RIAA's Boston University Subpoena Quashed

NewYorkCountryLawyer writes "As first reported by p2pnet, the motion to quash the RIAA's subpoena seeking identities of Boston University students has been granted, at least for the moment. In a 52-page opinion (pdf) the Judge concluded that she could not decide whether or not to quash until she had seen the college's 'Terms of Service Agreement' for internet service. It was only then she could decide what 'expectation of privacy' the students had. She quashed the subpoena calling for the student identities, and told them they could go ahead with a subpoena just for the terms of service agreement. Interestingly the decision was issued on the very same day as the judge in Elektra v. Barker came to some of the same conclusions."

Comments

Getting Closer

[Hempy]

It looks like our Judges are finally getting a little closer to actually getting a clue when it comes to modern issues. If only we can convince them to pass a ruling to end these RIAA witch hunts we might be able to focus on some more important and pressing issues. Hey a guy can wish!

Won't hold forever

[Todd Knarr]

I'd note that I don't expect these roadblocks to the RIAA getting student's identities to hold forever. It simply isn't permissible in the US legal system to prevent a plaintiff with a legitimate claim from discovering the identity of the person they have that claim against. The best the students can hope for in the long run is to require the RIAA to prove that the IP address and client they have a record of did in fact commit copyright infringement. That's probably a significant hurdle, but if the RIAA clears it then the students will not be able to block discovery of their identities.

Re:Won't hold forever

[TheRealMindChild]

It simply isn't permissible in the US legal system to prevent a plaintiff with a legitimate claim from discovering the identity of the person they have that claim against.

That's just it! Prove to me you HAVE a legitimate claim, THEN you can have the name. Else, bringing up any bogus lawsuit would be easy means of finding anyone's identity.

Re:Won't hold forever

[evanbd]

I'd note that I don't expect these roadblocks to the RIAA getting student's identities to hold forever. It simply isn't permissible in the US legal system to prevent a plaintiff with a legitimate claim from discovering the identity of the person they have that claim against. The best the students can hope for in the long run is to require the RIAA to prove that the IP address and client they have a record of did in fact commit copyright infringement. That's probably a significant hurdle, but if the RIAA clears it then the students will not be able to block discovery of their identities.

So perhaps the courts should be requiring them to demonstrate the legitimateness of the claim first. Especially the highly-questionable joinder of unrelated cases solely for purposes of discovery, followed by dropping of the suit and re-filing individual suits.

Re:Won't hold forever

[NewYorkCountryLawyer]

That was an unusual situation; you shouldn't generalize from one trial. I believe that the RIAA is mostly going to get killed in the jury trials, and so does the RIAA believe that, or else there would have been more than just one jury trial in 30,000 cases over 4 1/2 years.

Here's the thing

[kilodelta]

Just change one's MAC address and you get a new IP address. And NIC's made for the past 10 years or so have allowed you to muck with the MAC address.