In a somewhat unusual case, the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA) is seeking legal action against Box.net. The RIAA normally goes after peer-to-peer file sharing sites, like Limewire, which it just won a $105 million settlement from. So it’s a bit unusual that its going after a site like Box.net, which is primarily used to share files within small to medium-sized businesses.
Box.net is a cloud-based service that lets you store content online. Though it is aimed towards businesses, anyone can use Box.net, and a free account starts you off with 5GB of storage. Your content can be private, or parts of it can be shared with the public. It seems that the RIAA has found evidence of a number of Box.net users sharing copyrighted files on their accounts, some of which are music files that have yet to be publicly released.
Because of this, the company filed a declaration in California federal court this week requesting that it can subpoena Box.net. An RIAA spokesperson told Ars Technica that with a subpoena, it could obtain the identities of the users. The spokesperson said these individuals are reproducing and distributing its members’ copyrighted material without their permission.
The RIAA made sure to clarify that it’s not a lawsuit exactly, but just part of a routine pre-release investigation. The spokesperson said it’s too soon to tell what the company might do with the information when it obtains it.
The spokesperson also said that the fact Box.net is a cloud service has nothing to do with the investigation. Although we’d like to say that other cloud services can rest assured the RIAA won’t be coming after them next, it seems like they are looking and finding new venues in which to take legal action and make some money.
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