RIAA cracking down on file swappers

[Jonbo298]

File swappers, beware. The RIAA may sue you.

Yeah, yeah, you've heard this warning before, right?

Think again.

In a surprise announcement Wednesday, the Recording Industry Association of America issued its strongest warning yet to file swappers: It's watching who's downloading and uploading music online, and it's set to sue lawbreaking song swappers.

Tonight on "Tech Live," get the very latest on this story, including reaction from the industry, digital rights advocates, and song swappers.

'The law is clear'

According to an RIAA statement released Wednesday, the industry is ready to use lawsuits to stop people from illegally downloading music with file-swapping software such as KaZaA and Morpheus.

"The law is clear and the message to those who are distributing substantial quantities of music online should be equally clear -- this activity is illegal, you are not anonymous when you do it, and engaging in it can have real consequences," RIAA President Cary Sherman said in the prepared statement. "We'd much rather spend time making music then (sic) dealing with legal issues in courtrooms. But we cannot stand by while piracy takes a devastating toll on artists, musicians, songwriters, retailers, and everyone in the music industry."

The statement was endorsed by dozens of popular recording artists, including Sheryl Crow, The Dixie Chicks, Peter Gabriel, and Missy Elliot.

The RIAA says it's beginning to gather evidence in order to bring lawsuits to the doors of file swappers. Lawsuits could begin as soon as mid-August.

To gather evidence, the RIAA says it's using software to scan public directories available to any user of a P2P network. The software then downloads information on users who make files available to the P2P networks, recording data such as what file is being offered and when it was made available. The only way to ensure you're not a target of the RIAA is to disable your software's ability to trade files, or get rid of the software altogether.

Rep. Mary Bono (R-CA) recently founded the Intellectual Property Promotion and Piracy Prevention Caucus to address piracy concerns. Bono's name has also been named as a possible successor to Hilary Rosen, the RIAA's outgoing chief executive and top lobbyist.

Today on Capitol Hill, Bono responded to the RIAA's announcement by saying the government is committed to finding solutions based on what's best for all parties involved.

"We want to meet these growing needs and grow with the internet as it grows," she said, "but still protect private property and intellicutal property rights."

Using ISPs to target individuals

The RIAA will then identify users and contact them through subpoenas served to the users' Internet service providers.

This same tactic was used in the recent case that made it easier for the RIAA to go after individual downloaders. In the RIAA's case against Verizon, a federal appeals court ordered Verizon to hand over the names of four of its ISP customers pursued by the RIAA as illegal song swappers. Verizon has given the RIAA the customers' names, and the RIAA has sent the four song swappers cease and desist letters. Verizon is appealing the decision.

"Once we begin our evidence-gathering process, any individual computer user who continues to offer music illegally to millions of others will run the very real risk of facing legal action in the form of civil lawsuits that will cost violators thousands of dollars and potentially subject them to criminal prosecution," Sherman said in the statement.

The statement goes on to cite the Digital Millennium Copyright Act (PDF) as giving the RIAA permission to directly pursue song swappers.

The RIAA says it has worked with a number of companies to provide consumers plenty of legal opportunities to download good-quality music from the Internet.

http://www.techtv.com/news/news/story/0,24195,3463091,00.html

Looks like they are finally serious this time around. But this won't affect me at all because of this thing called (in KaZaa) "Disable sharing of files with other KaZaa Media Desktop Users". Unless the RIAA has a way around it, which I doubt. But they have said they are going after people with large amounts of music files, and I'm not one with large amounts of files. I wonder what will happen if they find someone with hundreds of songs on their HD and they try to sue the person. Then the person countersues because he has the original CD's and uses the service sometimes because his CD's are scratched.:lol: I'd like to see the look on their faces when the RIAA hears that:lol:

[Null]

yea. heard this a while ago.



problem is. as i said long long ago. When it gets to the point where they start sueing users...... They've lost the battle.

sueing the user is thier last resort. they couldnt stop the programs. now they go after the user.

but they are sueing the people they want to buy CD's. thats the catch.

Even microsoft wont sue the users it knows that pirate thier software. they sue the people who resell it or distribute it.

which is why metallica went after napster long ago instead of sueing the huge ass list of users they had whom had thier songs.

And BTW, just telling it to not share your files only prevents them from downloading what you have...... they can still SEE what you have. best thing is to set it to share one folder. store your files in another so your share is always empty.

but then theres the catch. if everyone does that. they win, and thats the only way they can win really. by scareing the other users into not doing it. And thats thier plan. They know damn well they cant sue some odd millions of users one after another.

They are looking for one good example. and scare everyone else with it.


