OT: RIAA and Their Law Suits

[Atrocities]

For the record, I do not Subscribe to or believe in the swapping of music that you do not own or have not purchased. I own all the music on my computer and have the CD's to prove it.

With that said, I read this post made by someone at another site that I thought was interestingly silly.

quote:

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LOS ANGELES, California (CNN) -- A day after being sued for illegally sharing music files through the Internet, a 12-year-old girl has settled with the Recording Industry Association of America.

She's the first of 261 defendants to settle their lawsuits with the association.

Brianna LaHara agreed Tuesday to pay $2,000, or about $2 per song she allegedly shared.

Forgive me for saying this, but WTF are they doing? Taking the money from a 12 year old girl and her elderly grandmother?

Music is broadcast over the open air and can be copied. IMHO it is not software and should not fall under the catagory of piracy to download. If they play it over the radio for free, then it is "free."

"I am sorry for what I have done," LaHara said. "I love music and don't want to hurt the artists I love."

The suit claimed LaHara had been offering more than 1,000 songs on the Internet, using the Kazaa file-sharing service.

I love music to and could understand that if a person could not find many of the songs they enjoy at a record store or an on line music shop, they might be drawn to download them.

If I were to download a song I would want to pay for it so I knew it was ok. But there are very few sites that can accomodate that desire. The RIAA will sue any one with a MP3 song on their computer regardless of wether or not it was bough legal or not. So these companies are selling you songs that will get you sued.

The RIAA said it was pleased with the settlement. There are 260 cases still pending.

"We're trying to send a strong message that you are not anonymous when you participate in peer-to-peer file-sharing and that the illegal distribution of copyrighted music has consequences," said Mitch Bainwol, RIAA chairman and chief executive officer. "And as this case illustrates, parents need to be aware of what their children are doing on their computers."

Hell ya they are pleased, they just punished a 12 year old girl and her elderly grandmother who are barely making it. Way to go RIAA!

Monday, RIAA filed lawsuits against 261 individual Internet music file-sharers and announced an amnesty program for most people who admit they illegally shared music files through the Internet. The amnesty would only offer protection for songs represented by the RIAA and not from publishers, musicians or others with rights to songs.

I say sue the radio stations as well. Hell they are playing the music for FREE!

Cary Sherman, president of the RIAA, said the civil lawsuits were filed against "major offenders" who made available an average of 1,000 copyright song files.

Mostly songs that are out of print and can not be bought at a record store or an on line music shop.

Record companies blame illegal music file-trading for a 31-percent fall in compact disc sales since mid-2000.

Um hell no! The drop, if true and I am saying its an out and out lie, would be do to the fact that record companies have HIKED the price of CD's and given us utter crap in the way of new bands and songs over the Last few years!

Sherman also announced the Clean Slate Program that grants amnesty to Users who voluntarily identify themselves, erase downloaded music files and promise not to share music on the Internet. The RIAA said it will not sue Users who sign and have notarized a Clean Slate Program affidavit.

Ya like I am going to ***king tell them who I am! Duh "My name is Dumb *** and I want to be sued now."

The offer of amnesty will not apply to about 1,600 people targeted by copyright subpoenas from the RIAA. The decision was made a few weeks after U.S. appeals court rulings mandated that Internet providers turn over the names of Subscribers believed to be sharing music and movies illegally.

I strongly suggest that g that you employ a similar tactic in your virtual life - by utilizing applications that anonymize

Until now, the only music file-swapping lawsuits filed by the RIAA were against four college students accused of making thousands of songs available on campus networks. Those cases were settled for $12,500 to $17,000 each.

Because they were dumb enough to think that by being public with who they were and what they were doing would garner support for their cause and somehow protect them from the RIAA. Bad decision boys!

Sherman said Monday that the RIAA had negotiated settlements in the range of $3,000 with a "handful" of Internet Users who had learned from their Internet service providers that they were being targeted for lawsuits. The industry is also pursuing subpoenas at universities around the country seeking to identify music file traders.

Hi-way robbery!

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Buying music on line is easy, it cost on average of about $1.00 per song. The problem is that most songs that are rare can not be found. So P2P may be a song lovers only recourse.

What the RIAA did was kinda low, suing a 12 year old girl and her grandma, but a message had to be sent. *ya right*

Pirating software is something that I am against completely. I know the arguements and all, but I have to stand firm on it. Developers, except for MS, make very little on their work while it is popular and even less on when it is no longer popular. I do believe that the poster had a point when he said music is played for FREE on the radio and any one can copy it. YEs that is true, but it is also illegal.

