Bad News for Your Online Privacy
Suppose a stalker wants to know where you live. The stalker can easily be a copyright holder by, for instance, publishing anything on the web. (Since anyone who fixes anything original in tangible form has a copyright on it.) Then the stalker just needs your e-mail address or your IP address. He gives that information to a court clerk (not a judge) falsely alleging that you were illegaly distributing his copyrighted works. The court clerk can then compel your Internet Service Provider (ISP) to provide the stalker with your address. What zany law makes all this possible? That’s right: The Digital Millenium Copyright Act (DMCA).
Of course, The EFF has been fighting for your rights here, but you also have what may seem an unlikely ally: Verizon Communications. They’re a big ISP and they see all these requests from copyright-holders greatly increasing their costs. Guess who that cost is going to be passed on to? That’s right. Once again, the end-user gets shafted.
Unfortunately a judge ruled in favor of the constitutionality of the DMCA so the only way we’re going to fix this is with new legislation. Write your representative and tell them to re-think the DMCA and this time to remember the end-user.
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