RIAA = motherfuckers.

[FlamingDeth]

http://www.cnn.com/2003/TECH/internet/06/25/download.suits.ap/index.html

<blockquote style="padding-left:0.5em; margin-left:0; margin-right:0; margin-top:0; margin-bottom:0; border-left:solid 2">Record industry to sue downloaders

WASHINGTON (AP) -- The embattled music industry disclosed aggressive plans Wednesday for an unprecedented escalation in its fight against Internet piracy, threatening to sue hundreds of individual computer users who illegally share music files online.

The Recording Industry Association of America, citing substantial sales declines, said it will begin Thursday to search Internet file-sharing networks to identify users who offer "substantial" collections of mp3 music files for downloading. It expects to file at least several hundred lawsuits seeking financial damages within eight to 10 weeks.

Executives for the RIAA, the Washington-based lobbying group that represents major labels, would not say how many songs on a user's computer will qualify for a lawsuit. The new campaign comes just weeks after U.S. appeals court rulings requiring Internet providers to identify subscribers suspected of illegally sharing music and movie files.

Facing the music

The RIAA's president, Carey Sherman, said tens of millions of Internet users of popular file-sharing software after Thursday will expose themselves to "the real risk of having to face the music."

"It's stealing. It's both wrong and illegal," Sherman said. Alluding to the court decisions, Sherman said Internet users who believe they can hide behind an alias online were mistaken. "You are not anonymous," Sherman said. "We're going to begin taking names."

Critics accused the RIAA of resorting to heavy-handed tactics likely to alienate millions of Internet file-sharers.

"This latest effort really indicates the recording industry has lost touch with reality completely," said Fred von Lohmann, a lawyer for the Electronic Frontier Foundation. "Does anyone think more lawsuits are going to be the answer? Today they have declared war on the American consumer."

Public resistance?

Sherman disputed that consumers, who are gradually turning to legitimate Web sites to buy music legally, will object to the industry's latest efforts against pirates.

"You have to look at exactly who are your customers," he said. "You could say the same thing about shoplifters -- are you worried about alienating them? All sorts of industries and retailers have come to the conclusion that they need to be able to protect their rights. We have come to the same conclusion."

Mike Godwin of Public Knowledge, a consumer group that has challenged broad crackdowns on file-sharing networks, said Wednesday's announcement was appropriate because it targeted users illegally sharing copyrighted files.

"I'm sure it's going to freak them out," Godwin said. "The free ride is over." He added: "I wouldn't be surprised if at least some people engaged in file-trading decide to resist and try to find ways to thwart the litigation strategy."

The RIAA said its lawyers will file lawsuits initially against people with the largest collections of music files they can find online. U.S. copyright laws allow for damages of $750 to $150,000 for each song offered illegally on a person's computer, but Sherman said the RIAA will be open to settlement proposals from defendants.

"We have no hard and fast rule on how many files you have to be distributing ... to come within our radar screen," Sherman said.

The RIAA said it expected to file "at least several hundred lawsuits" within eight to 10 weeks but will continue to file lawsuits afterward on a regular basis.[/quote]

Well, I'm not buying anything endorsed by the RIAA until they stop this shit.

Here's what's funny, though: If instead of bitching so much about it the RIAA isntead set up some sort of centralized site where people could go and pay five cents per song to download music, that would be over $500,000 a day for each of the major recording industries. Also, while they are obviously discouraging downloading of music, the RIAA still gets up to 50% of the proceedings of all CD-Rs. <p>

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I AM A CHEF. MY MISSION IS TO COOK FOOD.

That was a recipe for kicking your ass!</p>

[SuperRube]

I dunno. Am I the only one who things that suing hundreds of people all over america kind of defeats the puporse of making a profit?

I mean, come on. Think of the overhead that would require. <p>

---

"Carrying a ham into a room, Mr. Connery says, 'hon mono.' It basically means that the ham he carries is genuine or real. We expect nothing less."</p>

[FlamingDeth]

...the profits they made from Eminem's last album alone will more than pay for the legal costs. Which brings up the point: Why the fuck do they feel they need to sue people if they're already making so much damn money? <p>

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I AM A CHEF. MY MISSION IS TO COOK FOOD.

