p2pnet - rss feed: EFF ‘friends of court’ brief:
The RIAA is trying to use ISP Charter Communications to nullify the recent Verizon decision which blocks it from using DMCA instant subpoenas to get the identifies of p2p file swappers, says the EFF (Electronic Frontier Foundation).
Last year, in its in its sue ‘em all anti-p2p campaign, the RIAA began victimizing people it accused of illegally downloading music owned by the major labels. It used subpoenas issued by a court clerk rather than a judge or magistrate and demanded that Verizon Online turn over the name of a customer the RIAA claimed had illegal copies of copyrighted music files.
The US Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia in effect decided that since file sharing wasn’t an issue when the 1998 DMCA (Digital Millenium Copyright Act) came into force and therefore isn’t covered under it, the Act could hardly apply.
In September last year, the RIAA demanded that St Louis-based Charter Communications supply the IDs of customers the Big Five record labels claimed had infringed their copyrights. Charter refused to oblige.
Now the EFF, together with 21 other groups, has filed a ‘friend of the court’ brief urging that the "same strong protections that apply for anonymous speech in other contexts also apply for claims of copyright infringement".
The RIAA, "wants to use the Charter case to erase the D.C. court’s Verizon decision and set back Internet users’ privacy," says EFF lgal drector Cindy Cohn.
The groups that have signed on to the consumer privacy amicus brief are:
Alliance for Public Technology; American Association of Law Libraries; American Civil Liberties Union; American Civil Liberties Union of Eastern Missouri; American Legislative Exchange Council; American Library Association; Association of Research Libraries; CSE Freedom Works Foundation; Computer & Communications Industry Association; Consumer Action; Consumer Federation of America; Digital Future Coalition; Electronic Frontier Foundation; Electronic Frontiers Georgia; National Coalition Against Domestic Violence; Pacific Research Institute; Public Knowledge; PrivacyActivism; Privacy Rights Clearinghouse; US Internet Industry Association; Utility Consumers Action Network; and, WiredSafety.org
