The Five Dumbest Things on Wall Street This Week

1. What Goes Upload Must Come Download

Here at the Five Dumbest Things Research Lab, we're all in favor of blind justice. The problem comes when blind journalism follows close behind.

Yep, that's what we decided this week after close examination of a story that dominated the business press late last month. We're talking about the legal battle between Verizon (VZ Quote) and the music industry trade group known as the Recording Industry Association of America.

At issue, you may remember, is a subpoena that the RIAA sent to Verizon last year as part of the record industry's battle against illegal sharing of copyrighted music. Citing the authority of the Digital Millennium Copyright Act, the RIAA asked the phone company for information that would identify a certain customer that the RIAA alleged participated in the KaZaA peer-to-peer file sharing network. Verizon, arguing that the RIAA was misinterpreting the music copyright act, refused. That's when the lawyers got busy. ...