Verizon forced to cough up Subscriber X identity

The Washington, D.C., Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals dispelled Verizon Communications’ last hope for keeping the identity of one of its subscribers secret today by turning down Verizon’s request for a stay of a lower court’s judgment. Verizon is now forced to turn over the name of an alleged music pirate to the Recording Industry Association of America along with the names of several other subscribers that the association has subpoenaed.

RIAA sued last Verizon last July for refusing to answer a subpoena for the identity of “Subscriber X,” a Verizon online DSL customer the record industry accused of illegally distributing more than 600 copyrighted music files over a file-sharing network in a single day. Verizon has been battling the powerful trade organization ever since, losing the lawsuit first in U.S. District Court and then trying to get the case appealed. The entire time, however, a temporary stay of some order was in effect, allowing Verizon to delay answering the subpoena until its appeal was considered. Though Verizon’s appeal is still in consideration (oral arguments before the court appeals begin Sept. 16), Verizon now has no choice but to fork over the names of any subscriber that RIAA or other copyright holder alleges to have committed digital piracy, said Sarah Deutsch, lead counsel for Verizon on the case.

“We intend to comply at this point,” Deutsch said. “We’ve already notified the subscribers in question, and we intend to supply RIAA with their names in the next day or so.”

The decision may have more overarching effects in the near term, however. The subpoena for Verizon Online customers wasn’t the only one RIAA floated. EarthLink and dozens of other ISPs all received subpoenas from the recording industry only to sit on them while waiting for the outcome of Verizon’s appeal. With Verizon’s request for a stay denied, however, all of the ISPs may be forced to answer those subpoenas as well as any more RIAA issues until the Court of Appeals decides whether to hear Verizon’s case. That’s a several-month window in which all of the broadband industry’s subscribers are open to any inquiry from copyright holders.

RIAA will most likely make the most of its advantage, issuing hundreds if not thousands of subpoenas in that time period. While she said she couldn’t speak for other ISPs and carriers, Deutsch said Verizon will have no choice but to comply with each of them.