Charter Files Lawsuit to Block RIAA Subpoenas for Subscriber Identities

Authored by Mark Hefflinger on October 6, 2003 - 5:07am.

St. Louis -- Charter Communications, the nation's third-largest cable TV operator and a provider of high-speed cable Internet services, has filed a lawsuit in federal court seeking to block subpoenas seeking the identities of some of its subscribers that the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA) believes are online music pirates, the St. Louis Post-Dispatch reported. "We are the only major cable company that has not as yet provided the RIAA a single datum of information," Tom Hearity, vice president and associate general counsel for Charter, told the St. Louis Post-Dispatch. The company said that it is asking the court to quash RIAA subpoenas for the identities of 150 Charter Internet subscribers. Charter reported having 1.38 million broadband Internet subscribers as of June 30. In addition to Charter, fellow ISPs Verizon and Pacific Bell Internet Services, a division of telco SBC, have filed lawsuits to block RIAA subpoenas for their subscribers' identities.
http://makeashorterlink.com/?Z52621F16
http://www.salon.com/tech/wire/2003/10/06/charter/index.html
http://www.charter.com