IN THE UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT FOR THE DISTRICT OF COLUMBIA
b1re:
VERIZON INTERNET SERVICES, INC, Subpoena Enforcement Matter
) )
RECORDING INDUSTRY ASSOCIATION OF AMERICA v.
VERIZON INTERNET SERVICES, INC. Miscellaneous Action Case No. I :O2MSOO323
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Declaration of Scott E. Lebredo in Support of Opposition by Verizon Internet Servicesto Motion to Enforce Ex Parte SubpoenaIssued July 24, 2002 I, Scott E. Lebredotdo herebydeclareand say:
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I am an employeeofVerizon ServicesOrganizationInc. and,amongother duties,I My
function as Managerof OperationsSecurityfor Verizon InternetServicesInc. ("Verizon'
primary areasof responsibilityinclude managingVerizon's network securityand supervising Verizon's compliancewith obligationsarisingout of the copyright laws, including the Digital Millennium Copyright Act of 1998("DMCA ").
2.
Basedon my employmentdutiesandresponsibilitiesand in the ordinary courseof
Verizon's business, havepersonalknowledgeof the facts set forth below. Ifcalled as a I witness,I could andwould testify competentlythereto.
V erizon's Internet Access Service
3.
Verizon is an Internetserviceprovider ("18P") that providesInternetaccess over one to
million subscribers.
-24.
I have reviewed the subpoena issued by the Recording Industry Association of America
("RIAA") to Verizon on July 24,2002 (the "Subpoena"),and I understand to direct that it Verizon disclosethe identity of a VeriZon subscriber Verizon's Internetaccess to service('"the Subscriber")basedon infonnation that the Subscriber was operatingat a particular Internet Protocol address ("W address"),on a particular day, and at a particular time. I understand that RIM hasasserted the Subscriber that was using a peer-to-peer sharingsoftware,KaZaA file software,allegedlyto sharecopyrightedsoundfiles with other persons using KaZaA software, without appropriateauthorization. 5 With respectto the Subscriber described the Subpoena accompanying by and materials,
Verizon servesonly asthe Subscriber'sISP and in that capacityonly provided transmission servicesto the Subscriberin connectionwith the transmission any allegedlyoffending of materialthe Subscriberreceivedfrom other Internetusersor sentto other Internetusersusing relationshipbetweenVerizon and KaZaA. Any KaZaA software. Thereis no business transmission the allegedlyoffending materialto and from the Subscriber of was initiated solely by and at the direction of the Subscriber.Verizon carriedout the requested transmissionthrough an automatictechnicalprocess which Verizon neitherselected material that was sentor in the receivedby the Subscribernor selected recipientsor senders the material. During the the of courseof any transmissionof the materialto or from the Subscriber, copy of the material was no maintainedon V erizon' s systemor network. Further,in transmittingthe materialto or from the Subscriber, Verizon did not modify its content. 6. When the Subscriber receivedany material from a location on the Internetusing KaZaA
softwareor transmittedmaterialto anotherlocation on the Internetusing KaZaA software,
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Verizon did not cacheor otherwiseperform any intermediate temporarystorageof the or materialbeing transmittedon a systemor network controlled or operated or for Verizon. by
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Verizon did not storeon its systemor network any materialsreceivedby the Subscriber
from a location on the Internetusing KaZaA softwareor transmittedat the direction of the Subscriber a location on the InternetusingKaZaA software. to
8.
With regardto the activities of the Subscriber using KaZaA software,Verizon actedas a
passivetransmitterfor the material sentor receivedby the Subscriberand did not refer, point or provide a link to any online location throughthe useof any infomlation location tools. Peer-to-Peer Applications
9.
Peer-to-peer sharingallows a group of computerusersto sharefiles storedon one file
user's computerwith other users'computers.Peer-to-peer sharinghasmany applications. file For example,somecompanies peer-to-peer sharingasa way for employees sharefiles use file to without the expense a centralizedserveror as an inexpensive of way for companies exchange to infonnation with other companies.Many individuals usepeer-to-peer sharingto exchange file infonnation with otherswho sharelike interests. It hasalso beenasserted copyright owners by and othersthat peer-to-peer sharingis usedby someindividuals to shareunauthorizedcopies file of copyrightedmaterial. .10. Peer-to-peer softwareallows an Internetuserof the softwareto sharefiles with other
usersby allowing eachuserto review a list of availablefiles maintainedby other usersof the softwareand/orto makea requestfor files of a particular descriptionmaintainedby other users of the software. Oncethe requested is detenninedto be availablefor transmissionby another file userof the software,the softwareallows the selectedfile to be transferredbetweenthe two
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computers. All of this happens without the involvementor participationofVerizon as the end user'sISP other than the mereprovision of transmission services.
It
KaZaA providesa popular versionof this specialized softwarefor peer-to-peer file
sharing. According to KaZaA's Internethomepage, more than 100million copiesof its peer-topeer file sharingsoftwarehavebeendownloaded, at any given time, more than 2 million of and its usersare commonlyonline. The Processof Identifying Subscribers on the Basis of IP Addresses 12.
Substantial time and effort is required for Verizon to determine the identity of one of its
subscribers if Verizon is provided only with infonnation that the subscriber was operating at a particular IP address, at a particular time, on a particular day (most of Verizon subscribers nonnally receive a different IP address frequently or each time they accessthe Verizon service). In order to detennine a subscriber's identity based on this limited infonnation, Verizon must employ a software tool to first search its network IP assignment records and then perform a second process to verify the identity of the subscriber detennined in the search process. While the amount of time necessaryto identify a subscriber accurately varies, on average it takes between 15 and 25 minutes to identify a subscriber to make the identification. Thus, if Verizon were asked to identify five subscribers, the process could take a Verizon employee over two hours to complete the identification. IfVerizon were asked to identify 1,000 subscribers, the process could take Verizon employees 400 hours or more simply to identify the subscribers. The task of responding to requests to provide this infonnation to third parties such as RIAA would require additional time and effort over and above the 15 to 25 minutes needed to identify the
subscriber.