[EDIT] and from your final statment. if they find someone and sue him for having gigs of music on his computer.............that defence woudlnt work. because they are looking for someone with a TON of songs that others can download. if he's shareing them. then he has no defence. -- having mp3's isnt illegal. shareing them is.

[EDIT again] even if they scare everyone out of using file shareing programs. It will not help them. A new way would be found. Or it will revert back to the old school ways...... people running private FTP servers, only the one running the server can see who downloads from it. ahhhh. i remember the time when that was the best way to get songs, then there was the damn mofo's who made you upload something before they let you download. :p

[Jason1]

:lol:

This dosent scare me in the slightest. Even if they do sue someone, what are the chances of it being an average file sharer like me or you? Im going to continue to share files like I always have.

[Stonecutter]

Well, null pretty much said everything that needs to be said except......

Here's the big thing. Null's right but the fact of the matter is. This will scare people. This is probably going to help the RIAA. The people who know how to get files other ways like ICQ and whatnot are going to get them anyway and there's not a damn thing you can do to stop them. There are going to be plenty of morons who just stop because they don't understand that there's no way they can be sued.

[Bond]

From BSNEWS.com:

"Jason1, a frequent forumer at the GameTavern message boards, was arrested yesterday morning for illegal file sharing. He will face up to five years in jail. He was quoted as saying, "It's not my fault! My racist grandparents told me to! I just wanted to fight off the offenders! All hail Hitler!" When questioned by an openly gay reporter he responded by saying, "I hate homos!" he the proceeded to violently kick the reporter in the testicles. He will first have to be deemed sane before he can stand trial."

Oh well.

[One Winged Angel]

From BSNEWS.com:

" I hate homos!"

Oh well.
;_; That is mean

[Jason1]

From BSNEWS.com:

"Jason1, a frequent forumer at the GameTavern message boards, was arrested yesterday morning for illegal file sharing. He will face up to five years in jail. He was quoted as saying, "It's not my fault! My racist grandparents told me to! I just wanted to fight off the offenders! All hail Hitler!" When questioned by an openly gay reporter he responded by saying, "I hate homos!" he the proceeded to violently kick the reporter in the testicles. He will first have to be deemed sane before he can stand trial."

Oh well.


As I said before, I demand a link. ;)

:rolleyes:

[ominub]

well i never have alot of songs on my computer because i keep re-doing my pc all the time so they cant get me

[Happydude]

meh...all my music is stored elsewhere on my HD...and i disabled file sharing...so either way...they aint suing me...

[PureEvil]

...and i disabled file sharing...

That takes away the whole point of the P2P thing. You ass.

[Mechadragon]

Well I remember hearing something about they can't sue Kazaa because Kazaa doesn't distribute the music, they just let people use their servers to do it.

[gekko]

It's only the start of a large battle. P2P programs are not in the clean, they have found a legal loophole at the current time, but it won't last long. Everyone knows that the file sharing programs are used to trade illegal material, and given time, they will be held legally responsible. It's just a matter of how, and when. P2P programs are great for many people (who use them legally), but legally it'll be a battle to keep them around.

Stopping illegal music trade is like stopping drugs. First you go after the supply line (those with large amounts of files), then you go after the dealers (non-leechers with stuff in their shared folder), and finally you go after the consumer (those who download the music). Starting today if you download illegal music, you are breaking the law, and you may or may not get caught. Same as when you go get drunk under 21. You know what you're doing is illegal, no one is stopping you from doing it, but you are responsible for your actions, and if you get caught, you do the time, or more likely in this case, pay a fine with money you could've used to buy the CD.

Example, Jason1 signs on, goes to download some New Kids on the Block. Searches, finds a user, starts to download the file, but damn, they're not sharing. Too bad, but wait! Not only are they sharing, but they are the RIAA and monitor the people who try to connect.

It's a battle that's not going to be won anytime soon, but it will sure help. Anyone who is scared and takes things out of their shared folder means less is being shared. The people they do sue are the users who are the biggest violaters, and once you get rid of them, your selection drops considerably. The underground community will always have their ways of doing things, but that's not the problem. The problem is when millions of people are doing it, the record industry is losing billions. If you bring it down to a few thousand, you've won. I mean, nothing stops anyone from bringing their CD to a friend's house, but if you cut down on the very popular practice of P2P file swapping, they've helped the music industry a lot.

And it's not like they can't get the FTP servers. Your ISP can monitor everything you do, and they keep a log of every site you visit, and they may keep a log of every file you've ever downloaded as well. If someone puts up a private FTP server, it's on someone's server, and the owners of that server can look and take it down, while getting rid of the account. If the server is their own computer, it's against the ISP's terms and they could drop your connection.

