Georgia - Electronic Frontier Foundation, Public Citizen, the American Civil Liberties Union, and ACLU Georgia filed an amicus brief yesterday supporting Cox Communication, Inc.'s efforts to protect the rights of its Internet customers. Cox moved to quash a subpoena from several record companies in a case called Arista Records, Inc. v. Does 1-100, which seeks the identities of Cox subscribers. Cox does not provide Internet service in Georgia, where the 100 Does were sued.
The amicus brief notes that it is unfair to force people living outside of Georgia to come to Georgia to defend their rights and also that it is unfair for the record companies to sue 100 people in the same lawsuit simply because it saves the record company money.
"Cox is taking an important step to protect the privacy of its customers," said EFF Staff Attorney Wendy Seltzer. "It's a basic matter of due process that Internet users should not have to seek counsel across the country in order to protect their right to anonymous speech."
EFF, Public Citizen, and the ACLU have joined in several briefs in similar cases arguing that due process must not be given short shrift in the record industry's lawsuit campaign.
The motion picture industry has started filing copycat suits across the country that are similarly flawed.
Contact:
Wendy Seltzer
Staff Attorney
Electronic Frontier Foundation
wendy@eff.org
