] After suffering a legal defeat in December, the Recording
] Industry Association of America (RIAA) is modifying its
] approach to pursuing online file swappers, but pushing on
] with its program to stop illegal file trading with
] lawsuits, RIAA President Cary Sherman said Wednesday.

Somehow I missed this. This is great news. This means that the RIAA, and other claimants, must obtain a judge's approval before they can turn an IP address into a name and billing address. The DMCA subpoenas they were issuing last summer, which did not require a court, have stopped. This is a system which cannot be abused by stalkers and other kinds of criminals. Apparently, Ed Felton has argued that Congress might pass a new law which creates the subpoena right that the RIAA thought they had last summer, but it remains to be seen.

InfoWorld: RIAA sues 532 'John Doe' file swappers: January 21, 2004: By : E-business Strategies