RIAA Drops Yet Another Case
from the something-seems-wrong dept
Given just how many cases the RIAA has had to drop after it was pointed out that it's sued the wrong person, why isn't anyone questioning why the RIAA is allowed to file thousands of cases in a single shot when it's clearly not very careful about the process? The latest is that the RIAA has dropped a case after it was pointed out to the RIAA that the person being sued wasn't actually a subscriber to the ISP in question at the time of the observed file sharing. Oops. At some point, you would think that someone would point out that the RIAA appears to be abusing the legal system as its personal plaything in suing whoever it wants whenever it wants on whatever flimsy evidence it can find.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.
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Pointing Out the Obvious
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No majority rule is, indeed correct. ...or maybe we'd be switching from fossil fuels at some point in the foreseeable future.
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more to the point
Same thing with the State and local jurisdictions. These guys shotgun their suits all over the country, wherever their victims, er, I mean plaintiffs, happen to live.
Who is there that has the authority to stop them? Perhaps Congress could get into the act? Don't make me laugh!
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one out of how meny
1 Net radio stations to tell these b******s to stick there copyright where the sun dont shine and continue to broadcast. I know i would.
2 everyone sued by them to state that they will not adhere to any court order or any order from the rigormortice insane analslappers association and will not pay a cent again i would. are you all gutless look what happened at digg the community won. lets take the web back to the people and make it free again.
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Under the Radar
What I'm trying to get at is that a majority of people probably haven't even heard of the RIAA and their shotgun lawsuits. (I did a random poll around the office and only people I've mentioned the RIAA to have heard of them) If the voters don't care, then it's a safe bet that the politicians don't give it much, if any, thought. Hence why nothing ever happens about it.
We, as Americans, seem to be able to ignore a lot of things that shouldn't be ignored because it doesn't directly and drastically worsen our quality of life. For example: Gas prices. If they go up quickly like last summer, there is a huge and televised outcry-- but if they go up gradually, as they have been, then they can get just as high (like now) and no one seems to care.
The day will come when the RIAA shotgun sues a senator's son or daughter and *then* something will happen-- but the steady erosion of our freedom to do what we want with what we buy is too gradual for America to care.
Maybe, though, we could get digg on it. :P
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Re: Under the Radar
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Re: Re: Under the Radar
I think you and I may see eye to eye on how wrong the RIAA are for their tactics, but I worry about this line:
several thousand people being sued for i dare say NO reason other than downloading music
This line draws away from your argument (and perhaps more) because the RIAA is perfectly in their rights to sue. I happen to download music, myself, and I still make no claim that it isn't against the law. My issue is how the RIAA tries to go about suing people. Mainly, without any real proof or direction, e.g. "Shotgun litigation".
Now, if we were discussing if the labels should *allow* their music to be downloaded for free, I'd have much more to say, but as it stands now they have the right to sue if someone infringes on their copyrights, but they don't have the right to sue semi-random groups of people with little to no real proof, or even more insanely, send letters to kids offering a settlement or they'll sue.
PS- The new reply to this comment box is very nice. :)
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Has the RIAA ever...?
This is a serious question, does the RIAA ever win in court? I know tons of people probably pay the settlement fee. But if every time they go to court -- they lost, you'd think that they'd stop going to court.
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Re: Pointing Out the Obvious
Of course you were probably educated in a public school so this is going straight over your head.
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Re: Pointing Out the Obvious
Neither.
The simple fact is that, of 300,000,000 Americans, 299,000,000 or so just don't care that much about this issue. So it is difficult for a democracy to "get it right" when the vast majority of people are ambivelent.
Let's put it a different way. How many congressman are concerned that their stand on this issue might affect their reelection? The number is probably 0, or pretty close to it. How many congressman are concerned that their stands on taxes, availability of health care, viability of Social Security, Iraq, or abortion might affect their reelection chances? Virtually all of them. Guess where they are going to be working hard to "get it right".
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Re: Pointing Out the Obvious
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Subscriber or not...
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Re: Pointing Out the Obvious
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Re: Subscriber or not...
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No Amount of tweaking??
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Re: Re: Subscriber or not...
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Re: Re: Pointing Out the Obvious
In a stand up by Chris Rock (I think it was called Never Scared) he talks about the old saying that states something to the effect of, "Behind every great fortune is a great crime." By that he's is talking about how a company would make a fortune by immoral means and then "lobby" (read:pay) to have laws put in place to stop someone else from doing the same thing or topple their dominant position on whatever industry they are in. Case in the point the RIAA. They once had a strangehold on the music industry but now that digital distribution has taken off the RIAA is scrambling with everything they have to take control of that too. And if they can't control it they will stop at nothing to end it altogther.
So uncaring masses aren't the only obstacle. Big business and the government officals in their pockets are actively trying to make sure the masses remain just that, uncaring.
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Re: Re: Re: Pointing Out the Obvious
Big business and the goverment officals in their pockets are also doing what they can to stop the ones that do care from being able to do anything about it.
Two pronged attack really. Someone mentioned that the RIAA cases get little to no time in the mainstrem media becuase that would trigger the Streisand Effect (yes companies know perfectly well when and when not to trigger it) causing more people to learn about the issue. That's true. And they are also throwing out all those shotgun lawsuits in a last ditch effort to set some sort of precedent that they can wave like a flag in future cases. Someone asked if the RIAA has one a case that has actually gone to trial. I doubt that becuase if they had you can believe that the RIAA would be proclaiming victory from the highest mountain (i.e. mainstream media). Sorry for the long rant.
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Re: Re: Re: Re: Pointing Out the Obvious
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Re: Under the Radar
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Re: Re: Pointing Out the Obvious
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Re: Re: Re: Pointing Out the Obvious
I wonder why politicians act like the US is a democracy when it is clearly not. And as for why the US leaders are fighting for democracy in other nations, PR. It makes the US government look good to the American masses to talk about democracy and freedom (which almost always in the same sentence).
US leaders want to force other countries to act, think, feel, and live just like America and then they tell the masses that they are fighting to bring democracy, freedom, and "American morals and values".
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Re: Re: Re: Pointing Out the Obvious
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