Copyright lawyers said it remains unresolved whether consumers can legally download copies of songs on a CD they purchased rather than making digital copies themselves. But finding MP3 music files that precisely match copies that have been traded online could be evidence a person participated in file-sharing services. [AP]. Perhaps, but that doesn't change the fact that if someone legally owns a recording they may transfer it to another format for personal use. And I see no difference between making the transfer oneself (which takes time and resources) and obtaining the transferred file from elsewhere. In other words, if I own the CD, it's perfectly legit to obtain an MP3 of a song on the CD from someone else, over the Internet or otherwise. The presumed fact that this woman did not rip the MP3's herself doesn't mean she doesn't own the CDs.

The AP story concludes:

The 1998 Digital Millennium Copyright Act permits music companies to force Internet providers to turn over the names of suspected music pirates upon subpoena from any U.S. District Court clerk's office, without a judge's signature required.

Bless them, the EFF is keeping score of RIAA subpoenas with PACER records, through last Friday — 1145 subpoenas:

Universities:
6 New York University
4 Bentley College
3 Boston College (dismissed)
2 Northeastern University
1 Massachusetts Institute of Technology (dismissed)
1 Loyola University Chicago
1 Loyola Marymount University
1 DePaul University
1 Columbia University
1 Boston University

ISP Recipients (including unis):
372 Comcast Cable Communications, Inc.
148 Time Warner Cable
143 SBC
108 SBC Internet Communications, Inc.
87 Verizon Internet Services, Inc.
85 Charter Communications, Inc.
32 RCN Corporation
32 Adelphia Communications Corporation
26 Cox Communications, Inc.
20 GTE.Net LLC (d/b/a Verizon Internet Solutions) Verizon Avenue
Corporation Verizon Media Ventures, In
12 EarthLink, Inc.
7 Mediacom Communications Corporation
6 Verizon Internet Services, Inc. and GTE.Net LLC (d/b/a
Verizon Internet Solutions)
6 New York University
6 InterQuest Communications
5 GTE.net LLC (d/b/a Verizon Internet Solutions)
4 Earthlink, Inc.
4 Bentley College Academic Technology Center
3 Verizon lnternet Services, Inc.
3 Insight Midwest, L.P.
3 Boston College
2 Verizon Media Ventures Inc.
2 Sprint
2 San Bruno Municipal Cable
2 Northeastern University
2 CSC Holdings, Inc.
2 CenturyTel Internet Services, LLC
2 America Online, Inc.
1 Verizon Avenue Corporation
1 University of Southern California
1 Speakeasy, Inc.
1 Qwest Communications Corporation
1 Pacific Bell lnternet
1 Massachusetts Institute of Technology
1 Loyola University Chicago
1 Loyola Marymount University
1 Greenville Electric Utility System (GEUS)
1 DePaul University
1 Columbia University
1 Boston University
1 BlueMarble Telecom, LLC
1 BellSouth.net Inc.
1 AT&T Worldnet Service
1 Armstrong Cable Services
1 America Online
1 Adelphia

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