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Jul 18 2003

RIAA snatches approval of 871 subpoenas and counting

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The music industry has won at least 871 federal subpoenas against computer users suspected of

illegally sharing music files on the Internet, with roughly 75 new subpoenas being approved each

day, U.S. court officials said Friday.

The effort represents early steps in the music industry’s contentious plan to file civil suits

aimed at crippling online piracy.

Subpoenas reviewed by The Associated Press show the industry compelling some of the largest

Internet providers, such as Verizon Communications Inc. and Comcast Cable Communications Inc. as

well as some universities to identify names and mailing addresses for users on their networks,

known online by nicknames such as “fox3j,” “soccerdog33,” “clover77″ or “indepunk74.”

The Recording Industry Association of America has said it expects to file at least several hundred

lawsuits seeking financial damages within eight weeks. U.S. copyright laws allow for damages of

$750 to $150,000 for each song offered illegally on a person’s computer, but the RIAA has said it

would be open to settlement deals from defendants.

The campaign comes just weeks after U.S. appeals court rulings requiring Internet providers to

identify subscribers suspected of illegally sharing music and movie files. The 1998 Digital

Millennium Copyright Act permits music companies to force Internet providers to turn over the

names of suspected music pirates upon subpoena from any U.S. District Court clerk’s office,

without a judge’s signature required.

In some cases, subpoenas cite as few as five songs as “representative recordings” of music files

available for downloading from these users. The trade group for the largest music labels, the

Washington-based RIAA, had indicated its lawyers would target Internet users who offer substantial

collections of MP3 song files but declined to say how many songs might qualify for a suit.

“We would have to look at historic trends, but that is a very high number,” said Alan Davidson of

the Center for Democracy and Technology, a civil liberties group. “It doesn’t sound like they’re

just going after a few big fish.”

Music fans are fighting back with technology, using new software designed to stymie monitoring of

their online activities by the major record labels.

A new version of “Kazaa Lite,” free software that provides access to the service operated by

Sharman Networks Ltd., can prevent anyone from listing all music files on an individual’s machine

and purports to block scans from Internet addresses believed to be associated with the RIAA.

The RIAA declined to comment on the number of subpoenas.

A spokeswoman for the Administrative Office of the U.S. Courts said the clerk’s office in

Washington was “functioning more like a clearing house, issuing subpoenas for all over the

country.” Civil suits would likely be transferred to another jurisdiction, spokeswoman Karen

Redmond said.


Verizon, which has fought the RIAA over the subpoenas with continued legal appeals, said it

received at least 150 subpoenas during the last two weeks.

DePaul University in Chicago was among the few colleges that received such subpoenas; the RIAA

asked DePaul on July 2 to track down a user known as “anon39023,” who was allegedly offering at

least eight songs.

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