One powerful leg of Verizon's defense is that the subpoena was issued without the supervision of a judge. Another leg of that defense, as I understand the action, argues that the subpoena was issued in advance of the RIAA having a "cause or controversy" before the court.Subpeonas not issued by a Judge/Congress should not be enforceable and the whole idea of the above scenario takes potential for abuse to a new high.
Suppose the RIAA succeeds in prying out the user information it desires. And let's even suppose that RIAA finds that someone on a corporate network downloaded copyrighted material. It seems the next logical step is that RIAA will subpoena the user's other storage areas looking for pop music.
Suddenly a junior database administrator's "transgression" means that all areas where he or she could have hidden copyrighted material will be subject to search. This means the entire organization's CRM database could be shipped off to RIAA analysts looking for forensic data of misdeeds.
thanx,
bill