The U.S. govt. late last week backed RIAA’s attempt to force Veri...

constitutionality of the Digital Millennium Copyright Act (DMCA). In an April 18 brief filed in U.S. Dist. Court, D.C., in response to Verizon’s challenge to a 2nd DMCA subpoena from RIAA, DoJ disputed the ISP’s constitutional claims. The idea that a DMCA subpoena is unenforceable because it’s issued outside any pending lawsuit “fails for at least 3 reasons,” Justice said: (1) Nothing in the article bars Congress from authorizing the clerk of a federal “Article III” court from issuing a subpoena unless a case actually is pending there. (2) The idea of prelitigation discovery to obtain and preserve information for future litigation “is not new” and has been permitted by Congress. (3) Sec. 512(h), as a practical matter, is “tethered to a controversy” between RIAA and Verizon because the provision gives copyright holders a statutory right to obtain certain information from ISPs. While it’s “not atypical” for the govt. to become involved in cases in which the constitutionality of a federal law is challenged, Verizon is “disappointed” about DoJ’s decision to intervene on RIAA’s side, said Sarah Deutsch, vp and assoc. gen. counsel-Internet policy. Verizon asked U.S. Dist. Judge John Bates, who is handling the 2 DMCA subpoena matters, for permission to respond by Fri. to the Justice filing, Deutsch told us. RIAA opposed the request, and the judge hasn’t ruled.