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Joined: Oct 2000
Posts: 45,846 Likes: 1
cobra kai 15000+ posts
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cobra kai 15000+ posts
Joined: Oct 2000
Posts: 45,846 Likes: 1 |
Girl, 12, Settles Piracy Suit for $2,000By TED BRIDIS, AP Technology WriterWASHINGTON - A 12-year-old girl in New York who was among the first to be sued by the record industry for sharing music over the Internet is off the hook after her mother agreed Tuesday to pay $2,000 to settle the lawsuit, apologizing and admitting that her daughter's actions violated U.S. copyright laws. The hurried settlement involving Brianna LaHara, an honors student, was the first announced one day after the Recording Industry Association of America filed 261 such lawsuits across the country. Lawyers for the RIAA said Brianna's mother, Sylvia Torres, contacted them early Tuesday to negotiate. "We understand now that file-sharing the music was illegal," Torres said in a statement distributed by the recording industry. "You can be sure Brianna won't be doing it anymore." Brianna added: "I am sorry for what I have done. I love music and don't want to hurt the artists I love." The case against Brianna was a potential minefield for the music industry from a public relations standpoint. The family lives in a city housing project on New York's Upper West Side, and they said they mistakenly believed they were entitled to download music over the Internet because they had paid $29.99 for software that gives them access to online file-sharing services. Even in the hours before the settlement was announced, Brianna was emerging as an example of what critics said was overzealous enforcement by the powerful music industry. The top lawyer for Verizon Communications Inc. charged earlier Tuesday during a Senate hearing that music lawyers had resorted to a "campaign against 12-year-old girls" rather than trying to help consumers turn to legal sources for songs online. Verizon's Internet subsidiary is engaged in a protracted legal fight against the RIAA over copyright subpoenas sent Verizon customers. Sen. Dick Durbin, D-Ill., also alluded to Brianna's case. "Are you headed to junior high schools to round up the usual suspects?" Durbin asked RIAA President Cary Sherman during a Senate Judiciary hearing. Durbin said he appreciated the piracy threat to the recording industry, but added, "I think you have a tough public relations campaign to go after the offenders without appearing heavy-handed in the process." Sherman responded that most people don't shoplift because they fear they'll be arrested. "We're trying to let people know they may get caught, therefore they should not engage in this behavior," Sherman said. "Yes, there are going to be some kids caught in this, but you'd be surprised at how many adults are engaged in this activity."
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Joined: Jan 2003
Posts: 22,618
Your death will make me king! 15000+ posts
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Your death will make me king! 15000+ posts
Joined: Jan 2003
Posts: 22,618 |
quote:
From USA Today - Music and Technology:
Free CD downloads: Recording industry can't put this cat back in bag
By Jane Hughes, special for USA TODAY
Talk about biting the hand that feeds you. First the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA) launched 261 lawsuits against the people who should be their best customers: music lovers who downloaded songs from networks such as Kazaa and Morpheus in that never-ending search for the perfect CD. Then the RIAA generously offered some of the 261 amnesty if they'd just fess up. Just where, I wonder, does that leave the 60 million Americans who download, including folks like me who are desperately trying to kick the Kazaa habit?
It's not easy. I wanted a CD with Bobby Darin, the Beatles, Springsteen and Coldplay all together in one marvelous mix. So I decided to take the plunge and look for a legal service. I asked my teenage sons which legal service was best, and they looked at me blankly. I logged onto America Online, which directed me to MusicNet. Fine, I thought happily. Credit card at the ready, I settled down. But wait a minute. You can burn only 10 songs per month on MusicNet. Well, what's the point of that?
In search of legal sites
So on to Google I went, searching for "legal music downloads." That one stymied even Google. (As a PC household, we can't use Apple's iTunes Music Store, which I understand is pretty good.) Finally, I found a news article on legal download sites, which indicated Pressplay was the best. Great! Pressplay it is, then. Pressplay would actually let me burn a CD, once I handed over my credit card and bought a 10-pack. No problem with that; I cheerfully typed in my account number and started searching for my songs.
Oh. No Bobby Darin version of Beyond the Sea, just a dreadful Muzak elevator-music version. I never knew Beyond the Sea could sound so bad. Lots of Peter, Paul and Mary, but I think I may be the only person left in America who wants to download PP&M. No Beatles at all. Van Morrison's Moondance wasn't there. (My husband, who was hanging over my shoulder, snarled, "How can they call themselves a music service and not have Moondance?) Mysteriously, three songs I downloaded couldn't be burned.
