Scarlet Pruitt, IDG News ServiceThe U.S. recording industry received a setback in its nationwide campaign to quash music piracy on the Internet Friday when a federal judge ruled that two universities did not have to comply with subpoenas requesting that they hand over the identities of students who could be illegally sharing music online.
Both the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (news - web sites) and Boston College won their requests to reject subpoenas issued by the Recording Industry Association of America (news - web sites) over jurisdictional issues, according the Electronic Frontier Foundation.
The universities argued that the subpoenas, which were filed in Washington D.C., did not apply to them in Massachusetts.
Massachusetts U.S. District Court Judge Joseph Tauro's ruling in the universities' favor could prove an obstacle for the RIAA's piracy offensive, given that the group has reportedly filed some 2,000 subpoenas through the Washington D.C. court, according to the EFF. -