Judge hears arguments in music downloading case

PROVIDENCE—A Rhode Island couple whose son is accused of illegally sharing songs online should not be forced to surrender their home computer for inspection because it would violate their privacy, their lawyer argued at a federal court hearing Tuesday.

Joel Tenenbaum, a 25-year-old Boston University graduate student, is accused of downloading at least seven songs and making more than 800 music files available on the Kazaa file-sharing network through 2004. He is targeted in a lawsuit that is part of the recording industry’s aggressive campaign against people who share music online.

Industry lawyers believe Tenenbaum downloaded the songs on his parents’ personal computer in Providence and urged a federal magistrate on Tuesday for permission to copy the machine’s hard drive for proof of copyright infringement.

“The information on the computer is directly relevant and material to the underlying claims in this case,“ said industry lawyer Daniel Cloherty.

But Charles Nesson, a Harvard Law professor representing Arthur and Judie Tenenbaum, said the computer contains information protected by attorney-client privilege and holds other sensitive and personal material that has nothing to do with the case.

“You can hardly imagine anything more intrusive than asking anyone to disgorge a computer,“ he said.

Nesson also argued that the computer was not the one on which the alleged downloading took place. Judie Tenenbaum has stated in an affidavit that the couple bought the computer after their son had left home, and that he had only used it to occasionally check his e-mail.

Magistrate Judge Lincoln Almond did not immediately rule.