Verizon is appealing two federal district court rulings in favor of RIAA in its attempt to force the Internet company to turn over the identities of users who traded copyrighted music files over Verizon phone lines.
The amicus brief focuses on the constitutional and privacy issues at stake, claiming that the lower courts’ interpretation of the Digital Millennium Copyright Act—that a communications service provider acting as a “mere conduit” must comply with a subpoena to reveal information about a subscriber—threatens consumers’ privacy and fails to honor the constitutional right to free speech.
Oral arguments before the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit are scheduled for September 16.
Posted May 26, 2003.