But you start at the top, and that's the guys running off University fiber optic lines sharings hundreds of files. But don't be surprised if they setup traps and get individual users. You are as much as a problem of them, because if you didn't go looking for it, those people wouldn't have anyone to distribute to.

For me, I have my trusty iTunes Music Store. I, like millions of other people out there, don't mind paying $.99 a song, especially if that means I don't have to deal with stupid P2P programs, bad downloads, and trying to find a fast server. I love Apple :love:

[Null]

Well I remember hearing something about they can't sue Kazaa because Kazaa doesn't distribute the music, they just let people use their servers to do it.



That was Napsters defence. :p



i still love the one quote from a couple years ago...

Music is eventually going to be free for anyone to download, The music industry is going to have to find other ways to make money; concerts, merchindise, etc. ---- Billy Corgan, Smashing Pumpkins/Zwan



gekkos right tho, it wont end anytime soon.

[The Duggler]

Everybody is talking about this all over the internet these days. But I haven't read much about the countries affected by those threats. Anybody knows? Should we be careful here in Canada? What's the RIAA? Can they sue people in Canada as well? worldwide? I would guess so, but does anybody have some info about this?

[gekko]

I'm pretty sure it violates most international copyright laws. If not, many American companies would just get ripped off all over the world.

It would be foolish to think the RIAA doesn't have friends in other countries.

[PuPPeT]

Any organization from any country can sue who every they want the only problem is that RIAA would have to sue some one from the UK in there own country and have to transverse there laws which for the most part unlike the US tend to fall on the consumer side of things a lot more. And as for the governments being able to shut down the p2p program servers there could be a huge shock install for the US when they find that the next gen of p2p are coming out of countries that have no laws to let them do so.


As they say so often the Data must flow!

[One Winged Angel]

This will only stop getting rid of file sharing. If RIAA sues someone because they have MP3's in their HD it will not work. Mp3's are perfectly legal, but sharing them isn't. Most people who have music in the HD usually get it from P2P servers, but they can't be arrested until proven that they shared files, because they could've easily gotten their music from ripping a CD or iTunes. This does not go to leechers, since they don't share the files at all. So if it comes to arresting people for file sharing, it'll be very very hard for the RIAA to find people and arrest. So me? I'm not worried about a thing.

also it doesn't help when Record companies boost up the CD prices from 12.99 to 18.99 in 5 years

[gekko]

CD prices have not gone up in the past 5 years.

And it's not hard to prove that you shared music. Your ISP keep logs of everything. They could tell you the date and time you got the file. Proving it isn't a problem.

The casual criminals, like One Winged Angel, would **** their pants if the RIAA sent them a later warning them not to continue to download music or they would press charges. Court fees would probably cost more than the fine he would have to pay, so kindly inform them they've been caught, and once they realize they are no longer an invisible person at a computer, they won't download another song. They don't have the balls to stand up to the RIAA, even if they did they would pay huge court fees and fines in damages, because they have no case. They can easily stop the individuals out there that they catch in the act, but they are trying to press charges on the ones where they can get a quarter million in damages.

It's sad though, some college kids lives is going to be ruined. It's a wake up call, but by that time, it's too late.

[One Winged Angel]

Well I don't download music from P2P servers anymore. I'm not going to be affected by this hunt now the RIAA is sending out. I download music from a special server that a group of people (and I) share. The RIAA is going to overlook this most likely.

[Jason1]

Well I don't download music from P2P servers anymore. I'm not going to be affected by this hunt now the RIAA is sending out. I download music from a special server that a group of people (and I) share. The RIAA is going to overlook this most likely.


LOL. Sounds like a P2P. :rolleyes:

[One Winged Angel]

LOL. Sounds like a P2P. :rolleyes:

It's not. We just upload onto a server and download it. It's different from P2P.

:shakehead

[PureEvil]

It's sort of Peer-To-Peer, it's just... A very small group of peers.

[gekko]

It's more like an FTP server. Someone sets space on their HD and the server runs that. Then they upload all the stuff onto that server, and the other guys can download it.

Most of them are more for pirated software. Most are also private, others require you to upload while you download, or upload some incredibly rare not-yet-released program (ie. Photoshop 8) to get an account, and a couple are actually free.

[One Winged Angel]

Actually, it's exactly a FTP server. Forget what it was called and ****. thnx

But this is privately owned with me and some members of AGB. It's not my server though, but I make my donations

[Shadow_Link]

Does this concern the people who download the music, or just the people who offer to share it with those who download the music from them?

[gekko]

Both. You're breaking copyright by having music you don't own.

