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/stor...463091,00.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. I'd like to see the look on their faces when the RIAA hears that

[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.

[Jason1]

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]

Originally Posted by Bond

From BSNEWS.com:

" I hate homos!"

Oh well.

;_; That is mean

[Jason1]

Originally Posted by 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.

As I said before, I demand a link.

[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]

Originally Posted by happydude666

...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

[Null]

Originally Posted by 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.

That was Napsters defence.



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.