Verizon Users

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WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Recording companies won a victory in their fight
against online piracy on Tuesday when a U.S. court ordered Verizon
Communications (NYSE:VZ - news) to turn over the name of a customer
suspected of downloading more than 600 songs in one day over the Internet.

U.S. District Judge John Bates said Verizon must cooperate with recording
industry efforts to track down online song swappers, rejecting the
telecommunications giant's assertion that such a move would violate customer
privacy and turn it into an online copyright cop.

Verizon said it would appeal the decision.

The case could set an important precedent as the recording industry asks
schools, businesses and Internet providers to help them track down
individuals who they believe are cutting into CD sales by trading digital
songs through "peer to peer" services like Kazaa.

While the industry managed to shut down pioneer service Napster (news - web
sites) two years ago, others have sprung up in its place and have attracted
millions of users.

Under the 1998 Digital Millennium Copyright Act (news - web sites), Internet
providers have voluntarily shut down Web sites that contain infringing
material, but they have balked at requests to disconnect users who trade
songs with each other directly over peer-to-peer networks.

Recording-industry investigators, using automated software, have been able
to track down the numerical Internet addresses of file traders, but have not
been able to match those addresses with individual names.

Investigators asked Verizon last summer for the name of one customer
believed to have downloaded more than 600 songs in one day, but Verizon said
they would have to jump through a few more legal hoops because the alleged
infringer did not store the songs on Verizon servers but only used its wires
to transfer the material.

Bates rejected Verizon's argument, saying that "Verizon has provided no
sound reason why Congress would enable a copyright owner to obtain
identifying information from a service provider storing the infringing
material on its system, but would not enable a copyright owner to obtain
identifying information from a service provider transmitting the material
over its system."

JUDGE DOESN'T BUY IT

"It is unlikely, the Court concludes, that Congress would seek to protect
copyright owners in only some of the settings addressed in the DMCA, but not
others," Bates wrote.

Verizon Associate General Counsel Sarah Deutsch said the decision could
allow any copyright holder, not just major recording companies, to pry into
private communications if they believe their copyrights are being infringed.

"We're obviously disappointed in the decision, and we believe that this has
very troubling ramifications for consumers," Deutsch said.

A recording industry spokesman said the decision validated its efforts to
contact copyright pirates directly.

"Now that the court has ordered Verizon to live up to its obligation under
the law, we look forward to contacting the account holder whose identity we
were seeking so we can let them know that what they are doing is illegal,"
said Cary Sherman, president of the Recording Industry Association of
America (news - web sites).

Over the past several months the RIAA has sent out thousands of letters to
schools and businesses asking them to monitor their networks for
peer-to-peer use and implying that they could be held liable for infringing
activity.

The U.S. Naval Academy seized the computers of 100 students in November and
is investigating them for possible court martial after it determined they
downloaded copyrighted material.

The industry has also accused Internet providers of profiting from illegal
downloading. On Saturday, RIAA CEO Hilary Rosen suggested that Internet
providers should pay a fee to offset losses from file trading.

The RIAA represents the five largest recording companies: AOL Time Warner
(NYSE:AOL - news)'s Warner Music; Sony Corp (news - web sites).(6758.T)'s
Sony Music; Bertelsmann AG (news - web sites) (BERT.UL)'s BMG; Vivendi
Universal (NYSE:V - news)'s Universal Music Group; and EMI Group Plc (news -
web sites) (EMI.L).