The music business has won one from the peer-to-peer file-swapping community: a federal judge ruled late July 26 that the Recording Industry Association of America can compel Cablevision to give up the identities of subscribers sued over copyright violations.
Federal judge Denny Chin ruled that the Bill of Rights' "implicit guarantee of anonymity" is not shield enough when it comes to copyright violations. "Such a person's identity," Chin wrote in his ruling, "is not protected from disclosure by the First Amendment."
But it doesn't necessarily mean the music or film industries can just go traipsing off exposing anonymous file-swappers at will. Nonprofit group Public Citizen attorney Paul Levy said the ruling at least showed Chin recognized First Amendment interests and tried to use a balancing test in making the ruling. He told reporters the Chin analysis ensures those filing copyright infringement must prove they have a real case and aren't just fishing for identities.
The RIAA has yet to comment on the Chin ruling, but the American Civil Liberties Union said the ruling is neither a victory nor a defeat. "The important part of the opinion," said ACLU attorney Adam Fine in a statement, "is that it emphasizes that accusations saying an individual is engaged in illegal speech don't mean the First Amendment provides no protections."
RIAA investigators had traced Internet addresses of forty P2Pers to Cablevision's network and the music industry trade group subpoenaed Cablevision – which offers broadband Internet as well as cable television services in New York, New Jersey, and Connecticut – prompting the company in February to turn over names of forty John Doe defendants, according to court papers.
