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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Comments on “Music Industry Wins Approval Of 871 Subpoenas Against Internet Users”

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7 Comments
Bob Bechtel says:

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.)

CHIA GARCIA says:

Re: 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.

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