In Re Verizon Internet
United States District Court for the District of Columbia
257 F. Supp. 2d 244 (D.D.C. 2003)
The Recording Industry Association of America (plaintiff) served a subpoena on Verizon Internet Services (defendant) under section 512 of the Digital Millennium Copyright Act (DMCA), seeking the identities of anonymous users allegedly offering copyrighted songs for illegal download. Verizon moved to quash, arguing the DMCA's subpoena mechanism itself violated internet users' First Amendment right to anonymous speech, and separately that this particular subpoena was overbroad and swept in protected expression without adequate procedural safeguards.
Whether the DMCA's provision letting copyright owners subpoena the identities of anonymous alleged infringers violates those infringers' First Amendment right to anonymity.