Privacy Ruling Goes Against Verizon "Verizon must reveal the identities of two high-speed Internet subscribers accused of illegally trading music online, a federal judge ruled today. U.S. District Court Judge John Bates denied Verizon's request for a stay of his January ruling ordering the company to turn over the name of one of the subscribers to the RIAA. Bates said that Verizon has 14 days to convince a federal appeals court to grant a stay of his ruling. If Bates's ruling ultimately stands, it would give the recording industry and copyright owners a powerful weapon to stop the illegal trading of copyrighted files that they say eats away at their revenues."