Radio Station have to pay a licensing fee to use music. It is all inclusive and such and cost about 100k a year per station.

I would like to see more on line music stores that allow people to make there own albums filled with music they love for a reasonable price. A buck a song is not bad, but if you do the math, it is very costly over the long run.

The cost should be more reasonable and there should be in place a method to authenticate that you bought the song so you do not get sued for having illegal MP3's on your computer.

[ September 14, 2003, 00:20: Message edited by: Atrocities ]

[Cyrien]

My own views on this are mixed.

However I do believe that the RIAA is fighting a losing battle. Modern security and encrytion methods are available that can stump the NSA and CIA. Once advanced encryption becomes widespread it will become impossible for anyone to crack down on it.

Quite simply the old business model and crime prevention models for these people are dead. Instead of trying to bring it back to life they need to move on and come up with something else that will still let them make money. What is that? I don't know. It isn't my industry. Anonymous and encrypted peer to peer file sharing will spell the end for several standard business models in easily movable data. Primarily music, movies and games... Why not books? Simple. Most people still prefer a solid hard cover that they can easily carry around. Why E-books still aren't that popular. Maybe in time it applies to them as well.

PS: Last I checked the number of peer to peer music/movie pirates was estimated at several million not several hundred, in the US alone. The real damage isn't being done by a few people offering a lot of files it is by a lot of people offering a few.
If the RIAA even tried to sue several million people assuming they could make that list and track em down they would bankrupt themselves in the effort alone. Imagine the legal costs! Imagine the firestorm of bad PR! Oooo boy.

Try it out. Download E-mule or some such, connect and use the built in search feature to search for whatever movie/game/music you can think of. I bet you find it, despite 200+ people offering thousands of files for download being forced to stop.

PS: Please note that the RIAA amnesty offer only applies to lawsuits they themselves would enter into. It does not say that they won't give your name upto some other interested party and that that party won't sue you. BEWARE!!!

[ September 14, 2003, 03:06: Message edited by: Cyrien ]

[Fyron]

128 KB encryption is the standard now, and it is a tough nut to crack. Wait til 1024 KB or higher encryption comes out.

[Atrocities]

The RIAA is most devious!

[narf poit chez BOOM]

incryption could be used to show that you bought the song, if you bought a download.

[ September 14, 2003, 03:22: Message edited by: narf poit chez BOOM ]

[Fyron]

Yes, and it could be used to remain completely anonymous...

[Baron Munchausen]

Cyrien:

This loophole in the RIAA amnesty has been pointed out by many others, and there have actually been lawsuits filed against RIAA for this 'amnesty' tactic, claiming it is a form of entrapment....

I wonder how many people have been paying enough attention to the news to notice their cynical lobbying tactics, as well. They've had lobbyists before congressional committees claiming that P2P networks are supporting terrorism in hopes of stampeding lawmakers into some extreme action to shut them down. Most recently thay've been shouting about all the p0rn available in P2P and the lack of controls to prevent children getting access to it. As if kids need to go to P2P if they want p0rn? How many ordinary middle-class dads (erm, or moms... 60 percent of Playboy Subscribers are female... ) lock up their Playboy magazines? And how many 14-year-olds can't get p0rn from 16-year-olds, who got it from 18-year-olds? But they'll try anything. I'm sure they'll start screaming about the evil 'bomb making information' available on P2P networks or something else like that soon...

[Baron Munchausen]

Originally posted by Imperator Fyron:
Yes, and it could be used to remain completely anonymous...

There are open discussions in Slashdot stories covering the current RIAA legal maneuavers about completely "blacked-out" P2P networks that trade a constant flow of encrypted fake data so you can't even tell how much traffic any one site is carrying let alone what files are being moved. And also discussions of preventing any one site from having to serve all of a given file, further obfuscating the actual data being traded and creating some difficult issues of 'legal liability' for the copyright hounds. If this is already being discussed in the open, there's a lot of work already underway in the quiet corners of the 'hacker' community. There will be a new generation of P2P applications coming out, probably within months, that will give RIAA nightmares. They really cannot win.

[ September 14, 2003, 04:13: Message edited by: Baron Munchausen ]

[Suicide Junkie]

I do believe that the poster had a point when he said music is played for FREE on the radio and any one can copy it. YEs that is true, but it is also illegal.

You can tape TV shows with that handy-dandy VCR, no prob. You can record the radio station with your cassette tape.

The only difference is the format you've saved it to. Everything is fine with analog recordings, but "digital" is the boogeyman.

Without the internet, it would be a non-issue I'm sure.

[Fyron]

Yeah, cause those digital bits are just EVIL!