sharedholder
07-31-2003, 07:25 AM
Pac Bell Internet Arm Sues Music Industry
Pac Bell's Internet Service Provider Sues Music Industry Over File-Sharer IDs
SAN FRANCISCO July 31 —
A California-based Internet service provider jumped into the contentious music-downloading fray late Wednesday, filing a lawsuit against the recording industry and questioning the constitutionality of the industry's effort to track down online music sharers.
Pacific Bell Internet Services, based in San Francisco, is seeking a declaration that the subpoenas served against it by the Recording Industry Association of America are overly broad in scope and should have been issued from a California district court, not the District of Columbia. The complaint also seeks a jury trial to have the constitutional issues addressed.
In the complaint, PBIS maintains it only acts as a "passive conduit" for the activity of its subscribers and "does not initiate or direct the transmission of those files and has no control over their content or destination."
A RIAA spokesman called the lawsuit an attempt at "procedural gamesmanship" and insisted that Internet service providers must reveal the identities of online copyright infringers.
Pac Bell's Internet Service Provider Sues Music Industry Over File-Sharer IDs
SAN FRANCISCO July 31 —
A California-based Internet service provider jumped into the contentious music-downloading fray late Wednesday, filing a lawsuit against the recording industry and questioning the constitutionality of the industry's effort to track down online music sharers.
Pacific Bell Internet Services, based in San Francisco, is seeking a declaration that the subpoenas served against it by the Recording Industry Association of America are overly broad in scope and should have been issued from a California district court, not the District of Columbia. The complaint also seeks a jury trial to have the constitutional issues addressed.
In the complaint, PBIS maintains it only acts as a "passive conduit" for the activity of its subscribers and "does not initiate or direct the transmission of those files and has no control over their content or destination."
A RIAA spokesman called the lawsuit an attempt at "procedural gamesmanship" and insisted that Internet service providers must reveal the identities of online copyright infringers.