That was a recipe for kicking your ass!</p>

[Jak Snide]

They want more. Duh.

[SuperRube]

I dunno. I think if enough people call the bluff, it'd hurt them. Bad.

I think that's the entire point here. Scare people into thinking they're in big trouble.

It worked on Penny Arcade. <p>

---

"Carrying a ham into a room, Mr. Connery says, 'hon mono.' It basically means that the ham he carries is genuine or real. We expect nothing less."</p>

[WhiteShadow]

They'll never get it past a court of law anyway, even if they do all they say. <p>-----------------------------------------------------
"To fall, to fall... Glorious!"</p>

[Wolfbelly]

Okay FD, I'm with you. but first you must compile a list of products which the RIAA has their name attached to, OR tell us a quick and easy way of seeing if the RIAA is behind a certain product.

[Darkphoenixfri13]

I heard about this too... I told my friend who downloads hundreds of songs from Kazaa and hes starting to freak out. I'm not worried because all my songs I get from my friends who download, rip, and burn for me free. Damn RIAA I was going to get broadband soon and download lots of my own songs! <p>

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I am the last Phoenix...And I will let nothing get in the way of my vengeance!
Official Slapbitch reporting for booty... I mean duty. *Gets slapped*</p>

[KraKeN]

I use mIRC most of the time now.... plus who are they gonna sue, kazaaliteuser@kazaalite.com? <p>

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<div style="text-align:center"> <br />"Now apparently just apathetic."</div></p>Edited by: [url=http://pub30.ezboard.com/brpgww60462.showUserPublicProfile?gid=kraken@rpgww60462>KraKeN</A]&nbsp; at: 6/26/03 8:09 am

[Jak Snide]

BUT YOU ARE BROADCASTING YOUR IP YOU CANNOT RUN YOU CANNOT HIDE OHNOES

Rube's probably right, though. They're keeping the number of mp3s that qualifies for "big" a secret, so that almost anyone with some deal of mp3s will freak out.

And I highly doubt, even if they do move to law cases, that they'll prosecute individuals, due to the huge amount of bad rep it'd garner them for suing the pants of Bob, who has to support his wife and kids.

[Koneko]

ONO USE A PROXY IF YOU'RE REALLY WORRIED.

Jak brings up a good point, in that "the people who have the largest collections of MP3s" probably don't have the kind of money they're looking for. Those that do don't have the $750+ per song to pay... or else they'd've just bought the song.

I'm guessing what they're hoping for is a hyped suit on someone random (who has a decent sum of money and refused to settle), to try to set an example, and then sit back, occasionally paging people and asking for settlements. *shrugs* But we'll have to see. <p>

---

He who laughs last, thinks slowest.

He who laughs first, didn't get the joke.</p>

[Jak Snide]

Hmm. Just realised something. They say they're going after distributers. So if you have a gigantic horde of mp3s, but don't allow people to download them off you, your safe.

[ChristianC]

It's been like that the whole time. Download "safety copies" because who are they to tell you haven't got all those CDs buried somewhere in Northwest Arkansas? Frankly, pft to them. And as I've always said to my friends, "As soon as movies/games/cds stops getting bought cheaply in Tailand, I'll start to worry". The biggest criminals are there, they're really the ones that should be targeted first. <p>

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<div style="text-align:center">Christian Cordeus - Shamelessly stealing school supplies since 1993.</div></p>

[Darkphoenixfri13]

They probably will check people on kazaa that have kazaa lite because with kazaa lite your participation level is always K-Lite master (1000) which means that you distribute lots of your files including music. <p>

---

I am the last Phoenix...And I will let nothing get in the way of my vengeance!
Official Slapbitch reporting for booty... I mean duty. *Gets slapped*</p>

[Jak Snide]

Actually, I quite easily got my rating up to 1000 without a single person downloading music of me. Nadesico is a strangely wanted anime.

