RIAA Apologizes For Incorrect Threatening Letter

from the oops dept

As the RIAA goes around sending out "tens of thousands" of "DMCA takedown" notices - alerting network owners that they believe someone is illegally sharing copyrighted works, and that the network needs to be shut down immediately, it seems they don't have much of a review process in place. At least, that's what Penn State learned this week when they were sent a takedown notice for a server that had no infringing materials on it. Instead, it had the research of a professor named Peter Usher, who showed up during an RIAA search on the term "Usher" (a popular musician). The RIAA now admits it was a mistake, which they blame on a "temporary employee" (perhaps made temporary due to this mistake). Even though the RIAA apologized and said they do their best to prevent these sorts of mishaps, this does demonstrate the biggest problem with "takedown" notices. If this weren't a university machine where the administrator knew everyone on the machine, it probably would have been taken down immediately. The law requires network operators to take down the server first, and protest later. Due process doesn't apply when the music industry is involved.
Hide this

Thank you for reading this Techdirt post. With so many things competing for everyone’s attention these days, we really appreciate you giving us your time. We work hard every day to put quality content out there for our community.

Techdirt is one of the few remaining truly independent media outlets. We do not have a giant corporation behind us, and we rely heavily on our community to support us, in an age when advertisers are increasingly uninterested in sponsoring small, independent sites — especially a site like ours that is unwilling to pull punches in its reporting and analysis.

While other websites have resorted to paywalls, registration requirements, and increasingly annoying/intrusive advertising, we have always kept Techdirt open and available to anyone. But in order to continue doing so, we need your support. We offer a variety of ways for our readers to support us, from direct donations to special subscriptions and cool merchandise — and every little bit helps. Thank you.

–The Techdirt Team


Reader Comments

Subscribe: RSS

View by: Time | Thread


  • identicon
    Joe Schmoe, 13 May 2003 @ 9:43am

    heheh

    I'm just waiting till they [the RISS] distribute a trojan that mis-identifies a file collection. These boneheads will try it, and boy will there be hell to pay. Of course, not the sensible and judicial hell, but good ol' vigilante hell.

    link to this | view in chronology ]

  • identicon
    Joe Schmoe, 13 May 2003 @ 9:48am

    ooops

    Make that [RIAA]...

    link to this | view in chronology ]


Follow Techdirt
Essential Reading
Techdirt Deals
Report this ad  |  Hide Techdirt ads
Techdirt Insider Discord

The latest chatter on the Techdirt Insider Discord channel...

Loading...
Recent Stories

This site, like most other sites on the web, uses cookies. For more information, see our privacy policy. Got it
Close

Email This

This feature is only available to registered users. Register or sign in to use it.