ISPs Ignore RIAA's New P2P Ploy

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January 16, 2004
By Roy Mark

After an appeals court ruled that Internet service providers (ISPs) do not have to hand over names of suspected music pirates to the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA), ISPs are showing no interest in the RIAA's latest effort to enlist them in its fight against music piracy.

The RIAA now wants ISPs to notify its customers that are suspected of illegal downloading but not yet targeted for a lawsuit by the music industry.

"We would like to work with you to supplement our efforts by arranging for ISPs to notify their subscribers who are engaged in infringing activity that this conduct is illegal," the RIAA wrote to most of the nation's 50 largest ISPs in a Dec. 16 letter. "We are asking you to do this without providing us any identifying information about the subscriber."

Under the proposal, the RIAA would supply an identifying IP address of a suspected infringer to its ISP, which would then send a notice of infringement to the subscriber.

According to industry officials contacted by internetnews.com, not one ISP has agreed to cooperate with the music industry, which was dealt a major legal setback on Dec. 19 when an appeals court ruled the RIAA could not force ISPs to turn over the identities of alleged music pirates. The RIAA claimed it had subpoena power under the Digital Millennium Copyright Act (DMCA).

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