SAN FRANCISCO —Last Friday, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia ruled to uphold Verizon's right to protect its customers from subpoenas issued by the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA) under the Digital Millennium Copyright Act (DMCA). This is a win for freedom because it stops the allocation of police-like powers to private entities that threatened privacy and free speech. Recognizing both the need for strong intellectual property and free speech rights, PRI co-signed an amicus brief in this case. For more information, please see:

Column by PRI tech director Sonia Arrison:
http://www.techcentralstation.com/020703C.html

The amicus brief co-signed by PRI:
http://www.eff.org/Cases/RIAA_v_Verizon/20030516-riaa-v-verizon-amicus.php

The decision:
http://pacer.cadc.uscourts.gov/docs/common/opinions/200312/03-7015a.pdf

Related papers filed in RIAA vs. Charter:

Amicus

Appendix of Amici

Sonia Arrison is director of Technology Studies at the California-based Pacific Research Institute. She can be reached at (415) 955-6107 or by email at sarrison@pacificresearch.org.

Visit PRI's Tech page at www.pacificresearch.org/centers/cts/index.html.
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