In a so-called “friend of the court” brief, the groups urged a federal court to prevent the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA) from forcing Verizon to identify a customer the RIAA has accused of offering infringing music on a peer-to-peer system.
"The court should require careful judicial consideration of facts supporting any accusations and hear the other side of the story before violating the privacy of an internet user," said EFF Legal Director Cindy Cohn. "The RIAA asked the court to throw a long history of protection of anonymous speech out the window as soon as someone suspects copyright infringement on a peer-to-peer system."