File Sharers Win More Protection

edited October 2004 in Science & Tech
Alleged file sharers must be given a notice explaining their legal rights before their internet service provider hands over any personal information to the music labels, a Pennsylvania judge ruled, making it still harder for the music industry to use the courts to intimidate people suspected of piracy.
Privacy advocates called the Oct. 12 order by U.S. District Judge Cynthia Rufe a positive step in protecting the privacy and due process rights of accused copyright infringers. The Recording Industry Association of America has filed thousands of so-called "John Doe" lawsuits, where the industry's trade association sues people based on their internet protocol addresses without knowing their names. The RIAA must first obtain an order from a judge to subpoena the internet service providers for the name of the defendant. With Rufe's order, now ISPs in the Eastern District of Pennsylvania must provide a detailed notice to their customer advising them of their rights, before they hand over their customers' names to the music companies' lawyers. "It's another step in the evolution of protections for people who are accused by the record labels of file sharing, but may have a defense and may want to protect their anonymity," said Wendy Seltzer, an attorney with the Electronic Frontier Foundation, an organization that filed a friend-of-the-court brief in the case. "It puts some procedural safeguards into the process."
Source: Wired
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