RIAA Secretly Tries to Get ISP Subscriber Info

NewYorkCountryLawyer writes "In an attempt to change the rules of the game, the RIAA secretly went to a federal district court in Denver with an ex parte application. The goal was to get the judge to rule that the federal Cable Communications Policy Act does not apply to the RIAA's attempts to get subscriber information (pdf) from cable companies. Just to clarify, ex parte means that the application was secret, no one else — neither the ISP nor the subscribers — were given notice that this was going on. They were, in effect, asking the Court to rule that the RIAA does not need to get a court order to be able to force an ISP to disclose confidential subscriber information. The Magistrate Judge declined to rule on the issue (pdf), but did give them the ex parte discovery order they were looking for."

Comments

Re:Monkey see monkey do

[iminplaya]

I'm afraid it is very relevant. We should not allow these abuses, period. The gov't does it, and now others are starting to follow suit. That is very applicable to our present condition. It basically amounts to us granting them too much power and all too willingly. I'm am pointing out that it's a claasic example of abuse of power. It's not a Bush thing. Unlike you people, I'm way beyond Bush. You're making an erroneous assumption. I'm not so flighty to go around yelling that someone so insigificant like Bush is evil incarnate and is controlling our minds. You are simply choosing to remain distracted away from the real problem.

Remember when someone stuck photos of

[Lambchops3]

Don Rumsfield's house up on the net? While I did not agree with doing that to him....would it be appropriate to do with various RIAA officials? These are the cockroaches that scurry away when someone turns on the light. Well, maybe that is a bit over the top.

Re:Ex parte? Big deal

[fair_n_hite_451]

Mod me troll if you want, but I don't see this as being "un-American" in the slightest. Sneaky - check.
Unfair - check.

Un-American when your executive branch engages in this kind of behaviour on a daily basis, then sees their way clear to lying in public about it when they get cound out? That seems to me to make this about as American as you can get.

It's a sad but true commentary on the state of the nation that what was once held up as a utopian ideal (that of "The American Way") has become so corrupted and broken that it now means the exact opposite of what was intended.