Nice to see that ISPs are on customers side...

Red Squirrel · Post by **Red Squirrel** » Tue Oct 14, 2003 9:07 pm

With the RIAA being Aholes with the privacy threats and all, it seems ISPs are starting to refuse or make it harder for them to get the information, and usually notify the customers simply to let them know they are being tracked down.

CNET news

The Recording Industry Association of America is pressing a federal court to ignore cable Internet provider Charter Communications' attempt to keep private the names of 93 subscribers who allegedly traded songs online illegally.

On Friday, the trade organization filed a court memorandum opposing Charter's "motion to quash" a subpoena request for the names. The RIAA charges that Charter is unlawfully withholding the identities of its high-speed Internet subscribers who, it says, disseminated more than 100,000 copyrighted songs in peer-to-peer communities like Kazaa without the permission of rights holders.

Among other arguments, the RIAA is denying claims by Charter that it has not filed proper documentation to receive the detailed information on alleged infringers, including their names, addresses, phone numbers and e-mail addresses.

"Charter...has the IP addresses of the 93 infringers, a subpoena validly issued...a declaration complying with all of the (Digital Millennium Copyright Act) requirements, and notices listing copyrighted works illegally disseminated by each infringer," the filing says. "Charter claims instead that the DMCA requires RIAA to fill out 93 different subpoena forms that will differ only as to the IP address (for each infringer)...Charter's goal is transparent--to increase the paperwork burden on copyright holders."

The memorandum, submitted to the U.S. Eastern District Court in St. Louis, was filed a week after Charter motioned to quash a subpoena for the names. In doing so, Charter became the first cable company to fight the RIAA in its campaign to target peer-to-peer song swappers with lawsuits. Telecommunications companies, such as Verizon Communications, have taken similar measures against the RIAA without success.

A representative from Charter said that the company had not received the filing as of early Tuesday so it could not comment on it. But the company reaffirmed its commitment to protecting the identities of subscribers in accordance with its privacy policy.

"It's all about protecting the interests of our customers and our business," said Anita Lamont, Charter spokeswoman. "Our intent has never been not to comply with the law. We think we owe it to our customers to take it as far as can be."

In one slight discrepancy with the RIAA, Charter said the recording association has requested the names of 150 subscribers, not 93. Lamont said that the company has notified these 150 that the RIAA is seeking their names.

This summer, the RIAA filed 261 lawsuits against individuals that it claimed had violated copyrights belonging to its member companies. Those individuals' identities were obtained through subpoenas sent to Internet service providers and cable Internet suppliers.

Archived topic from Iceteks, old topic ID:1463, old post ID:12440

Chris Vogel · Post by **Chris Vogel** » Tue Oct 14, 2003 9:34 pm

Yes, it's good that some ISPs are on the customer's side like they should be...

How can I find out what Earthlink's policies are?

Archived topic from Iceteks, old topic ID:1463, old post ID:12442

Red Squirrel · Post by **Red Squirrel** » Tue Oct 14, 2003 9:47 pm

takahita_tsukino wrote: Yes, it's good that some ISPs are on the customer's side like they should be...

How can I find out what Earthlink's policies are?

Not sure, maybe contact them. That's probably the best thing to do.

Archived topic from Iceteks, old topic ID:1463, old post ID:12444

fishyfool · Post by **fishyfool** » Wed Oct 15, 2003 12:37 am

i only make a small portion of my mp3's available when i'm on p2p.
never more that a couple of hundred or so.
thats the way i've done it since the napster days.
although i did get banned from napster towards the end

Archived topic from Iceteks, old topic ID:1463, old post ID:12461

rovingcowboy · Post by **rovingcowboy** » Tue Oct 21, 2003 2:02 am

so this is what leo was saying on the screensavers the other week. i did not hear all of what he said.

but how many think that charter cable has the muscle to fight the Riaa?

Ok now how many know that charter cable is owned by the expartner of bill gates and that he has just as much money as bill gates?

his name is Paul Allen i think he has the money and time to fight out a long court battle on this one and i believe he is correct in doing it, because the Riaa is a heavy handed monopoley and should be investigated by the anti trust commity.

Go Allen.

Archived topic from Iceteks, old topic ID:1463, old post ID:12653

manadren_it · Post by **manadren_it** » Tue Oct 21, 2003 3:39 pm

A good thing indeed. Personally I think it's crazy that the DMCA allows the RIAA to go around supeonaing the private information of subscribers willy nilly like that. Anypne else would have to prove harm has been done before they could do that.

hmmm. But think about that for a minute. So does that mean I could go a round to different ISPs and get the personal information of random people - hey maybe even RIAA execs - just by saying they stole some image I created or some bit of text I wrote? I mean thanks to the DMCA I really don't have to prove it, do I? Let the circus begin!!!

Archived topic from Iceteks, old topic ID:1463, old post ID:12663

Red Squirrel · Post by **Red Squirrel** » Tue Oct 21, 2003 3:57 pm

Yep, it's scarrry. Anyone can get any info on anyone because of the RIAA. Heck, if someone registers the domain riaaa.com or someting and emails using that domain they can say they ARE the riaa.

Archived topic from Iceteks, old topic ID:1463, old post ID:12667