Accurate, Focused Research on Law, Technology and Knowledge Discovery Since 2002

Hearing on Music Downloading Addresses Scope of DMCA

Hearing Before the Committee on the Judiciary, United States Senate on “P****graphy, Technology, and Process: Problems and Solutions on Peer-to-Peer Networks.” September 9, 2003. [this site provides links to all available testimony]

  • In particular, see the testimony of William Barr, Exec. VP and General Counsel, Verizon Communications(who served as Attorney General of the United States in the George H. Bush administration), in which he responds to the RIAA file sharing subpoenas: “Verizon believes that the district court was wrong in concluding that Congress authorized such a broad and promiscuous subpoena procedure in the DMCA—but whatever the courts ultimately conclude on this issue—the subpoena power endorsed by the district court is not an effective remedy for copyright holders
    and has great costs in terms of personal privacy, constitutional rights of free expression and association, and the continued growth of the Internet.”

  • From the testimony of Cary Sherman, President and General Counsel, RIAA: “Under a DMCA information subpoena, a copyright owner can only receive information that is necessary to identify and contact the alleged infringer – a name, address, phone number, and e-mail. More importantly, the copyright owner is statutorily limited to using that information exclusively for purposes of enforcing their copyright.”
  • See also Verizon, RIAA Trade Jabs at Senate Hearing
  • Sorry, comments are closed for this post.