April 4, 2008
Court Protects Students -- for Now -- in Battle With Music Industry
Four Boston University students, accused of pirating music with their computers, got a sympathetic ruling this week from a federal judge. The ruling notes that the students’ privacy and First Amendment rights might have been violated.
U.S. District Court Judge Nancy Gertner did not throw out the complaint by a group of record companies. But she did say that Boston University cannot turn over their names to the industry—which usually sends letters threatening lawsuits to students once it has those names—until she considers the students’ rights more carefully.
The students “are entitled to some First Amendment protection of their anonymity—albeit limited. Second, the defendants may have expectations of privacy with regard to their identity,” the judge wrote in a 52-page decision.
The decision is not a “win” for the students—as the Boston Globe headlined a story on the case—because the judge didn’t dismiss the charges against them. But it marks the first time a court has seriously considered issues other than copyright infringement in these cases.
“It’s a good idea that courts start to look at these things more closely,” said Tracy Mitrano, director of the computer policy and law program at Cornell University. “There are many broader policy issues at stake here.”
The next step: Judge Gertner ordered Boston University, which provided Internet service to the students, to show her the service contract so she can examine any privacy protections it offered students. She also wants to know about other students who might have used the computer addresses cited by the record companies, in case the four accused were not the actual music pirates. Until further court action, the students remain anonymous.—Josh Fischman
Posted on Friday April 4, 2008 | Permalink |Commenting is closed for this article.
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