Rich Fiscus
20 Nov 2007 11:27
The RIAA's power to issue subpoenas identifying college students in file sharing cases may have been dealt a major setback when a Federal judge ruled that the Cable Communications Policy Act (CCPA), which RIAA lawyers rely on to subpoena network user identities, doesn't apply to universities.
Now Judge Kollar-Kotelly in Washington D.C. has ordered RIAA lawyers to explain why subpoenas gotten under the authority of the CCPA shouldn't be thrown out. The order comes after one of the George Washington University students the RIAA is suing filed a motion arguing that there is no law that authorizes the type of subpoenas used by the RIAA.
While the judge who made the original ruling suggested that the DMCA might be another option for suits against students, but since the universities don't qualify as content providers for purposes of DMCA takedown requests, they don't carry any legal liability under that law, and can't be issued takedown requests for P2P traffic moving through their networks.
Source: Ars Technica