[KraKeN]

Wouldn't they have to actually prove that you had shared mp3s though? So if you arn't sharing any the high part. level means nothing, epsecially since it can be bumped up by screwing with the registry. <p>

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<div style="text-align:center"> <br />"Now apparently just apathetic."</div></p>

[5orbus]

The IRAA are also missing the point that this may prompt alot of people to refuse buying music in protest, and may ultimately end up causing them to suffer further financial trouble.
Secondly the country in which each network is based will affect this, as networks based outside the US can refuse to divulge this information to the IRAA should they wish to, as they are not subject to Americas laws. Or at least I think they can.

[Ajil6]

I'm pretty sure it isn't going to work, really. Just seems to stupid. <p>|---------|

O_O

I am wearing delicious donuts on my face, and if you've got something to say about that, you're a goddamned racist.

As my great and powerful leader and teacher, Master Walnut once said...

Go to hell.
OHDEAR.

"I found that honkey in a cracker jack box!" - Me.</p>

[Kotoki]

What about all the people who live in countries other than the US? What happens to us? Why is this supposed to convince people over here to stop pirating?

In other words: ARR. *wears eyepatch*

[Jak Snide]

But shouldn't we be terrified of the mighty and extensive powers of the US of A?

*swigs rum*

[WhiteShadow]

Unfortunately, despite the old US of A having no jurisdiction here in Australia, the Oz Government would probably leap at the chance to kiss your government's red white and blue behind by setting up a task force.

Of course, the Australian government could just say that theyr'e helping stop piracy in Australia by keeping broadband ridiculously expensive and poorly implemented. <p>-----------------------------------------------------
"To fall, to fall... Glorious!"</p>

[Elementalist Daien]

You haven't seen piracy until you have seen Malta.



YARR! Gimme som' o' that rum, matey!

[Jak Snide]

No. Fucker. *drinks it himself*

Go steal your own rum. =P

However, you are right about Malta.

[Justice Augustus]

Meh, almost all of my music is recorded from cds I actually own so I'm not too worried. And I don't share music of Kaaza as AOL=not share anything bigger than 100K or you won't be able to load webpages. I think that most people who maybe download a couple of hundred mp3s aren't the problem...the problem is those who have thousands because that's approaching grand larceny. I like to support bands that I like so I have downloaded songs and the brought the album sometimes.
<p>

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Another crazy conversation between me and Jak
<p>Me: Seriously, it pees when I burn!
<p>Jak:....
<p>Me:....
<p>Jak: Don't you mean-
<p>Me: No, seriously! Here, you set my arm on fire and I'll wet my pants.
</p>

[AnronTagutsi1987]

Besides, alot of underground bands actually want us consumers to download their albums from file sharing programs and such. Many need the publicity they might get from the internet to get signed, and such. <p>

www.kingsofchaos.com/page.php?id=761431</p>

[PriamNevhausten]

As soon as they started thinking every person to be a criminal, they lost their self-declared battle. If one tries to control something so free and open as the internet...well, I don't think I have to complete that sentence. More clearly now than ever before is it shown that they are in it for the money alone, and not for a greater purpose like 'bringing music to the people,' or 'publishing lesser-known artists to national audiences.'

I can't wait to see what happens next. <p><span style="font-size:xx-small;">"When I started training in Gung Fu, a punch was just a punch, and a kick was just a kick.
After training for a few years, a punch was much more than a punch and a kick was more
than just a kick. Now that I have trained a long time, a punch is just a punch and
a kick is just a kick."
-Bruce Lee, "The Tao of Jeet Kune Do"</span></p>

[FlamingDeth]

Priam is more correct than usual, and he's usually pretty damn correct. <p>

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I AM A CHEF. MY MISSION IS TO COOK FOOD.

That was a recipe for kicking your ass!</p>

[SuperRube]

And now to upstage Sortra with a good comics take on the subject. <p>

---

"Carrying a ham into a room, Mr. Connery says, 'hon mono.' It basically means that the ham he carries is genuine or real. We expect nothing less."</p>

[Unknown]

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