RIAA Gets Legislators To Threaten To Drop 'The Hammer' On Colleges and Universities
from the enough-already dept
The RIAA has been on a renewed push to target file-sharing college students lately, trying to push them into "discounted settlements" so the RIAA doesn't have to go to the trouble of actually suing them in court, where its claims might have to face some scrutiny. Yesterday, it went up to Capitol Hill to whine that colleges and universities aren't doing enough to stop piracy. They also got some legislators, like Hollywood's rep, Howard Berman, to make some veiled threats to the schools, such as saying that "current law isn't giving universities enough incentive to comply," or say that Congress might seek to make schools liable for their students' illegal downloading. One of our favorite people, RIAA president Cary Sherman, complained that the schools aren't doing enough to enforce the law -- but last time we checked, that wasn't their responsibility, and neither is helping the RIAA prop up its members' outdated business model. Just because the RIAA has been able to get some law enforcement groups to act at its behest, or because it's put together its own private police force, that doesn't mean it gets to decide who has the responsibility to enforce copyright law. The RIAA continually tries to sidestep the legal process and keep its lawsuits -- and shaky legal arguments -- out of the courtroom and away from scrutiny. When that doesn't work, they follow their campaign contributions to Washington, and try to get legislators to change the law. Plenty of protection and legal recourse already exists for the RIAA and any other group who thinks its copyrights are being infringed. The problem isn't that colleges and universities aren't doing their part (because they have no part to play), but simply that the RIAA wants to shortcut the legal process and make the relevant laws suit its agenda above anything else.
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WTF
WTF!!!!!!!
(Extra exclaimation marks added for John Ruhnke effect)
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not a big deal
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What!?!
In a lawuit isn't it the burden of the entity suing to acutally prove that they have been wronged? Well the RIAA has managed to flip the scirpt and is now taking people to court and instead of the RIAA proving that 70 yr old grandparent guilty that 70 yr old grandpartent basically has to give up half their pension for fear of losing all of it trying to fight back.
The RIAA is using the strategy of going after those that are unlikely to have the funds and/or knowledge to fight back in order to set precedence. Once that is done they will start going after larger targets. After that they will try to bully the electronics industry into only releasing devices pending RIAA approval (i.e. make sure there is no way consumers can use said device in any way that the RIAA does not like).
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maybe
HMMMMMMMMMM............
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file sharing?
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simple problem..simple solution
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Re: simple problem..simple solution
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Hear that..?
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Easy Targets
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They are going to get burned...
Right now their methods are to attack lots of little groups and push individuals around, that works, individuals don't have the resources, support, or knowledge to fight back. Now, however, they are reaching out against large groups of somewhat intelligent people. Pushing around computer illiterate parents is one thing, but they are going to start running into law and computer science types who know their rights and know who to turn to for help.
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This is where it can all hit the fan.
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Re: This is where it can all hit the fan.
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..
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Class action suit
I know that ethics != law but this is out of hand.
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Eh?
For the record, I too am one of the few who rarely listens to or buys music. Granted, I have a small collection ('small' meaning almost all my CDs were gifts).
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Great idea.
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Time for Action....
Let's see the RIAA stop off shore usenet posts!
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There's no such thing as usenet now
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Fuck the RIAA
It's a simplly a matter of "follow the dollars". This is a money making machine for lawyers. They can promise the world to the RIAA and deliver the easy targets one at a time. It is rememinicenst of the early days of hacking, a few victims made an example of. Punshment DID NOT fit the crime.
MESSAGE TO THE MUSIC INDUSTRY: Fair is fair, supply us with a quality product that engages us in more ways than the music itself. I mean packaging, details about the artists, quality that exceeds anything that can be done in a download, extras that you can ensure can't be copied and put on-line by pirates, spend the money that you would use to pay lawyers to bring your audience back using the age-old, certified, adertising "gimicks" of a quality product that engages the consumer, and is only available in that form from one source.
We don't have any intersest in ripping any artists off!
We want something that keeps up with the changing quality, product style, marketing, etc,of the third millenium. (Marketing 101 2007) Maybe time to re-train your staff?
WAKE-UP RIAA!!!!! Get off the "we're such tragic victims!" bandwaggon and understand your target demographic!!!
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Re: Fuck the RIAA
You're not even willing to pay for a bare bones cd with good songs. You download and burn.
Yet you use the excuse that the packaging isn't up to par?
Try buying a cd. Hell, try making one and marketing it.
Just listen to the music, "dude".
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Re: @16
If all unencrypted P2P is blocked, and encrypted traffic banned in the USA (only a matter of time, I bet you will need liscences to use encryption and have to supply the keys to the government), offshore Usenet posts may become popular. You could use VoIP to connect to a dial-up server overseas, and download from there. ASCII-buffring tools are still around, so that shouldn't be a problem. You could even use a real 'phne line if you could afford the 'phone bill, by pretendign to be a fax machine sending a corrupted document, or a dial-up internet user.
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same nonsense...different way!
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The RIAA
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Great idea.
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