The RIAA has told reporters that its plans to sue individuals trading on peer-to-peer networks have been accelerated. Because of the ease of identifying IP addresses of users primarily on the Kazaa/FastTrack networks, and the addition of staff committed to the project, the RIAA has indicated it plans to increase the current number of subpoena requests from 75 per week to 300 per week. [ZD-Net UK]
The bar has been lowered on what triggers an RIAA subpoena. Formerly, users sharing large numbers of songs were to be targeted, but now users trading just a handful of songs are also within range of a subpoena request.
To date, the circuit court serving as a clearinghouse for RIAA subpoena requests reports the total number at over 900 and counting.
The ISP’s receiving the most subpoena requests are:
Comcast Cable (formerly AT&T Broadband)
Road Runner
Verizon Communications
Earthlink
AOL
It it interesting that only a handful of DSL service providers are among the initial batch – most are going to cable modem service providers as well as colleges and universities. The primary exception is Verizon. A significant number of subpoenas are for users on the east coast, which leads to speculation the RIAA is connection to Kazaa from the east coast, relying on nearby supernodes for connections.
Users are warned that relying on IP blocking software such as Peer Guardian is not sufficient protection. It is likely the RIAA is working with new IP address ranges for this project, in order to target heavy users. The IP addresses are probably masked as well, not clearly identifying the possible source as the RIAA.
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- RIAA Quickie Subpoenas Shot Down by Judge
- Senate committee to address ISP subpoenas
- RIAA to Charter: Give up file-swapper names
- Verizon user’s arguments already defeated in court, RIAA states
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