RIAA today on the news

[Superman]

They claim they are going to start filing law suits against the individuals who download MP3's. What the hell is going to happen here?

On my PC, I have downloaded music AND music that I put there myself from my own CD's. How will they know which is which?

[The Duchess of Zeon]

They claim they are going to start filing law suits against the individuals who download MP3's. What the hell is going to happen here?

On my PC, I have downloaded music AND music that I put there myself from my own CD's. How will they know which is which?

Just let yourself get sued and then contact the ACLU or another legal defence fund. You have a standing in law which will allow you to win a case if you challenge RIAA instead of giving in like their last example.

See This thread in the politics forum on the subject, which is already up, for details. Quite simply, it's legitimate for a private person to copy software like this, as, to quote:

Since 1992, the U.S. Government has collected a tax on all digital audio recorders and blank digital audio media manufactured in or imported into the US, and gives the money directly to the RIAA companies, which is distributed as royalties to recording artists, copyright owners, music publishers, and music writers [...] In exchange for those royalties, a special exemption to the copyright law was made for the specific case of audio recordings, and as a result *ALL* noncommercial copying of musical recordings by consumers is now legal in the US, regardless of media.

RIAA is desperately posturing in a last-ditch effort to intimidate people--hoping to settle with each person it sues instead of having the cases go to court. If even one private citizen who is sued by RIAA gets support from a legal defence fund and challenges RIAA, their plan of suing private citizens will collapse as the hollow farce it is, with absolutely no grounding in law.

[Superman]

I really think the RIAA is waaaay out of touch. It's like the RIAA vs EVERYBODY else in the freggin country. If they do manage to successfully sue people, it will be interesting to see what everyone does in response. I could easily imagine people mass boycotting the ENTIRE industry.

[SirNitram]

Since 1992, the U.S. Government has collected a tax on all digital audio recorders and blank digital audio media manufactured in or imported into the US, and gives the money directly to the RIAA companies, which is distributed as royalties to recording artists, copyright owners, music publishers, and music writers [...] In exchange for those royalties, a special exemption to the copyright law was made for the specific case of audio recordings, and as a result *ALL* noncommercial copying of musical recordings by consumers is now legal in the US, regardless of media.

RIAA is desperately posturing in a last-ditch effort to intimidate people--hoping to settle with each person it sues instead of having the cases go to court. If even one private citizen who is sued by RIAA gets support from a legal defence fund and challenges RIAA, their plan of suing private citizens will collapse as the hollow farce it is, with absolutely no grounding in law.

*shocked silence*

This is for real?

[Admiral Valdemar]

I'm already laughing and finding it sick at the same time. Laughing because there's nothing they can do to me, feeling sick because this company seems to think it'll somehow find, prosecute and fine every MP3 downloader this side of the year 40,000.

I do believe these people were born with some other organ where the brain should be.

[The Duchess of Zeon]

*shocked silence*

This is for real?

Yes. Get yourself sued by RIAA--then call the ACLU. If you did that, RIAA might well fold within a year or two.

Cornell University Law Link1


Cornell University Law Link2

Congress link

Cornell University Law Link3

A thousand thanks to Damaramu for providing the links and the article they were in (available on the link from my original post) which was in turn originally off Slashdot.


Essentially--RIAA is now engaged in mass extortion. In fact, if someone stands up to them and succeeds (as this makes it clear you would have the legal grounding to do), you could easily counter-sue them for extortion!

The only problem, of course, and what they're counting on, is that no private citizen has the money for lawyers that they do. So as long as they keep having the suites giving calls to private citizens, they figure they can intimidate them into settling, and ripping them off of any money that they have.

That, of course, would ideally intimidate the MP3 market to death, and maybe collect enough money to pay for their lawyers.

The problem is that there are groups out there--legal defence funds--who will represent citizens, and have the deep pockets and sometimes their own lawyers, enough to fight RIAA, if you have a case and the reasonable principle to do so.

A simple solution to this is to collect the names and numbers of as many potential legal defence funds as possible, and finding those that would take such a case, make yourself a very attractive target to RIAA and wait to get sued. Once you do, turn around and call said defence funds--the result is that RIAA gets in over its head and dies.

I'm not necessarily recommending that somewhere here does it; but someone will, eventually, and when they do the recording industry as we know it is going to enter its death-throes.

[Superman]

I am sure that there will be plenty of lawyers that will be willing to take these cases on without charge (provided they get their fee when they win). I have a buddy I sometimes lift weights with at the gym. He is a lawyer. I'll ask him about this later today and see what he thinks.

[EmperorMing]

I am sure that there will be plenty of lawyers that will be willing to take these cases on without charge (provided they get their fee when they win). I have a buddy I sometimes lift weights with at the gym. He is a lawyer. I'll ask him about this later today and see what he thinks.

Please do. We are interested in this...

[LT.Hit-Man]

Makes me wish i had a few gas grenades filled with sarin and there hoe addys

[Sea Skimmer]

What's this, four threads now?

Anyway, as I've said many times this is the stupidest thing they could do. It will cost them a huge amount, bring in next to nothing and further piss off potential customers. What they need to do is shut up about legal action and slash CD prices by 50%. I'd bet that would more then double sales.

[GrandMasterTerwynn]

They claim they are going to start filing law suits against the individuals who download MP3's. What the hell is going to happen here?

On my PC, I have downloaded music AND music that I put there myself from my own CD's. How will they know which is which?

Been there, done that, bought the damned t-shirt. The active one's already in News and Politics . . . so it should only be a matter of time now . . .

[The Yosemite Bear]

Since this is now a dup thread, and even though I like it.

It's still a duplicate thread.

Bye, Bye