Following the MIT and Boston College lead, Pacific Bell Internet Services is defying the RIAA's attempts to use it to get the names of Pac Bell users it claims are illegally downloading copyrighted files.

Pac Bell questions the constitutionality of the Big Five's attempts to nail file sharers and 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," says an Associated Press story in the
New York Times. "The complaint also seeks a jury trial to have the constitutional issues addressed."

MIT and Boston College both chose to litigate rather than hand student names over to the record labels.

Pac Bell says it acts only 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," says the AP story, adding:

"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."

More spin from the RIAA, but it's interesting that more and more ppl are now willing to stand up and take shots at the RIAA in court. It looks like someone has found a small chink in their armor. Local court jurisdictions may not be as sympathetic to the RIAA as DC.

Soon, they'll be fighting this on so many fronts, they won't know where to turn next.

THANK YOU SBC! This only shows the irrational actions of the RIAA and that they have no regard for the constitution, or even local laws. SBC will not let them walk all over them, and this is great! Throw out the DMCA too! The RIAA in all this will complain and complain, and try to make themselves look like the Victim, but we HAVE been the victim of there disregard for laws of ethics and morals and even good accounting! Lastly, i wouldn't care if the RIAA actually followed the CONSTITUTION, but they don't care, just SUE SUE SUE! May this be there demise, WE'LL BE IN TORRANCE TO SHOW OUR SUPPORT FOR ALL OF YOU!!!

Also, when is AOL goes to Sue the RIAA? never

Let's get it on!

I don't know very much about this whole process, but I had an idea...

Couldn't we make some noise if we started some sort of petition? Be it an online petition or whatnot, but if we got a whole shitload of signatures and sent them off to Congress, EFF, whatever... Something like what is happening in Cali with the Govenor?

I'm sorry, but doesn't this seem like a person asking your doctor for your medical history? I mean, this is NONE of the RIAA's business! They are asking a company, whom you PAY for service, just to hand them info on you. The DMCA is a blatant ATTACK on your privacy. And of course, since someone is FIGHTING them on what they want, the RIAA is calling foul. Suprise, suprise.

We may not have to. If they keep this up, they're gonna attract more attention than they would like to have, and it will be the wrong kind of attention.

They already got hit with another complaint about price-fixing. Not sure how much more they can afford to have.

There are a lot of ppl who still don't know anything about those complaints and settlements.

Keep passing the word..................

So far, any press coverage I've seen on network news, with interviews of those being sued, has not been overwhelmingly supportive of the RIAA. Neutral, perhaps, but not supportive.

This is great news! PacBell is a unit of SBC Communications which is a huge company. They've got the muscle to stick it to the RIAA. They're asking for a jury trial to address the constitutional issues so that should (hopefully) remove the Washington lobbyists and paid-off judges from the process. We have the chance for a huge win here. Perhaps it will encourage other ISPs to resist the RIAA as well.

With all these lawsuits maybe the lawyers will just bleed the RIAA dry. That would be fine with me.

Here's another article on it from a different paper:
http://www.bayarea.com/mld/mercurynews/news/local/6424740.htm?template=contentModules/printstory.jsp

da-gimp, totally agree with you. The negative press is going to kill them. That's when the normal everyday layman will begin to see what they are trying to do. The RIAA has been flying under the radar of those who know nothing of the music industry and nothing of online file sharing, i.e., the older generation. They are going to look like the blood sucking leeches they've been trying to avoid looking...real soon too! Publicity is our ally.

Somebody needs to stand up to the RIAA. Im happy that MIT, Boston College, and Pac Bell are standing up to them. Now, consumers need to stand up to them and say, "enough".

"Let's Get Ready To Ruuuuuummmmmmbleeeeeeee!!!" haha sorry i had to do it

Woah. Hold the phone. The immaturity of the RIAA when it comes to following the law and common sense is mind boggling.
'procedural gamesmanship'??? Are you kidding me? Seems like the RIAA doesn't want to follow the set rules our judicial system has in place. Are they truly above the law?
Jesse at Chewplastic.com said it best in a quote from the psycho hose beast RIAA CEO Rosen: "My fundamental view is that people should not be able to walk away from a deal they've made." So, in essence, if the RIAA is allowing themselves to retract legally binding agreements in a court of law, then we as music fans should be allowed to blow past the "fair use" laws and share our MP3s freely.
Then again, that would be the fair thing to do, and the RIAA doesn't like to play that way.

triplev..just wanted to point out that Micheal Buffer has that phrase trademarked.. but he does do personal appearances. http://www.letsrumble.com/

When will Aol sue the Riaa you ask?
Never...Aol is part of the riaa buddy

They just lie by instinct now...
I guess they forgot about that court silliness with Verizon!!!!!!!!

"We are disappointed that Pac Bell has chosen to fight this, unlike
every other ISP which has complied with their obligations under the
law. We had previously reached out to SBC to discuss this matter but
had been rebuked," the statement read."

so we can't use buffer's line...
How about this one?
Let's get ready to Bankruuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuupt the Bastards!

copyright 2003 by Bulk E. Eraser.All Rights Reserved. Reproduction without
express written authorization is forbidden under penalty of a zoot suit.

AOL isnt being subpoena'd because that would be suing itself... it can just access it's own database.

RIAA Stinks

copyright Forever by IH8 H. Riaa. All Rights Reserved. Reproduction without express written authorization is forbidden under penalty of the law resulting in a life-long debt of more than 200,000,000,000 dollars, that will replenish if paid off.

