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Verizon Set Back Again in DMCA Subpoena Case

Posted by michael on from the relief-pitcher-needed dept.

NickV writes "Hope is getting direr for online privacy. The US District Court ruled today that Verizon must hand over the names of the two P2P downloaders. Hopefully Verizon can get a stay on the court order by the Court of Appeals. They have 14 days. Support the EFF! Without a serious lobbying group in DC, privacy will continue to be eroded."

2 of 350 comments (clear)

  1. Re:Look idiots by Shadow+Wrought · · Score: 5, Informative
    Your analogy is, however, incorrect. The difference is not that they both stole, the difference is in the process. The CEO of Enron was placed under house arrest through a judicial process. The subpoenas issued to Verizon were done so without a judicial process. That is the argument.

    The quote from verizon's counsel says it best, "It's virtually unprecedented in U.S. law that someone can use a form to find out your identity without any judicial process."

    --
    If brevity is the soul of wit, then how does one explain Twitter?
  2. Re:Why? by bitkid · · Score: 5, Informative

    The interesting thing about this case is that the RIAA walked up to Verizon and demanded the customers name. No subpoena, no court order. They claimed that the DMCA gives them the right to do so and that there is no court order necessary...

    So basicaly the cops need a court order, private lobyist groups don't. Somehow this doesn't sound right, does it? IANAL but I think the right thing(tm) to do would have been the RIAA suing John Doe and the court issuing a subpoena for Verizon. If the RIAA wins this case, then there will be a dangerous precedent for copyright holders to get customer data without any sort of oversight from courts.