[Commons-Law] Court tells RIAA to take subpoenas somewhere else

[Sunil Abraham]

Court tells RIAA to take subpoenas somewhere else
By Ashlee Vance in Chicago
Posted: 12/08/2003 at 17:21 GMT

http://www.theregister.co.uk/content/6/32303.html

The race is on between file-traders and the RIAA's lawyers to see who
can do more damage to the music labels' bottom line. 

As of Friday, the RIAA (Recording Industry Association of America) legal
team has captured a comfortable lead in this contest. A Massachusetts
court has sided with two universities, ruling that the RIAA cannot run a
centralized subpoena sweatshop from Washington D.C. and expect to attack
all 50 states. The court has called on the RIAA to file subpoenas
against file-traders in their respective jurisdictions. 

This ruling must sting the RIAA. The music label mob may well have to go
back and re-file thousands of subpoenas - a costly, time-consuming
process. 

"Today's ruling requires the recording industry to file subpoenas where
it alleges that copyright infringement occurs, rather than blanketing
the country from one court in D.C.," said Electronic Frontier Foundation
(EFF) Staff Attorney Wendy Seltzer, in a statement. "The court ruling
confirms that due process applies to Internet user privacy nationwide." 

MIT and Boston College had taken a stand against the RIAA, looking to
protect their students' privacy and make sure proper legal process was
being followed. This is a refreshing stance compared to other schools
such as Loyola University Chicago that were all too eager to hand over
their students' names. 

With more and more challenges popping up against them, the RIAA's
lawyers are starting to look about as competent as the organization's
hosting company. ®

-- 
Sunil Abraham, sunil at mahiti.org http://www.mahiti.org
MAHITI Infotech Pvt. Ltd.'Reducing the cost and complexity of ICTs'
314/1, 7th Cross, Domlur Bangalore - 560 071 Karnataka, INDIA
Ph/Fax: +91 80 4150580. Mobile: 98455 12611
"If you have an apple and I have an apple and we exchange apples 
then you and I will still each have one apple. 
But if you have an idea and I have one idea and we exchange these ideas,
then each of us will have two ideas" George B. Shaw