2A - The Michigan Daily - Thursday, January 22, 2004 NATION/WORLD Record industry files 532 lawsuits NEWS IN BRIEF WASHINGTON (AP) -Yesterday the recording industry sued 532 com- puter users it said were illegally dis- tributing songs over the Internet, the first lawsuits since a federal appeals court blocked the use of special copy- right subpoenas to identify those being targeted. The action represents the largest number of lawsuits filed at one time since the trade group for the largest music labels, the Recording Industry Association of America, launched its legal campaign last summer to cripple Internet music piracy. Music lawyers filed the newest cases against "John Doe" defendants - identified only by their numeric Inter- net protocol addresses - and expected to work through the courts to learn their names and where they live. All the defendants were customers of one of four Internet providers. The 532 new defendants represent a fraction of the estimated tens of mil- lions of U.S. computer users who regu- larly download music illegally across the Internet, but the recording associa- tion described each one as a "major offender," distributing an average of more than 800 songs online. Each defendant faces potential civil penal- ties or settlements that could cost them thousands of dollars. The resumed legal campaign was intended to discourage music fans emboldened by last month's federal appeals court decision, which dramati- cally increased the cost and effort to track computer users swapping songs online and sue them. "Our campaign against illegal file sharers is not missing a beat," said Cary Sherman, president of the recording association. "The message to illegal file sharers should be as clear as ever." All 532 lawsuits were filed in Wash- ington and New York - home to Veri- zon Internet Services Inc., Time Warner Inc. and a few other prominent Internet providers - although the recording association said it expects to discover through traditional subpoenas that these defendants live across the United States. "These are soccer moms, immigrant families, just ordinary citizens trying to reap the benefits of what appears to them to be nifty technology," said Jay Flemma, a New York lawyer who rep- resented eight people sued in previous "These are soccer moms, immigrant families, just ordinary citizens trying to reap the benefits of what appears to them to be nifty technology." Lawyer representing eight people - Jay Flemma previously sued by the music industry rounds by the music industry. "They're scared and they're frustrated and they really don't understand the nuances of copyright law." The RIAA said that after its lawyers discover the identity of each defendant, they will contact each person to nego- tiate a financial settlement before amending the lawsuit to formally name the defendant and, if necessary, trans- fer the case to the proper courthouse. Settlements in previous cases have averaged $3,000 each. Verizon had successfully challenged the industry's use of copyright subpoe- nas, one of its most effective tools to track illegal downloaders. The U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia ruled last month that the recording industry can't use the sub- poenas to force Internet providers to identify music downloaders without filing a lawsuit. The court said the copyright sub- poena process available under the 1998 Digital Millennium Copyright Act "betrays no awareness whatsoever that Internet users might be able directly to exchange files containing copyrighted works." The appeals decision and yesterday's new lawsuits threw into legal limbo hundreds of computer users previously identified as illegal downloaders. The RIAA said that, for now, it will not file new lawsuits or demand new financial settlements against computer users whose names were previously turned over under the disputed copy- right subpoenas. ifo reveals WASHINGTON Congress may extend Bush's tax cuts Congress may extend some tax cuts that are due to diminish at year's end, including new child tax credits and a bracket expansion that lowered taxes for wage earners. But lawmakers have concluded that making all of President Bush's tax cuts permanent will have to wait until after the fall election. The reductions passed in 2001 and 2003 are to go away entirely in 2011. Some will shrink on Jan. 1, 2005. President Bush renewed calls in his State of the Union address to make all of the cuts permanent this year. The most urgently pressing changes will come next Jan. 1, when some of the most politically popular tax cuts recede. Those tax cuts include an expansion of the bottom 10 percent tax bracket that lowered taxes for virtually every worker. Also expiring then are some changes lessening the marriage penalty, which causes some couples to pay more than they would as two single individuals. The child tax credit that was raised from $600 to $1,000 per child last year is due to drop back to $700. "I think that those are very popular items in the tax code," said Paul Wein- stein, a senior fellow at the liberal Progressive Policy Institute. He said it was interesting that the authors of the legislation picked an election year for the measures to expire or diminish. "I think some thought was given to that," Weinstein said. WASHINGTON Court upholds EPA veto over state officials Federal regulators can trump more permissive state officials in some disputes over costly measures to limit air pollution, the Supreme Court said yesterday in a ruling that departed from the court's trend toward granting state governments more power. Alaska's governor wanted to allow the world's largest zinc mine to use cheaper, less effective anti-pollution equipment, but the federal Environmental Protection Agency said no. The Supreme Court's 5-4 ruling upholds EPA's veto power in such cases. "The highest court in the land has made it eminently clear that the EPA has ample authority to protect the public health and the environment from the harmful effects of air pollution," said Vickie Patton, a lawyer with the interest group Envi- ronmental Defense. The victory for environmentalists may be more symbolic than substantive. The portion of the Clean Air Act at issue has not been front and center in court fights over pollution, and the court majority kept its ruling narrow. Last march 1 ACLU: New database is privacy threat NEW YORK (AP) - A seven-state crime database launched with $12 million in federal funds is a more powerful threat to privacy than its organizers acknowledge, the American Civil Lib- erties Union alleged yesterday after obtaining documents relating to the program. The law enforcement officials and private data- base company behind the Multistate