Music Wars Scene 26:
in which a US appellate court allows ISP's to tell the RIAA: "Don't come 'round here no more"

In what has to be seen as a blow to the Empire RIAA, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia, has ruled that Internet Service Providers, (ISP), do not have to give the identy of subscribers suspected of file sharing.

WASHINGTON - A federal appeals court ruled Friday the recording industry can't force Internet providers to identify subscribers swapping music online, dramatically setting back the industry's anti-piracy campaign.
snip...
But it will make identifying defendants for future lawsuits much more difficult and expensive. The ruling forces the recording industry to file civil lawsuits against "John Doe" defendants, based on their Internet addresses, then work through the courts to learn their names.

What this means is that it is now much more costly for the Empire to go after the rebels, although Myself believes they still will, the RIAA will have to concentrate on only the most aggressive, prolific downloaders, and not sue grandmas, and teenage girls. I can almost picture RIAA prez Cary Sherman's head exploding when he heard of this one...