The Associated Press reported last month that the music industry has won at least 871 federal subpoenas against computer users suspected of sharing copyrighted music files. The AP quoted court officials as saying that 75 new subpoenas are being approved each day.

Courts have ruled that the 1998 Digital Millennium Copyright Act allows the recording industry to force ISPs to turn over the names of suspected file traders with a subpoena from any U.S. District Court clerk's office. A judge's signature is not required. 

The subpoenas reviewed by the AP show that the music industry is now trying to force subscriber names out of some of the largest ISPs including Verizon and Comcast, as well as some colleges such as Depaul University in Chicago. Verizon, which has appealed subpoenas by the Recording Industry Association of America, told the AP late last month that it received at least 150 subpoenas during the last two weeks. No subpoenas had yet been sent to AOL Time Warner, the largest U.S. ISP and parent company of Warner Music Group.

The RIAA has stated that it expects to file at least several hundred lawsuits seeking financial damages against file traders within the next eight weeks. The RIAA has said it is open to settlement proposals, but it can seek damages of between $750 and $150,000 for each alleged illegal song under U.S. copyright law.

The AP said that many of the subpoenas it reviewed featured songs from a handful of recording artists including Avril Lavigne, Snoop Dogg and Michael Jackson, who himself has come out against the prosecution of file traders. According to the AP, some subpoenas cite as few as five songs as "representative recordings" of music files available for downloading from accused copyright violators. The record companies had previously said that they would target file traders who offer large collections of MP3 files.
 
The AP reports that the subpoenas are so prolific that the U.S. District Court in Washington, now acting as a clearinghouse for these subpoena requests, is already suffering staff shortages from the burden of processing the paperwork. 

Want to find out if a subpoena has been issued for you?  The Electronic Frontier Foundation (EFF) is now offering a service that you can use to check usernames used on file sharing services against a database of those usernames specified in hundreds of subpoenas the RIAA issued last month to ISPs.