[PureEvil]

Generally speaking though, this shouldn't be too big a threat to anyone. They're probably going to be going after the people moving HUGE amounts of copywritten material, and it seems most people aren't downloading/facilitating the upload of hundreds and hundreds of songs each day, and, just look at the odds. Even if the RIAA goes ballistic, we're talking thousands of lawsuits. Being one of the few thousand people who gets picked out of 10 million-plus (as a rough estimate; there are probably more) P2P users isn't overly likely.

[Classic Rocker]

they can't get all the p2p users. plus its "sharing" didn't they teach us that in kindergarten? :rolleyes:

[PureEvil]

plus its "sharing" didn't they teach us that in kindergarten? :rolleyes:

Yes, yes! Maybe kindergarten teachers everywhere will come rushing to the defense of P2P participants!

[Cyrax9]

One Word Guys: COUNTERSUIT!

Yes, coutnersuit, why? Because the RIAa does NOT have a Search warrent for every individual Computer Online as of now, if they are snooping through your ISP's logs, and searching your macine, they can be charged with "Invasion of Privacy" and a countersuit for that would hurt them more than anything, they just need to run the razor a little farther ina vertical position along thier arm before they corak.

Gekko is right though, this is only the start of what feels like the old "VCR Battle" but on a much larger scale. I would pay for downloads, if they offered the Discontinued Music I was looking for and were ONLY $0.99 cents a download, but alas, I don't have a Mac yet,a nd the service may be dropped thanks to none other than the RIAA.

Also as Gekko said the people they want first are the dealrs, the guys whoc an fill 20 20GB iPOds in an hour tapping the Phone Grid and the T1 lines, they'll be caught first, next are the distributors, they have files for sharing, and they send one or two, and then they go after the DL'ers like a cop with a speed-trap set up.

Now, the interesting thing is no lawsuit froma celebrity is EVER a good thing for them, these guys at the RIAA are playing Russian Roulette with their buisness. If they sue a fan, or multiple fans, then you can bet a group of angry fans are going to spite them by downloading MORE Music and boycoting the RIAA, only to be caught themseleves, however after so many suits, the RIAA is going to look bad to the guy who has never shared a fil in his life, anyone who is older or younger than the P2P general users. They won't support the RIAA and as CD sales plunge and fans countersue the RIAA is going to continue to dig a deeper grave. When you have to sue yur fans, because you didn't stop the distributor's, that means you're in deep. Also this is going to be the VCR Battle as far as the Lawsuits go again as well. Fans and companies will countersue, Police officers will be arrested for this themselves and that will REALLTY hurt the RIAA, eventually after the "war" two options will be left:

1. A legal filesharing program that you Pay for run almost the same way aP2p network is, which most fans will agree on.

Or,

2. The RIAA and the fans, now fed up with each other, go thier seprate ways, CD Sales decline as people already have enough "Stolen" music hidden away, and because of this, the RIAA "SurrenderS", the Fans and a group of angry artists, the ones making NOTHING off of their own CD's, band together and shut-down the RIAA.

Either way the fans win in the end, if the RIaA sues one too many people, they're going to be under the microscope even more, if they Win fans ill demand a legal P2P network, if they lose, the Fans and angry artists will dissolve them, Rap Artists get screwewd the most (no suprise) by the RIAA but so does eveyrone and right now Artists adn Fans alike despise them, a few Artists, who are pissed off at the RIAA are ENCOURAGING P2P Use for those who "belive theya re paying the artist" when inr eality they most likley are not, the few artis' who have spoken about this try to remainannonmous for obvious reasons, and if the RIAA sues fans,e xpect the Artists to drop the Annonimity and speak forward, either way, the RIAA is going to b in cntempt as much as P2P users for awhile now, this has become a war of sorts, and as a war, it's going to hurt people, not the way bombs do, but the way taxes adn poverty do, everyone will be effected and on that note, I will wait, to see if the RIAA can get their suit's to work, because I honestly belvie in the end, they willf ail, and moe loopholes willa ppear and the RIAA will become the next Microsoft with fans suing them, eventually nobody will win, or the Fans will win in the end, the VCR had this same test and look who won? The fans, simple as that.

What the RIAA doens't relize is theya re now out of the Seller's market and into the BUyer's Market and the buyer's they hurt will most likely nevr buy an RIAA-Related CD again, as a result of this, sales will drop artists will move to indepndant labels and the RIAA will dissolve, they are desperate fi theyr'e suing individuals now, and they should be desperate, they know this is a battle they can't win, not uless they arest every person wiht a computer and CDs, and you'd need a prison the size of the enitre country to do that.

[manasecret]

I think the worst any normal person might get is a warning letter. Perhaps some of the heavy dealers will get sued, but I doubt even heavy dealing college students will get nailed.