Glumly, I downloaded 10 songs just to use up my 10-pack (including the Muzak Beyond the Sea, for comic relief) and burned a CD. I'll bring it to my office just in case I ever get a CD player there. On the good side, Pressplay was reasonably user-friendly; I was able to figure it out pretty easily, and the songs downloaded quickly and efficiently. But compared to what's available for free ... well.
Not for sale
What the RIAA doesn't get is that you can't put the cat back into the bag; once consumers have had a taste of freedom, creating their own play lists and burning individualized CDs to suit every possible spectrum of tastes, there's no going back. The difference between shoplifting and downloading is that you can easily buy the product you want instead of shoplifting it. News flash for the RIAA: You can't buy the individualized CD you want, not anywhere, not anyhow.
The next day, I asked my students in class if they could recommend any good legal sites for downloading music. I got a blank, puzzled silence in response. Finally, one student asked, "Why would you want to do that?"
Dutifully, I recited the RIAA's mantra: "I don't shoplift; I shouldn't steal music."
"But the legal sites don't have any good music," explained one earnest senior in the front row.
Right.
The last time so many otherwise law-abiding citizens broke the law, we called it Prohibition and changed the law.
Jane Hughes is a professor at Brandeis University's International Business School.
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Joined: Jan 2003
Posts: 22,618
Your death will make me king! 15000+ posts
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Your death will make me king! 15000+ posts
Joined: Jan 2003
Posts: 22,618 |
quote:
From Reuters Entertainment Industry:
Recording Industry Drops Suit Against Grandmother
LOS ANGELES (Reuters) - The recording industry has withdrawn a copyright infringement lawsuit against a 65-year-old grandmother who said she was wrongly accused of downloading and using song-sharing network.
Sarah Seabury Ward was one of 261 people sued this month by the recording industry for allegedly sharing copyrighted music using peer-to-peer (P2P) file-sharing systems.
"The Sarah Ward case demonstrates the reckless, frightening nature of the recording industry's campaign against ordinary Americans," said Electronic Frontier Foundation (EFF) legal director Cindy Cohn, who has worked with Ward's family.
Cohn said the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA), which represents big labels like AOL Time Warner Inc.'s Warner Music and Vivendi Universal's Universal Music Group, charged Ward with sharing songs using the KaZaA file-sharing software, even though she owns only a Macintosh computer which cannot run KaZaA.
Cohn said the RIAA sued Ward solely on the basis of "screen shots" from the KaZaA network and information obtained from a subpoena issued to Comcast, Ward's Internet service provider.
In a Sept. 19 letter to Ward's defense attorney, Jeffrey Beeler, the RIAA said it decided to dismiss the lawsuit as a gesture of good faith.
"We are being as careful as we can and we have chosen to give her (Ward) the benefit of the doubt. We will continue to look into this to determine the facts," the spokeswoman said.
The letter said the RIAA reserved the right to refile the complaint against Ward if and when circumstances warrant.
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Joined: Jan 2003
Posts: 22,618
Your death will make me king! 15000+ posts
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Your death will make me king! 15000+ posts
Joined: Jan 2003
Posts: 22,618 |
quote:
From NewsFactor Technology:
File-Sharing Drops as Industry Battles Rage
James Maguire, www.NewsFactor.com
Judging from reports of falling P2P site usage, the recording industry's legal tactics are working. Since this spring, when the record industry began suing college students who were high volume file-sharers, traffic at leading P2P site Kazaa has fallen 41 percent, according to Nielsen/NetRatings.
Traffic to Kazaa fell to about 3.5 million unique visitors in the week ending September 21st from 6.5 million in the week ending June 29th. In the same period, traffic to Morpheus fell to 261,000 unique users from 272,000.
"There's an element of fear going on," Yankee Group analyst Dominic Ainscough told NewsFactor. "At the same time, there's a greater number of options for paid download."
Wide Legal Net
P2P traffic may also be lower due to the 261 lawsuits filed by the Recording Industry of America on September 8th against individual file-sharers. The RIAA has reached settlements with 64 people, most of them for less than US$5,000.
But the lawsuits created a backlash of negative publicity for the recording industry -- among its targets were a 12-year-old girl and a retired teacher whose PC was incompatible with the network she allegedly was using.
"Suing a 12-year-old girl -- that's child abuse," Grokster president Wayne Rosso told NewsFactor.
Yet the continued significant usage of paid download services shows the public relations fallout is limited, Ainscough said. "There may be a backlash in terms of perception, but it's not affecting consumers' wallets."
As congressional hearings on file-sharing issues proceed, the RIAA says it now will begin sending letters to individuals before beginning legal action.