Anti-Terrorism Information Exchange, or Matrix, contend it is merely an investigative tool that helps police quick- ly gather already-available information on suspects. But the ACLU and other privacy advocates allege that the program too closely resembles a scrapped Pentagon program that aimed to mine a vast pool of data to spot patterns useful in terror- ism investigations. Congress cut off funding last year for the so-called Total Information Aware- ness program after a privacy outcry. A Freedom of Information Act request filed with Pennsylvania yielded several documents that the ACLU says clearly show the Matrix's data- mining abilities. Among them were minutes of a 2002 planning meeting that said the FBI, the Secret Service, the Immigration and Naturaliza- tion Service and the Drug Enforcement Agency helped craft data-mining software for Matrix. That represents more federal involvement in Five hundred combat boots representing more than 500 American soldiers killed to date in Iraq line Chicago's Federal Plaza. the program than previously known, though the Departments of Justice and Homeland Security invested $12 million to get the system running. The Pennsylvania documents include security and privacy policies that say Matrix is usable only in active criminal or intelligence investigations. Barry Steinhardt, director of the ACLU's technol- ogy and liberty program, calls those guidelines too broad and susceptible to abuse. Clay Jester, Matrix coordinator for the Institute for Intergovernmental Research, the nonprofit group helping to expand the project from its orig- inal implementation in Florida, called any com- parisons to the defanged Pentagon data-mining program "a fallacy" resulting from misconcep- tions about Matrix. Matrix lets states share criminal, prison and vehicle information with each other and cross- reference it with up to 20 billion records in data- bases held by Seisint Inc. The Seisint records include people's property, boats and Internet domains, their address history, utility connec- tions, bankruptcies, civil court history, liens, voter registration and business filings. For now the project involves Connecticut, Florida, Michigan, New York, Ohio, Pennsylvania and Utah. RACISM Continued from Page 1A it's not. You're exaggerating." The implicit subtext implies 'I know your reality better than you know your reality, so trust me and not your lying eyes.' And my friends, that denial is a form of racism," Wise said. But for Wise, what was more alarm- ing was how this denial was intergenera- tional. He said whites were practicing denial back in the 1930s when black people were not allowed equal access to jobs, public facilities and schools. This trend has continued when white people persistently think things are fine, Wise said. "But when white folks are saying it isn't a big deal anymore ... we are basically saying colored folks as a whole don't know truth from fic- tion," Wise said. Wise also discussed what he called the "flip-side" of racism - privilege - then adding that whites have always been the most privi- leged in society and continue to expect those privileges, while other races suffer. He gave the example of Universi- ty students who claimed ethnic minority students were stealing seats from white students under race-conscious admissions. But Wise questioned how white stu- dents knew less qualified minority applicants were taking their spots when they had no access to student transcripts. "How do they know they are under-qualified students? It's an assumption." He also criticized lawyers and the U.S. Supreme Court who, he said, looked only at the 20 points given to people of color and consequen- tially ignored the points given to certain areas and schools - which predominately have white students, he added. Yet no one criticized those areas of the admission system, he said. FOOD FOR THOUGHT Who was the Better Fighter? TEHRAN, Iran Ministers resign to protest elections Iran's worst political crisis in years deepened yesterday, with the govern- ment saying most of its ministers and vice presidents have submitted resigna- tions to protest the barring of thousands of would-be candidates from upcoming elections. Vice President Mohammad Ali Abtahi warned that unless the candidates are reinstated, "the country will face many problems, both at home and abroad" "Such disqualifications of prospective candidates is against democracy," Abtahi said after a Cabinet meeting. "Such methods damage our Islamic democracy and turn elections into sham elections." Government spokesman Abdollah Ramezanzadeh said most of Iran's six vice presidents and 24 ministers have handed letters of resignation to Presi- dent Mohammad Khatami. COLUMBUS, Ohio Lawmakers pass bill to ban gay marriage Lawmakers gave final approval yester- day to a measure banning gay marriage and prohibiting state employees from getting benefits for domestic partners. The bill is considered among the most far-reaching in the nation because of the benefits ban, which applies to KNE i unmarried heterosexual and homosexu- al couples. The Senate passed the legislation on an 18-15 vote yesterday. The House has already approved the bill and Gov. Bob Taft has said he will sign it, pending a legal review. The measure says same-sex marriages are "against the strong public policy of the state," and aims to counter a 1934 U.S. Supreme Court ruling requiring states to recognize marriages from other states in most circumstances. BOSTON Study:Police unfairly ticket Mass. minorities A study of racial profiling, based on state statistics, shows minorities receive a disproportionate amount of traffic tick- ets in some Massachusetts communities. The study, conducted by Northeastern University's Institute on Race and Jus- tice and released Tuesday, shows that 247 of the 341 agencies examined gave a greater proportion of tickets to minori- ties than expected given the racial make- up of the driving population. Some communities gave only a slightly disproportionate number of tickets to minorities, but in others the numbers were striking. Milton, just outside Boston, had the widest disparity. Fifty-eight per- cent of the people ticketed in the city were minorities. The study estimated only 15.8 percent of drivers were minorities. - Compiled from Daily wire reports. WWW.MICHIGANDAILY.COM The Michigan Daily (ISSN 0745-967) is published Monday through Friday during the fall and winter terms by students at the University of Michigan. One copy is available free of charge to all readers. Additional copies may be picked up at the Daily's office for $2. Subscriptions for fall term, starting in September, via U.S. mail are $105. 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