At the behest of Baby Bell Verizon, a DC federal appeals court took a close look at the RIAA's use of the DMCA. The judges ignored Verizon's privacy arguments, but it wasn't all smiles and sunshine for Big Content, either.

Judge John Roberts questioned the RIAA's expansive interpretation of the controversial Digital Millennium Copyright Act (DMCA), which allows copyright holders to glean the identity of alleged infringers without filing a lawsuit first. Roberts said that if he left the door to his library ajar and someone entered, "that doesn't make me liable for copyright infringement."

The panel also questioned whether the language of the DMCA applies to P2P networks, or allows drive-by subpoena blitzkriegs in the absence of a lawsuit.