RIAA vs UNC and NCSU

"A federal judge in North Carolina handed the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA) a legal defeat in its effort to learn the identities of two students accused of illegal file sharing. The RIAA had sought the identities from the students' universities, the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill and North Carolina State University, under an expedited subpoena process the group has since abandoned. In a December 2003 decision, another federal judge had rejected the expedited subpoenas, which did not require a judge's signature, ruling that Verizon could not be forced to disclose identities of its customers. In their capacity as Internet service providers (ISPs) for students, universities were given similar protection from the expedited subpoenas. In this case, Judge Russell A. Eliason ruled that an ISP that does not store information but merely transmits it cannot be compelled under the Digital Millennium Copyright Act to reveal identities of its users. After the 2003 decision, the RIAA began filing individual "John Doe" lawsuits for illegal file sharing. Under that process, which costs the RIAA more time and money than the other, ISPs can be forced to turn over identities of users."

Chronicle of Higher Education, 22 April 2005 (sub. req'd)