Internetnews.com reports that an appeals court upheld an earlier federal ruling that took away from copyright holders like the recording industry the right to subpoena internet service companies without the intervention of a judge. The vaguely-worded Digital Millennium Copyright Act (DMCA) had been interpreted by the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA) as granting that power - traditionally reserved for court officials - to anybody who suspected their copyrights had been infringed.