RIAA Wins case against Verizon

RIAA Wins case against Verizon
Kazaa user to be identified… gulp
So that’s it then. I believe all of our rights have now been violated. Thank you, greedy whoremongers of the RIAA!

Source: The Hollywood Reporter

Judge to Verizon: ID alleged pirate

Jan. 22, 2003

WASHINGTON — A federal judge Tuesday ordered the nation’s largest phone company to identify one of its customers who is allegedly trading thousands of copyrighted songs over the Internet. The decision in the closely watched case that pits the RIAA against Verizon Communications Corp. upholds a key provision in the Digital Millennium Copyright Act. The provision allows copyright holders an expedited way to subpoena Internet companies for the names of alleged copyright infringers. Under the DMCA, Internet services are required to turn over the names of copyright infringers but are held blameless for copyright piracy if they are operating as a “pure conduit.” Verizon claimed that it did not have to give the RIAA the name because piracy on peer-to-peer systems occurs on customers’ own computers, not their network. U.S. District Judge John Bates said Verizon’s argument was nonsensical. “Verizon’s construction thus makes little sense from a policy standpoint,” Bates wrote. “Verizon has provided no sound reason why Congress would enable a copyright owner to obtain identifying information from a service provider storing the infringing material on its system but would not enable a copyright owner to obtain identifying information from a service provider transmitting the material over its system.”