Practically a quarter of the people I know at university (including me) have gotten a scolding from the university because they received a letter from some Hotshot Movie or Game Producer saying Mr. SoandSo is sharing a bootleg movie or game. They got me because they thought I was sharing Half-Life, even though it was only an update to Half-Life :rolleyes: . But all the university did was tell me to Stop Sharing!, and they turned my internet back on.

So no biggie. It will be the same for music sharing.

I doubt the RIAA will want to piss off all the universities across the nation by singling out a few students. Almost everyone I know who owns a computer uses Kazaa, and probably half of those people have a couple thousand songs. That's more than a third of the university of 20,000 or so that shares a ****load of files on a 24/7 basis. The RIAA ain't going to single out a few and start suing; I don't think the universties would stand for that.

Most likely the universities will receive a bunch of letters from the RIAA or whoever the **** does it, and start implementing their own policy to stop the sharing of music. Perhaps they'll do it technologically by blocking the sharing of music somehow (which is possible, they already have slowed down P2P dling and uploading to worse than 56k at my university); or they'll just issue fines or whatever. But no one will be sued... unless it's some low-rent college that sends scholarships to students in the backswamps of Louisiana :deal: and just doesn't give a ****.

[gekko]

The University doesn't have a choice. They are required to give out your name to the RIAA, and then the RIAA will sue. The RIAA has money, if you download a couple thousand songs, that's thousands of dollars in damages. Big bucks to them.

[manasecret]

Sure, but instead of sueing thousands of university students and going through all the hassle and money, I bet the RIAA and universities would rather just strike a deal. Universities tend to protect their students, or at least mine does. They have their own lawyers that we can call that is pretty much our get of jail free card.

Anyway, just like the movie or game producers I was talking about, music companies don't want to piss off universities by forcing names out of 'em. Universities sponsor all kinds of things all the time that make money for the industry, such as small theaters on campus or holding music concerts. I guarantee they're going to be diplomatic about it.

[gekko]

Again, it's not an university issue. If a student commits a crime that costs the record industry thousands of dollars, the RIAA will sue and get their money. The university is required by law to give out the names, too bad for them.

You have to remember that the university also recieved government funding, and they would lose that if they supported and aided in crime.

The RIAA already has people they plan to go after, which have cost the industry upwards of $150,000. Businesses don't allow their networks to be used for P2P file sharing, it's the students are Universities who have the high speed connection to make that stuff possible. College students are without a doubt, some of the biggest offenders in both music sharing, and many warez programs as well. Every private server I've ever been on is run from someone currently in college. If the record industry didn't due college kids, they might as well not do anything.

There are no get out of jail free cards. The record industry is losing billions to file sharing. The students are breaking a law, breaking school policy, and doing it on the school's dollar.

[PureEvil]

Again, it's not an university issue. If a student commits a crime that costs the record industry thousands of dollars, the RIAA will sue and get their money. The university is required by law to give out the names, too bad for them.

Trueeeee. Looking at it in this context, the university is just like any other ISP. University students might be shielded in other aspects of life by their school, but in these soon-to-be instances, the universities are providing people (students in this case) with access to the internet, and if the RIAA comes after the students for illegal activity, the schools (who are acting like any other internet service provider) have no real choice but to fork over the info.

[manasecret]

Again, it's not an university issue. If a student commits a crime that costs the record industry thousands of dollars, the RIAA will sue and get their money. The university is required by law to give out the names, too bad for them.

You have to remember that the university also recieved government funding, and they would lose that if they supported and aided in crime.

The RIAA already has people they plan to go after, which have cost the industry upwards of $150,000. Businesses don't allow their networks to be used for P2P file sharing, it's the students are Universities who have the high speed connection to make that stuff possible. College students are without a doubt, some of the biggest offenders in both music sharing, and many warez programs as well. Every private server I've ever been on is run from someone currently in college. If the record industry didn't due college kids, they might as well not do anything.

There are no get out of jail free cards. The record industry is losing billions to file sharing. The students are breaking a law, breaking school policy, and doing it on the school's dollar.


I know universities will dole out names if they're asked, I never said they wouldn't. But there's little point to suing a few college students for $150,000 who wouldn't be able to pay it in any substantial amount. To me it would work better and work without pissing anyone off to work with the universities to stop it wholly and all at once.

But hey, you may be right. This is just what I think.

[gekko]

No, the college students won't be able to afford $150,000. Unfortunately, we'll be paying that money with our tax dollars while the kid servers some time in jail. Though most people wouldn't agree, by law college students are adults, and they have to take responsibility for their actions. If you break the law and get caught, you do the time. They know that, they don't care. I'll be happy if they get busted. There are students with tens of thousands of dollars of pirated software on their computer, something's not right about that. If you can't afford it, then you can't have it. For some reason today's kids feel they deserve to have whatever they want for free. I'll laugh when they end up in jail.

