Once again Judge John D. Bates (United States District Court for the District of Columbia) has ruled (55 page pdf) that Verizon Internet Services must reveal, within fourteen days, the name of an anonymous customer accused of using a peer-to-peer file sharing application (KaZaA) to pirate copyrighted songs. The judge’s earlier ruling of January 21 also ordered Verizon to release the customer data, but the company sought a stay and continued to battle the RIAA, who contended the DMCA allowed them to subpoena customer data from ISPs based soley upon on an allegation of copyright infringement.
Verizon’s senior vice president and deputy general counsel, John Thorne, stated in this press release, “We look to the Court of Appeals to decide this case in a narrow manner that avoids a chilling effect on Internet users’ private communications, such as e-mail, instant messages or surfing the Internet.”
Cary Sherman, President of the Recording Industry Association of America, stated, “A federal district court has again affirmed that the law which provides copyright holders with a process to identify infringers is both Constitutional and appropriate.”
See the Center for Democracy & Technology statement on the decision here, and the response from the Electronic Frontier Foundation here.