ISP association questions RIAA subpoena power

The NetCoalition, a public policy alliance of ISPs and other Internet companies, today sent a letter to the Recording Industry Association of America questioning the legality of its campaign to purge the Internet of music pirates and the toll it's is taking on individual ISPs. The RIAA, whose members make up the majority of the music industry, has said it will file 1000 lawsuits against file-traders trafficking in illegally copied music. To that effect, it has sent thousands of subpoenas for subscriber information to hundreds of broadband ISPs across the country. In the letter to RIAA President Cary Sherman, NetCoalition Executive Director Kevin McGuiness said ISPs support the right of the RIAA to protect its members’ copyrights, but the potential for abuse in the RIAA’s methods is too high. Small ISPs are not equipped to handle the hundreds of subpoenas the RIAA and other copyright holders are sending them, he wrote. “The initiative could force providers to raise the price of Internet access simply to fund RIAA’s legal fishing expedition,” McGuiness said.