I don't think the RIAA is as worried about pissing anyone off as you think. The RIAA is already pissed off. You sue the major violaters for huge damages, shut them out of the picture. They should be able to work with the universities to stop file sharing from their users. The last thing they want to see is a big headline saying "U of xxx Supports Illegal File Sharing. Student are using the government-funded internet connection for illegal file transfers, and the school refuses to do anything about it."

[Cyrax9]

The LAST thing the RIAA wants is a College Campus Riot Gekko, we ALL know how those end, and we all know afterwards whoever started it usually winds up ruined for life.

If the RIAA pisses off a College, (we knwo the RIA IS Pissed already, but the Colleges really aren't as much) by demanding a list of names, a College can refuse under "Unwarrented Search and Seziure" laws, and "Invasion of Privacy", granted the government will cut funding, and the College will probably try to crack down on the P2P users, but the minute the RIAA hauls a bunch of College Kids out of the classroom in 'cuffs they're going to piss off a lot of people, some, who are not kids, but who may be in anywher from 30-50 are gonna get just as pissed and probably TRY illegally downloading files to see if the RIAA will sue them too, as a sort of immature "Come and get me" attitude. The RIAA will have so many "Pending" suits, they'll collapse in on themselves.

Some kids will do time, and yeah theya re adults, but then again, you also have 4th Graders with a Cable/DSL line at home and parents who know jack about the PC and how their kids use it. Now let's say little Jonny is at his PC DLing 500 files a day--but WAIT! He's only 10! Now the RIAA doesn't know that and due to thier stupidity, issue a summon's, the Juvinile is sent to court and a baffeled group of parents ask "why?"

When theft is given as the answer, these parents, those "D@mn soccer moms" as we call them, will actually be useful, they will piss off the RIAA even mre, possiblyc ausing further suits until one of two conditons is reached:

1. The RIAA learns the age-old adge of "If you can't ebat 'em, join 'em" and starts their own P2P network or"

2. The RIAA, now hated by the US Government among many others is Dissolved in a Supreme court for "Frivolous Lawsuits", which, as legit as they are, are deemed "Frivolous" due to the sheer number of them and "more improtant" crimes, need to be solved first, either way the RIAA loses, after that new laws will probably be written to fix problems like this from occuring again.

Also they're going after people with files in the 100,000's more than anyone, I have 284 "Stolen" MP3's on My PC, most of which, I also own the CD too, ASSUMING one is in existance, some songs are actually ripped from *gasp* REcORD LP's! They're OLD and out of PRINT!

Now the only stuff I have that's on Shelves and is causing a "Sales Loss" is two Eminem Songs, and if Eminem wants compensation for two lousy song's he can have $2.00 just as if I paid for them, hell I'd write out a check right now if need be.

The RIAA is desperate, they're sueing students because they can't shutdown the P2P networks, but those Students aren't always stupid, some will move the music and reformat their Drives to make it harder to trace, others may stop but that's unlikley, and the last thing the RIAA wants is an image on TV of Soanso being hauled off of the Temple University Campus as a "Music Theif" as it will hurt the school, which will probably countersue for damages from the RIAA, and nobody wants that.

The RIAA is now stuck, if they sue, the jury may consist of P2P users who rule "Not Guilty" and really piss off the RIAA, if the RIAA can't shutdown the P2P networks then they're already in trouble, sueing students is just going to create animosity towards them, and several artists speak under the condition of Anonimity saying that they never get paid by the RiAA and that they SUPPORT P2P networks and Concert tours where they make their money, this aggrivates the RIAA even more, as their own artists are against them, and if Athey jail a few of their Artists, that will be the crippling blow, and I am sure we will see it eventually.

As for our tax Dollars paying for the court hearings, a lot of people are probably going to say "Why should I pay for a hearing when I don't even know what P2P is/I support file sharing?" Then they'll download musicto try and cause a tax increase to the "Honest Fool" for a suit against them.

The RIAA is desperate, they're LOSING they are winning this war about as well as Saddam is winning the war in Iraq!

These guys are going to sue, and they're going to lose from various loopholes, and like Saddam Hussien, they're going to crumble at angry Parents, Children and P2P users all with suits filed agaist them, by the time they jail everybody they'll need to put a wall aroud the whole country.

Also take into account that P2P users are usually people with low cash and the RIAA will never see the money they want, tax payers won't want to pay for jail time and thus will convinve congress to release the P2P users quickly, and you have one ruined RIAA.

The RIAA vs. the P2P users is like Nazi Germany Vs. the Allied Forces, the RIAA has more people and better equipment, but the P2P users are persistent and may be willing to cause damage to RIAa Property, this is a WAR, it's not being fought with guns and tanks though, it's ebing fought with Mice and MP3's!

