Recording Industry Triumphs Over Verizon in ISP/Copyright Case

ISPs may have lost a key battle to protect the privacy of their customers after a federal court judge ruled Tuesday that Verizon Online must disclose the identity of a customer who the Recording Industry Association of American alleges distributed more than 600 music files without the permission of the copyright holders.

U.S. District Court Judge John D. Bates granted the association’s motion to enforce a clerk-issued subpoena that ordered Verizon Online to disclose information about the identity of the Internet customer and terminate the person’s Internet connection.

Verizon’s subscriber allegedly used its network to download copyrighted songs through peer-to-peer software without the copyright holders’ authorization.

Verizon Communications Inc., which last summer refused to comply with the subpoena, says Tuesday’s ruling could threaten the privacy of customers based purely on allegations of copyright infringement.

The court’s decision “opens the door for anyone who makes a mere allegation of copyright infringement to gain complete access to private subscriber information without the due process afforded by the courts,” says Sarah B. Deutsch, vice president and associate general counsel of Verizon.

Verizon argued that it was not obligated to turn over the name of its customer because the music files were stored on an individual’s hard drive, as opposed to Verizon’s own network, and the Digital Millenium Copyright Act requires the carrier to reveal information under a clerk-issued subpoena only if the content sits on the ISP’s network.

Verizon, which plans to appeal Tuesday’s ruling, says the recording industry should have filed a lawsuit against the alleged lawbreaker and obtained a subpoena from a judge.

But Bates disagreed, ruling the subpoena authority of the Digital Millenium Copyright Act “applies to all service providers within the scope of the Act, including those like Verizon falling under subsection (a)” – “’an entity offering the transmission, routing or providing of connections for digital online communications.’”

The recording industry claims enormous losses due to copyright infringement through peer-to-peer file sharing and uses computer programs that can search the Internet for such activity. But the programs only can identify an IP address and the service provider, not the actual Internet subscriber distributing the unauthorized files from his or her hard drive.

“The illegal distribution of music on the Internet is a serious issue for musicians, songwriters and other copyright owners, and the record companies have made great strides in addressing this problem by educating consumers and providing them with legitimate alternatives,” says Cary Sherman, president of the RIAA. “Now that the court has ordered Verizon to live up to its obligation under the law, we look forward to contacting the account holder whose identity we were seeking so we can let them know that what they are doing is illegal.”

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