FC: Ted Bridis on RIAA music subpoenas targeting parents, grandparents

[Declan McCullagh <declan () well com>]

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From: "Ted Bridis" <tbridis () ap org>
To: <declan () well com>
Subject: "Music-Sharing Subpoenas Target Parents"
Date: Thu, 24 Jul 2003 07:35:10 -0400
Organization: The Associated Press

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A38406-2003Jul24.html

By TED BRIDIS
AP Technology Writer

WASHINGTON - Parents, roommates - even grandparents - are being targeted in
the music industry's new campaign to track computer users who share songs
over the Internet, bringing the threat of expensive lawsuits to more than
college kids.

"Within five minutes, if I can get hold of her, this will come to an end,"
said Gordon Pate of Dana Point, Calif., when told by The Associated Press
that a federal subpeona had been issued over his daughter's music downloads.
The subpoena required the family's Internet provider to hand over Pate's
name and address to lawyers for the recording industry.

Pate, 67, confirmed that his 23-year-old daughter, Leah Pate, had installed
file-sharing software using an account cited on the subpoena. But he said
his daughter would stop immediately and the family didn't know using such
software could result in a stern warning, expensive lawsuit or even criminal
prosecution.

"There's no way either us or our daughter would do anything we knew to be
illegal," Pate said, promising to remove the software quickly. "I don't
think anybody knew this was illegal, just a way to get some music."

The president of the Recording Industry Association of America, the trade
group for the largest music labels, warned that lawyers will pursue
downloaders regardless of personal circumstances because it would deter
other Internet users.

"The idea really is not to be selective, to let people know that if they're
offering a substantial number of files for others to copy, they are at
risk," Cary Sherman said. "It doesn't matter who they are."

Over the coming months this may be the Internet's equivalent of shock and
awe, the stunning discovery by music fans across America that copyright
lawyers can pierce the presumed anonymity of file-sharing, even for computer
users hiding behind clever nicknames such as "hottdude0587" or
"bluemonkey13."

In Charleston, W.Va., college student Amy Boggs said she quickly deleted
more than 1,400 music files on her computer after the AP told her she was
the target of another subpoena. Boggs said she sometimes downloaded dozens
of songs on any given day, including ones by Fleetwood Mac, Blondie, Incubus
and Busta Rhymes.

Since Boggs used her roommates' Internet account, the roommates' name and
address was being turned over to music industry lawyers.

"This scares me so bad I never want to download anything again," said Boggs,
who turned 22 on Thursday. "I never thought this would happen. There are
millions of people out there doing this."

In homes where parents or grandparents may not closely monitor the family's
Internet use, news could be especially surprising. A defendant's liability
can depend on their age and whether anyone else knew about the music
downloads.

Bob Barnes, a 50-year-old grandfather in Fresno, Calif., and the target of
another subpeona, acknowledged sharing "several hundred" music files. He
said he used the Internet to download hard-to-find recordings of European
artists because he was unsatisfied with modern American artists and grew
tired of buying CDs without the chance to listen to them first.

"If you don't like it, you can't take it back," said Barnes, who runs a
small video production company with his wife from their three-bedroom home.
"You have all your little blonde, blue-eyed clones. There's no originality."


Citing on its subpoenas the numeric Internet addresses of music downloaders,
the RIAA has said it can only track users by comparing those addresses
against subscriber records held by Internet providers. But the AP used those
addresses and other details culled from subpoenas and was able to identify
and locate some Internet users who are among the music industry's earliest
targets.

Pate was wavering whether to call the RIAA to negotiate a settlement.
"Should I call a lawyer?" he wondered.

The RIAA's president wasn't sure what advice to offer because he never
imagined downloaders could be identified by name until Internet providers
turned over subscriber records.

"It's not a scenario we had truthfully envisaged," Sherman said. "If
somebody wants to settle before a lawsuit is filed it would be fine to call
us, but it's really not clear how we're going to perceive this."

The RIAA has issued at least 911 subpoenas so far, according to court
records. Lawyers have said they expect to file at least several hundred
lawsuits within eight weeks, and copyright laws allow for damages of $750 to
$150,000 for each song.

The AP tracked targets of subpoenas to neighborhoods in Boston; Chicago; St.
Louis; San Francisco; New York and Ann Arbor, Mich.

Outside legal experts urged the music industry to carefully select targets
for its earliest lawsuits. Several lawyers said they were doubtful the RIAA
ultimately will choose to sue computer users like the Pate family.

"If they end up picking on individuals who are perceived to be grandmothers
or junior high students who have only downloaded in isolated incidents, they
run the risk of a backlash," said Christopher Caldwell, a lawyer in Los
Angeles who works with major studios and the Motion Picture Association of
America.

The recording industry said Pate's daughter was offering songs by Billy
Idol, Missy Elliot, Duran Duran, Def Leppard and other artists. Pate said
that he never personally downloaded music and that he so zealously respects
copyrights that he doesn't videotape movies off cable television channels.

