The D.C. Court of Appeals has handed a victory to those who share music files on the Internet. While it did not legalize the practice, it ruled that internet service providers do not have to turn over the names of its customers.

The U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia, basically says an Internet service doesn't have to reveal the name of a subscriber who is trading files illegally if the online service didn't store the information on its own network.

The ruling overturns a lower court decision that ordered Verizon Communications to reveal the name of a subscriber through a simple subpoena. The customer was trading files directly with other users on a peer-to-peer network, and the online service was ''acting merely as a conduit,'' the judges wrote.

The opinion is here (pdf). EFF (Electronic Frontier Foundation) has more.