The Center for Internet and Society at Stanford Law School is a leader in the study of the law and policy around the Internet and other emerging technologies.

RIAA renews suits, using John Doe approach

By Stanford Center for Internet and Society on January 21, 2004 at 3:08 PM

Already being reported pretty much everywhere, the RIAA announced 532 new lawsuits against file-sharers. Notable because this time, rather than seeking subpoenas under DMCA without filing an actual lawsuit, the RIAA is filing "John Doe" lawsuits, then using the administrative subpoena power to get identities from ISPs. The admin. subpoena process is highly imperfect -- see the CyberSLAPP cases -- but it's better than the zero protections afforded by DMCA.

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