Barnes, who used the Napster (news - web sites) service until the music
industry shut it down, said he rarely uses file-sharing software these days
unless his grandson visits. The RIAA found songs on his computer by Marvin
Gaye, Savage Garden, Berlin, the Eagles, Dire Straits and others.

Barnes expressed some concern about a possible lawsuit but was confident
that "more likely they will probably come out with a cease and desist order"
to stop him sharing music files on the Internet.

"I think they're trying to scare people," Barnes said.
___

On the Net:
Recording Industry Association of America: www.riaa.org
Subpoena Defense: www.subpoenadefense.org

---

From: "Ted Bridis" <tbridis () ap org>
To: <declan () well com>
Subject: RIAA
Date: Fri, 18 Jul 2003 17:26:32 -0400
Organization: The Associated Press

http://www.latimes.com/technology/ats-ap_technology13jul18,1,4230187.story?coll=sns-ap-toptechnology

Music Industry Wins Approval of Subpoenas
By TED BRIDIS
AP Technology Writer

WASHINGTON -- The music industry has won at least 871 federal subpoenas
against computer users suspected of illegally sharing music files on the
Internet, with roughly 75 new subpoenas being approved each day, U.S. court
officials said Friday.

The effort represents early steps in the music industry's contentious plan
to file civil lawsuits aimed at crippling online piracy.

Subpoenas reviewed by The Associated Press show the industry compelling some
of the largest Internet providers, such as Verizon Communications Inc. and
Comcast Cable Communications Inc., and some universities to identify names
and mailing addresses for users on their networks known online by nicknames
such as "fox3j," "soccerdog33," "clover77" or "indepunk74."

The Recording Industry Association of America has said it expects to file at
least several hundred lawsuits seeking financial damages within the next
eight weeks. U.S. copyright laws allow for damages of $750 to $150,000 for
each song offered illegally on a person's computer, but the RIAA has said it
would be open to settlement proposals from defendants.

The campaign comes just weeks after U.S. appeals court rulings requiring
Internet providers to readily identify subscribers suspected of illegally
sharing music and movie files. The 1998 Digital Millennium Copyright Act
permits music companies to force Internet providers to turn over the names
of suspected music pirates upon subpoena from any U.S. District Court
clerk's office, without a judge's signature required.

In some cases, subpoenas cite as few as five songs as "representative
recordings" of music files available for downloading from these users. The
trade group for the largest music labels, the Washington-based RIAA,
previously indicated its lawyers would target Internet users who offer
substantial collections of MP3 song files but declined to say how many songs
might qualify for a lawsuit.

"We would have to look at historic trends, but that is a very high number,"
said Alan Davidson of the Center for Democracy and Technology, a civil
liberties group that has argued against the subpoenas. "It doesn't sound
like they're just going after a few big fish."

Music fans are fighting back with technology, using new software designed
specifically to stymie monitoring of their online activities by the major
record labels.

A new version of "Kazaa Lite," free software that provides access to the
service operated by Sharman Networks Ltd., can prevent anyone from listing
all music files on an individual's machine and purports to block scans from
Internet addresses believed to be associated with the RIAA.

Many of the subpoenas reviewed by the AP identified songs from the same few
artists, including Avril Lavigne, Snoop Dogg and Michael Jackson. It was
impossible to determine whether industry lawyers were searching the Internet
specifically for songs by these artists or whether they were commonly
popular among the roughly 60 million users of file-sharing services.

The RIAA's subpoenas are so prolific that the U.S. District Court in
Washington, already suffering staff shortages, has been forced to reassign
employees from elsewhere in the clerk's office to help process paperwork,
said Angela Caesar-Mobley, the clerk's operations manager.

The RIAA declined to comment on the numbers of subpoenas it issued.

"We are identifying substantial infringers and we're going to whatever
entity is providing (Internet) service for that potential infringer," said
Matt Oppenheim, the group's senior vice president of business and legal
affairs. "From there we'll be in a position to begin bringing lawsuits."

A spokeswoman for the Administrative Office of the U.S. Courts said the
clerk's office here was "functioning more like a clearing house, issuing
subpoenas for all over the country." Any civil lawsuits would likely be
transferred to a different jurisdiction, spokeswoman Karen Redmond said.

Verizon, which has fought the RIAA over the subpoenas with continued legal
appeals, said it received at least 150 subpoenas during the last two weeks.
There were no subpoenas on file sent to AOL Time Warner Inc., the nation's
largest Internet provider and also parent company of Warner Music Group.
Earthlink Inc., another of the largest Internet providers, said it has
received only three new subpoenas.

Depaul University in Chicago was among the few colleges that received such
subpoenas; the RIAA asked Depaul on July 2 to track down a user known as
"anon39023" who was allegedly offering at least eight songs.

There was some evidence the threat of an expensive lawsuit was discouraging
online music sharing. Nielsen NetRatings, which monitors Internet usage,
earlier this week reported a decline for traffic on the Kazaa network of one
million users, with similarly large drops across other services.




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