Monday, December 22, 2003

The Recording industry can no longer sue its customers:
The recording industry can't force Internet providers to identify music downloaders, a federal appeals court said Friday in a major decision shielding online privacy while undercutting the industry's anti-piracy campaign.
The ruling does not legalize distributing copyrighted songs over the Internet, but it will greatly increase the cost and effort for the Washington-based Recording Industry Association of America to track such activity and sue those who are swapping music online
"Consumers' rights cannot be trampled upon in the quest to enforce your copyright," Deutsch [a Verizon company lawyer] said.
(from Associated Press, via The New York Times).

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