Now the question is, who will win in the end?

As far as the ammount of Songs I have, I seldom even use a P2P network, and if I was called to court my response would be "I looked for the CD it was discontinued or never even excisted as such, but only as an LP. You wouldn't get paid for Second-hand items anyway, and as for what I have that IS available, I will GLADLY pay you the $0.99 the Download SHOULD have cost me in the first place!" As you can see what I have is fairly small comapred to most users, and isn't even stuff people would really want except a few people interested in odd music, in fact the stuff I have is so obscure at times that the RIAA would have to make sure they COVERED it in their vaults at times!

Also, as far as logging my IP#, my ISP is as stupid as a mentally-retarded ape! These guys usually can't even help thier customers, let alone the RIAA, and considering I haven't actived my P2P program since last month, I'd say that they'd rather go after those who are sending 500+ files an hour instead of a guy who can pay for what he has, and would probably have the RiAA laughedout of court for a suit on such obscure music.

For the most part I buy CD's of what I have on MP3, and what I don't have is all rare stuff from Various places, most of which has never been "Shared" and I think I'm low-priortycompared to people like one guy I know who's 57 and has 1,500,000,000 MP3's on his laptop, if they take this guy, they're also going to really look stupid since they're trying to send a message that "Nobody over age 29 shares files."

Anyway that's just my $0.02 and once the suits start I'll be following them, let;'s see how many people they actually beat, because there's a good chance that they're going to get a smart person in court and the judge HATES thatbecause any smart person can usually ruin a lawsuit, but we'll justs ee how everything pans out.

[GiMpY-wAnNaBe]

true true, i don't see any danger any time soon, i honestly think that everyone is gonna realize pretty soon how useless the RIAA actually is and then its just going to be shunted from existance like the dodo. The reason they can't do anything about taking down Kazaa is because its run from some place like Tobego (I think so, thats what i heard) where it isn't illegal to run this software, and besides, all we're doing is LETTING OTHER PEOPLE LISTEN TO OUR MUSIC!!!!!!!! SHARING, NOT STEALING, SHARING!!!!!!! and i feel real sorry for those individuals who have 23 songs on their computers and are scared to death of some guy in a business suit coming to his door giving him a $3000 bill *cough*my father*cough*

so, good luck and good riddance to the RIAA!! Viva la music revoulution! :dj: :dj: :dj:

[PureEvil]

The reason they can't do anything about taking down Kazaa is because its run from some place like Tobego (I think so, thats what i heard) where it isn't illegal to run this software...

The software isn't illegal. It's the trading back and forth of copywritten material (ie - the songs) which is illegal.

...all we're doing is LETTING OTHER PEOPLE LISTEN TO OUR MUSIC!!!!!!!! SHARING, NOT STEALING, SHARING!!!!!!!

Like it or not, legally, it's stealing.

[gekko]

LETTING OTHER PEOPLE LISTEN TO OUR MUSIC!!!!!!!! SHARING, NOT STEALING, SHARING!!!!!!!

Sharing would be inviting someone into your room to listen to the music. Sharing would be streaming from one computer to another, like with iTunes, you can stream music from another computer on a network. Sharing, no files are actually being exchanged.

[Seth]

God bless my underagednessessess.

I guess i've got one more year before i'm legally an adult.


time to download while i still can.

[Null]

Well, Music artists are also getting angry at iTunes now.


they say it 'contributes to the demise of the album format'

and some arent letting thier songs be sold on iTunes. And iTunes refuses to sell thier Full albums unless they let thier singles be sold.

i think eventually iTunes will be in some hot water also.

http://www.zeropaid.com/news/articles/auto/07032003a.php



......... Also on there it said something about the RIAA website being down more then its being up, and its getting attacked quite often. but thats just on a message board so eh.

[Cyrax9]

Ok, for those of you who are still trying to figur this out, THE RIAA IS LOSING!!!


This "War" on PIracy has occured before with a device we call a VCR, the "Ending" of this "Book about a War" has been written, guess what? WE WIN! yes, that's right! P2P users will WIN! All you need is an Angry congressman who has "Illegal" files o his computer, or a Police Officer using P2P networking equipment, or an Artist who has some kindof vendeta agianst the RIAA because he dind't get the right steak he ordered at a fancy dinner, and you've got one group of angry Citzens all who want the RIAA "Suits" hanging from the Gallows and shot one at a time-- BAD COMBOMNATION, Angry Fans + Angry Artists, Plus Angry Law Enforcement Officals + Hated Industry = Total Anarchy!

