U.S. District Judge John D. Bates ruled for a second time that Verizon Communications Inc. must hand over the identities of two of its Internet subscribers suspected of illegally offering free digital music for downloading.

Unless an appeals court steps in to block the decision pending further review, Verizon will be forced to give up its subscriber’s names in 14 days to the Recording Industry Association of America.

Bates determined that First Amendment protections concerning anonymous expression do not conflict with the 1998 Digital Millennium Copyright Act.

The DMCA allows music companies to invoke a legal short cut that provides copyright holders the ability to circumvent the normal judicial process in pursuing violators.

“If users of pirate peer-to-peer sites don’t want to be identified, they should not break the law by illegally distributing music,” said Cary Sherman, president of RIAA.

Verizon said the ruling undermined subscribers’ privacy.

“Verizon is going to continue to use every legal means available to protect the privacy of our subscribers and immediately seek a stay,” said Verizon’s associate general counsel, Sarah B. Deutsch. She said the ruling “exposes anyone who uses the Internet to a host of scam artists, crooks and stalkers.”.

(via The Associated Press)