[Ecommerce] U.S. Sides with Record Labels in Internet Case

[James Love]

http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story2&cid=575&ncid=738&e=8&u=/nm/20030419/wr_nm/tech_copyright_dc

U.S. Sides with Record Labels in Internet Case
Fri Apr 18, 9:21 PM ET

By Andy Sullivan

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The U.S. government sided with the recording
industry in its dispute with Verizon Communications Inc. on Friday, saying
a digital-copyright law invoked by record labels to track down Internet
song-swappers did not violate the U.S. Constitution.



The move, while expected, came as a blow to the Internet provider as it
struggles to shield its customers.


"We would have expected they would have recognized there are important
privacy and safety issues beyond the narrow copyright claims here,"
Verizon Vice President Sarah Deutsch, who is also associate general
counsel, told Reuters.


Verizon, and a recording-industry trade group have been in court since
September, arguing over whether Verizon should be forced to help crack
down on the online song-swapping that record labels blame for a decline in
CD sales.


The Recording Industry Association of America (news - web sites) says
Verizon is required under law to help its members protect their
copyrights. Verizon says it is willing to help, but that the law only
applies to Web pages stored on its computers, not the "peer to peer"
networks like Kazaa that merely travel across its wires.


A district court sided with the recording industry in January. Verizon
appealed the decision, and is arguing that the names of suspected
copyright violators should not be revealed in the meantime.


Verizon argues that the law in question, the 1998 Digital Millennium
Copyright Act (news - web sites), known as the DMCA, violates free-speech
and due-process rights protected by the U.S. Constitution.


In a filing with the U.S. District Court in Washington, the Department of
Justice (news - web sites) said the law is not unconstitutional. The
Justice Department (news - web sites) is required to weigh in on cases
where constitutional issues are raised.


Deutsch said she was disappointed that the Justice Department would take
such a stand, as stalkers and other criminals could conceivably use the
law to track down victims.


RIAA WELCOMES RULING


"The government's filing today supports the proposition that we have long
advocated: copyright owners have a clear and unambiguous entitlement to
determine who is infringing their copyrights online and that entitlement
is constitutional," said Matt Oppenheimer, Senior Vice President for
Business and Legal Affairs at the RIAA.


"Verizon's persistent efforts to protect copy thieves on pirate
peer-to-peer networks will not succeed," he told Reuters.


Justice said the law did not violate the free-speech rights of everyday
users because it is only targeted at those who violate copyrights.


"It is manifest that the DMCA's subpoena provision targets the identity of
alleged copyright infringers, not spoken words or conduct commonly
associated with expression," Justice said.


Justice also said that the law did not violate due-process protections
because nothing in the Constitution specifically barred the investigative
process set up by the DMCA, which requires record labels to get approval
from a court clerk before asking Verizon or other Internet providers to
surrender customer names.


Verizon argues that record labels should be required to get permission
from a judge, rather than a clerk, a move that would add another legal
hurdle to any copyright investigation.


Verizon says such a move is necessary to protect user privacy because
otherwise any copyright holder -- or anybody claiming to be a copyright
holder -- could easily obtain the name and address of any Internet user.