For anyone interested, here's a very interesting history of the RIAA's legal battles with the Telecom industry, up to a month ago:
http://telephonyonline.com/ar/telecom_hunting_subscriber/

The next hearing for Verizon is Sept. 16. The article implies that if Verizon argues its case well, there is a chance that parts of the DMCA could be overturned as unconstitutional.

From what I've read, it seems likely that SBC plans on attacking provisions of the DMCA as well.

good job by SBC. the days of the RIAA are comming to an end.

DRINK UP ME HEARTIES, YOHO!
ITS A PIRATES LIFE FOR ME!

THIS IS THE BEGINNING OF THE END, YAHARR!

Hey...high fiving everyone...
whatever you do tomorrow to protest this...whether you are in front of Tower records, writing letters to congress, talking on the tv about this, writing a letter to the editor, smashing CDs, or just refusing to contribute any more money to these bastards...you are part of the army and you are contributing to the winning of the war..
if you have a website, feel free to follow CodeWarrior's lead and black it out, and with red letters..put Boycott the Riaa/ Bankrupt the Bastards!

Love and luck to all freedom fighters here, and in other countries!!!
We're gonna win this one!
-BulkEraser

As the battle is taken to the streets tomorrow, we must let the world know that this is only the beginning. We will not stop until the RIAA is back where they were before the Napster hearings -- unknown, unseen and unrecognized.

Oh, I forgot, they give out the gold records. Boo-hoo. No more gold records. Big deal. Like anyone really cares anymore anyway.

I'm just sorry that Hilary Rosen is going to make a getaway without being thrown in jail for false testimony to Congress. They've done everything possible to make us forget about her.

Humanitarian of the Year, indeed. More like heartless bitch of the year. She deserves a life sentence for defrauding the government.

GOOD for Pac-Bell!!

I say it's time that the ISP's should STAND UP AGAINST THE RIAA and REBUKE them at every turn!!

I personally hope that all this publicity that the RIAA itself is generating to try and scare file-sharers will BACKFIRE on them, and will ultimately result in the TRUTH coming out about the REAL practices of the RIAA against their own artists, as well as their price-fixing towards the big record-store chains!!

$20 for a CD that has, at best, 3 good songs on it?!?

I DON'T THINK SO!!

And as for their shitty attempts to create so-called "legitimate" download services, people AREN'T going to want to pay between $.75 and $3.00 for a song that has too much Digital Rights Management attached to it, and other restrictions!!

People should have the right to download whatever music files they wish, WITHOUT the RIAA being a bunch of ASSHOLES about it!!

DeanSB2000

RIAA has bitten off more than they can chew. They are gonna create such a huge backlash, from people in all walks of life. They certainly picked the losing battle. Nice going PAC-BELL...

GO PAC BELL! If only Charter had such balls...
If we're all pirates, then let's act like it. Next time Itchy Bunghole, Cary " I Make My Mom Use iTunes and shop at Virgin Megastore" Sherman and all their fatcat buddies are having their snooty DC yacht parties, let's gank the boat, take them out to the open sea, and make those scurvy dogs walk the plank!
I'll bring a keyboard and play the Funeral March. After that I'll play the theme to 2001: A Space Odyssey if anyone wants to stick around.

Let's see if you know what's wrong with this picture:
The RIAA is more than happy to give away music (theirs, and they see anyone who plays indy stuff as a threat) to the public over the radio, but go completely apeshit when the public demands that they be allowed to hear the same song (again) for free (again).

On Saturday, the reckoning begins. Flood the lines of every talk radio station in your town and inform the people. Tell them about the price fixing, the targeting of teens and college students, the efforts to bankrupt the families of those teens and college students, their hyopcrisy in general....basically everything the media has tried to Jedi Mind Trick the public into forgetting.
Do it all day, and all night. Do it to the point that they stop taking calls, then start back up when they start picking up the phone again.

Go to a mega-chain and stand on the sidewalk (PUBLIC PROPERTY LAST TIME I CHECKED) and pass out flyers telling consumers to buy used, indy, or both.
When their douche manager comes out and starts giving you static, have a copy of the Bill of Rights ready, and show them the part about freedom of assembly. Watch them either shut the fark up or call the cops. Guess which one they'll do.

Make the cops show you exactly how you were being "unruly", or whatever catchprase they use to deny you your rights.

Call up an FM station and request some indy music, and if he refuses, call him a fascist RIAA pig. This works best if you're on the air.

If there's a RIAA artist performing live near you, do the same as you would at a chain. IF you're inside, yell "The RIAA is ripping you off" at every break in the music.

Maybe my ideas are unoriginal and corny, but we all have to do our part. Every last one of us.

Support your local used CD and DVD store!

Keep on Keepin' on, y'all!

screw the RIAA
what do u mean i know nothing of the record industry and file sharing
I am in mid 55's and been doing it for years You kids think u know it all LOL

ps here in the uk i could sue you for agest remarkes like that to fund my court hearing for file sharing (JOKE)

SUPPORRT YOUR LOCAL FILESHARING NETWORK

Does anyone know what the process is for being notified by the RIAA of a lawsuit as in the case in the article? Also, I have Pac Bell's DSL ISP which I have read is challenging the request for user information. The last posting I read was a few days ago, does anyone know if Pac Bell/SBC is offering user information currently? I suspiciously have received a letter from the Dept. of Motor Vehicles stating that a law firm in Glendale, CA has requested my information. Hopefully purely coincidence but has anyone had this happen since the RIAA threats began?