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Student's piracy claims not likely to keep information from RIAA

26 August 2007 19:27 by Rich "vurbal" Fiscus | 7 comments

A University of Tennessee student is attempting to quash an RIAA subpoena issued as part of the music industry's war against on-campus file-sharing. Doe #28 is taking a different tack than other defendants have, arguing that providing the information sought by the RIAA would violate his right to privacy under the Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act.

Doe #28's argument is that the information the RIAA is asking for qualifies as private as educational recods, and since he hasn't waived the right to keep those records private the university has no right to release the information to the RIAA or anyone else.

The problem with this approach actually seems fairly straght forward. Although educational records are generally considered private, the Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act does allow records to be released to comply with a judge's order or subpoena. In other words, unless the subpoena can be shown to be unlawful the school is required to release the information over.

The subpoena follows the same tactics record companies have used for other cases involving college students. That process gave all defendants in the case 15 days from the time they were served with the subpoena to file an objection. So far no other defendants have joined Doe #28 in his fight.

Source: Ars Technica

Permalink to this article

MPAA admits incorrectly estimating college piracy losses (23 January 2008)

Oregon Attorney General takes on RIAA over subpoena (6 November 2007)

Judge demands evidence from RIAA (14 September 2007)

Judge agrees with RIAA about distribution (28 August 2007)

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Discuss this article!
Unfocused (Member) 26 August 2007 22:02
I don't understand why more people don't try to fight this. Out of 33 people, only 1 has said "hey, there, wait just a minute..." [ + quote]
WierdName (Senior Member) 26 August 2007 22:43
*Quote:* ...there are a handful of exceptions, one of which is "to comply with a judicial order or lawfully issued subpoena." Theres the key word, "lawfully." Is it lawful to issue subpoenas at random? [ + quote]
the2twins (Inactive) 27 August 2007 2:57
omg so many students watch priate films now you can just watch em online on tha net websites lyk www.plentytostream.co.nr whole film links are on it ________________________________________________________________________ [ + quote]
themboots (Newbie) 27 August 2007 6:29
These lawsuits are frivolous and silly... what are they going to do once all the students switch to private and encrypted file sharing systems, an example being GigaTribe (www.gigatribe.com)? [ + quote]
c1c (Member) 27 August 2007 15:20
No one will fight it because they have implemented 'scare tactics' R1aa first goes after college campuses for easy targets. You cant go to the movie theatre without being 'scared' into illegal movie downloads. Funny they show posters and ads about pirating when people are at the movies. These are paying customers! Someone needs to start a new internet on new terms and new servers. Anyone up for servers in Antarctica? greed greed greed [ + quote]
DXR88 (Senior Member) 27 August 2007 18:07
What the RIAA is Doing right know is illeagle first off there out of there jurisdiction. they have No Right to a john doe suite. Only law Enforcement Or G-Men Can do that. Even if you bribed a G-man to put up a doe suite. the g-men are the people that have to fight this kid. what there doing is passing the law on to somebody that cant even pull there lazy ass out of there silk coverd bed in the morning. [ + quote]
borhan9 (AfterDawn Addict) 2 September 2007 13:48
I wish him all the best in his battle. But it seems that he is fighting a loosing battle in this case. [ + quote]