I have a couple of thoughts about the raging Verizon/RIAA court battle.
1) I'm not convinced that Verizon's stated position on the latest appeal is the whole story. The Register has been quick to congratulate Verizon on their stance, but I'm a bit more suspicious of Verizon's motives. Publicly-held companies will rarely burn through cash for purely altruistic reasons -- their shareholders won't stand for it. There must be some other reason(s); probably ones that ultimately affect their bottom line.
2) Suppose Verizon has to reveal the identity of the mass downloader. What happens then? How will the RIAA proceed? Probably by leveling charges, serving subpoenas, and getting warrants issued, without being required to prove anything. If it gets to this point, the RIAA (and anyone else who wants to [mis]use the DMCA) has an incredibly potent beatstick against average people. Most ordinary folks can't afford the legal hassles that could be dropped on their head at the whim of some faceless corporation. The mere appearance of possible copyright infringement, without any proof, should not be sufficient to permit the circumvention of due process of law.
[Later...] More discussion over on Copyfight.
Posted by Patrick at January 31, 2003 04:25 PM | TrackBack