These guys have blown smoke before, and just wait until tthe 10 o'clock news reads "4th Grader hauled into Juvinle Hall for downlaoidng muisc!" PLEaSE! Can someone in here wake up!?! There are people at the Phne Company who TAP INTO THE PHONE GRID with their PERSONAL LAPTOPS and Downlaod at lighting spoeeds, faster than any universityc an provide! Ther Phne COmapny doesn't even CATCH these peopel though because, sadly in all turth, they are IDIOTS! Yes thast's right! These peple are LITERALLY FILESHARING under tyhe RIAA"s NOSE! And you can bet yiour last gold dollar that a few Recordign ARTISTS are ALSO Filesharing, the only ones who seemt o have a complqaint about P2P use are those whoa ctually gert PAID, ask the Average Artists just starting out, or one who's been toosed aside because they're not "Cool" anymore by today's stanadrs what they got for their CD Sales adn chances are you'll recive a response with a number along her lines of, oh ZERO! They don't care because they don't see a DIME Form it anyway! They are ALSO pissed at the RIAA for not PAYING Them, yes that's right! The RIAA is screwing both Artists AND Fans! These guys havbe tied the rope around their neck, the Soldiars are about to pull the scaffolding out frm under the gallows, all the RIAA has to do is piss of a few mre peope adn yu can bet they'll be as embarressed as Enron was, in fact they'l probably BE the next Enron, especially if they try to sue fans, this is a last resort meathod of "We're screwed, we don't know what to do, let;s HOPE this works", keep in mind all it takes is one loudmouth workng for an ISP who refuses to give out info on filesharing because saaid ISP owrker is alsoa P2P user and tyhe RUIAA is screwed, they can sue the ISP, but the ISP can countersue, and no court, except maybe one in texas or the California 9th Circuit Appeals court, would CONVICT a P2PO user! These guys at the RIAA are cutting there own throat, age doesn't ater, In fact, let them sue the 4th graders with more MP3s than even myself becauser THAT wuill be what does them in, one suit will go too far and that'll be the end of the RIAA.

Back wehn the VCR cmae out the MPAA was afraid of Piracy, saying that people would Tape movies and not see them in the theater or buy them on Video, guess what? People TAPED the movies, and THEN BOUGHT THE OFFICIAL VHS TAPE! The RIAA needs tpo learn from this, and they need ot earn this isnt a SELLER'S MARKET it's a BUYER'S MARKET adn NOBODY is forcing ANYBODY to BUY their CD;'S! If enough people avoid CD's, as hard as it will be, the RIAA will either give into P2P use or will dissapear entirely, and you can evbt some new laws will be written on what you canand can't share on a PO2P Network, as well as how youc an copy a CD for "personal Use" and this is nothing new, it occurted in the 1970's and it's just happening again now, so siyt back, relax, downlaod your songts, andthen buy the CD if it's discontinued you can always argue that "You tok it off the shelves, clearly you don't want my money!" and that if it's on shelves youc an say "Charge $0.99 a Downlaod for EVERY SON on the itnernet and I'll pay you for it!"

You can also argue that "The RIAA Does NOT have ON-aligned Aetist n thier VAULTS who may distribute MP3's via P2P networks as promotinal material, you do not cover FORIEGN MUSCI form say, an Anime SHow, and unless you have it IN YOUR VUALTS adn are willing to do a CUSTOM CD that I can BUY, you have no case agianst me!" as you can see the RIAA is growing weaker every day, peolpe are apparentlyt rying to deface their website and they're at a point now where they should be wavign a giant white falg beofre this gets ugly, lets think for a moment, do yu want angry fans and artists coming afer you? If you answered yes you're an idoit working for the RIAA, if you answered No, than you kw the RIAA is running scared, tail tucked because Fans and Artists alike are pissed at them, Rule #1 NEVER piss off the fans, rule #2 NEVER piss fo your employees if you want to KEEP them! Caspice?

[GiMpY-wAnNaBe]

:eek: lol, don't you just love it when cyrax gets all italian like that?? :D:D

well i for one knew this already, and all i have to say is that i pity the fool who shares 50 songs and is scared of a lawsuit against him

[PureEvil]

:eek: lol, don't you just love it when cyrax gets all italian like that?? :D:D

Not even a little.

[Mushlafa]

I was downloading a song on kazaa light and then i tried to play it and all of a sudden i window popped up saying some bullsisht like... You have been caught for downloading and distributing pirated software blah blah blah... now whenever i try to download a song about 30 seocnds in it will go to this really loud annoying noise :unsure:

anyway i can get rid of this :(

[Null]

got a virus program? :P

[GiMpY-wAnNaBe]

hmm...thats weird, never heard of anything like taht, try to reinstall kazaa if nothing else works