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 ****.

Re: RIAA cracking down on file swappers
 

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.

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.

Re: RIAA cracking down on file swappers
 

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.

Re: RIAA cracking down on file swappers
 

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.

Re: RIAA cracking down on file swappers
 

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.

Re: RIAA cracking down on file swappers
 

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."

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.

Re: RIAA cracking down on file swappers
 

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:

Re: RIAA cracking down on file swappers
 

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

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

Re: RIAA cracking down on file swappers
 

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.

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.

Re: RIAA cracking down on file swappers
 

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/article.../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.

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?

Re: RIAA cracking down on file swappers
 

: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