Seven months after the RIAA requested the names of 11 OSU students accused of copyright infringement, the university is finally coughing them up in the face of further legal threats. The courts decided that there was no good reason the uni shouldn’t give the RIAA the names, so while OSU stalled as long as they could, they would now face contempt of court if they don’t follow through.
The fun part is that now the RIAA has names, but doesn’t know which of them have hired attorneys, and cannot legally contact an accused person directly if that person has legal representation. It’s all very interesting to law students, but our take-away lesson is this: the RIAA has the money to make practically any organization capitulate given time, so change your name, grow a mustache, and move to Mumbai where you can enjoy your Shakira mp3s in peace.
RIAA gets Does’ names after school threatened with contempt [Ars Technica, via Recording Industry vs. the People]