McCain Promises Hearings on ISP Subpoenas

Senate Commerce, Science, and Transportation Committee chairman John McCain (R-Arizona) has promised to hold hearings on the part of the Digital Millenium Copyright Act that lets copyright holders subpoena the names of suspected violators from Internet service providers without going to a judge first, idg.net reported June 23.

McCain made his commitment after Sen. Sam Brownback (R-Kansas) pulled an amendment related to the DMCA subpoena power June 19, which was attached to a bill reauthorizing the Federal Trade Commission, idg.net said. That amendment would have made subpoena powers like the DMCA's void unless the targeted violator was involved in a pending lawsuit or other court action. 

As the DMCA subpoena power now stands, Verizon Online lost a lengthy-enough battle to keep the Recording Industry Association of America from forcing it to turn over the names of four peer-to-peer music file swappers. The RIAA argued the administrative subpoenas, as they are called, are good tools to help fight online music piracy, but Verizon and other critics argue the law makes it too easy for anyone claiming copyright holdings to get names, addresses, and phone numbers, idg.net said.