Courtesy of the Electronic Frontier Foundation:

How Not To Get Sued By The RIAA For File-Sharing

(And Other Ideas to Avoid Being Treated Like a Criminal)

The Recording Industry Ass. of America (RIAA) announced on June 25, 2003, that it will begin suing users of peer-to-peer (P2P) file-sharing systems within the next few weeks. According to the announcement, the RIAA will be targeting users who upload/share "substantial" amounts of copyrighted music. The RIAA has stated that it will choose who to sue by using software that scans users' publicly available P2P directories and then identifies the ISP of each user. Then, using the Digital Millennium Copyright Act (DMCA), the RIAA will subpoena the ISP for each user's name, address, and other personal information in order to sue that user.

While there is no way to know exactly what the RIAA is going to do, who it is going to sue, or even how much music qualifies as a "substantial" amount, users of P2P networks can take the following steps to reduce their chances of being sued: Read more...

Quick Links:
To find out if your name has been subpoenaed from your ISP - Click here
More information about the RIAA lawsuits and responses to them - Click here