a district court in eastern Pennsylvania issue subpoenas to ISPs to force them to reveal the names and addresses of people accused of sharing music online without the cartel’s permission.
However, ruled judge Cynthia M. Rufe, the ISPs must first send their customers detailed notices about the subpoenas, including information about how the accused people can contest the subpoenas.
“The court held that before the ISPs turn over these names, they must send notices to the individuals advising them of their rights,” says the EFF (Electronic Frontier Foundation). “This allows a targeted individual to make an intelligent decision about what steps to take before his or her identity is disclosed.”
Judge Rufe, “required the recording industry to meet the same standards of proof that are required when other plaintiffs seek to identify anonymous Internet users,” said Public Citizen attorney Paul Levy. “We can only hope that judges throughout the country will follow this example.”
The EFF, Public Citizen, the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) and the ACLU’s Pennsylvania affiliate, “participated in the case as friends of the court,” says the EFF.
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See:-
contest – Court Orders New Protections for People Targeted by RIAA, EFF, October 27, 2004
October 28th, 2004 at 10:22 pm
While I agree, this is a good step…….. The fundamentals of ‘fair use’ really should be finalized before any more lawsuits can be allowed.
Is the Betamax case relative to digital media or only media copied onto ‘betamax’ video tapes. Because frankly, last I looked I can still record a movie with my vcr and GIVE that copy to anyone I want – legally…. and to as many people I want – be that one person or 50,000.
_-Jile-_