Publicity Campaign
To bolster its anti file-sharing campaign, the RIAA has claimed P2P networks are used by child pornographers and identity thieves, and that the networks install spyware on users' systems.
In response, file-sharing trade group P2P United said it would work with legal authorities to combat child pornography on the networks and to protect the privacy of confidential material on users' PCs. The group also said it would encourage P2P users to be aware of copyright issues.
The members of P2PUnited are Grokster, Lime Wire, Blubster, BearShare, eDonkey 2000 and Morpheus.
Limiting Sharing
Spurning an RIAA request, P2P United said it would not install any technology in the P2P clients that limited users' ability to trade copyrighted material. The group claimed that this would infringe on legal methods of file-sharing and would be technically infeasible.
"I don't believe it can be done," Rosso said, even with some sort of digital-rights management (DRM) scheme.
"We're a platform, like Windows or Explorer," Rosso said. "There are lots of DRM files on peoples' hard drives -- that's something the content owner has control of."
Compulsory Licensing
Rosso said he had tried to negotiate a licensing agreement with the recording industry for use on the P2P networks.
The proposed paid service would be similar to that used by Apple's iTunes service. "It would float on top of P2P systems, and we would try to drive users to the paid model," he said.
"But what they want us to do is shut down our networks, and then they'll license us," Rosso said, explaining that he found the suggestion unworkable.
At this point, "we feel we have no choice to put pressure on Congress to force some sort of compulsory licensing" similar to radio, he said.
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Joined: May 2003
Posts: 5,958
some RKMB'ers are Obsessed with Black People Hmmm? 5000+ posts
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some RKMB'ers are Obsessed with Black People Hmmm? 5000+ posts
Joined: May 2003
Posts: 5,958 |
/**/......................./´¯/)
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Fuck the RIAA.
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Joined: Oct 2000
Posts: 53,734 Likes: 2
Educator to comprehension impaired (JLA, that is you) 50000+ posts
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Educator to comprehension impaired (JLA, that is you) 50000+ posts
Joined: Oct 2000
Posts: 53,734 Likes: 2 |
Quote:
RIAA Sued Under Racketeering Laws
2 hours, 45 minutes ago Add Technology - PC World to My Yahoo!
Stacy Cowley, IDG News Service
Online chat rooms and bulletin boards populated by file-swapping fans are filled with postings comparing the Recording Industry Association of America (news - web sites) to a Mafia-like syndicate. Now, one target of the group's lawsuits against alleged music pirates is asking the judicial system to back that assessment.
• FBI, Music Labels Renew Piracy Fight
• Microsoft Says: Don't Touch That Code!
• RIAA Files More Lawsuits
• Kazaa Fights Court Order
• P-to-P Appeal Calls on History
A New Jersey woman has filed a lawsuit against the RIAA under anti-racketeering statues, charging the group with using scare tactics to extort money from the individuals it sues.
Scare Tactics Claimed
Michele Scimeca is one of more than 1000 alleged online file-swappers sued by the RIAA since the middle of last year. The industry group filed another batch of 531 lawsuits on Wednesday.
The RIAA has settled a number of those lawsuits--and therein lies the problem, according to the complaint Scimeca filed in the U.S. District Court for New Jersey.
"Instead of merely providing service of the complaint upon the various defendants, including Ms. Scimeca, the Plaintiffs have opted to include a letter discussing and prompting settlement of the copyright infringement action," the complaint states. "This scare tactic has caused a vast amount of settlements from individuals who feared fighting such a large institution and feel victim to these actions and felt forced to provide funds to settle these actions instead of fighting the institution."
The complaint argues that the RIAA's lawsuit campaign's main intent is to extract financial settlements from those sued. It charges the group with violating Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations laws.
Scimeca's lawyer, Bart Lombardo, says his client will also challenge the legality of suing individuals for online file-sharing through peer-to-peer networks like Kazaa.
"This counterclaim that we're filing is about the tactics used to enforce," he says. "Of course, we'll also be arguing the legality of the downloading, but that's a separate matter."
Other Antipiracy Action
The case is similar to that of a California man, who charges the RIAA is misleading people into admitting their guilt through its Clean Slate program that alleges to offer amnesty to repentant file-swappers.
An RIAA representative did not return a call seeking comment. At an unrelated press conference Thursday, RIAA Director of Antipiracy Brad Buckles said he had not yet seen a copy of the lawsuit and declined comment. He defended the organization's campaign of lawsuits against individual file-swappers.
"We think the lawsuits are being very successful," he said. "I think we've seen some great strides out of that. People are beginning to realize that what at first blush might seem like innocent activity, moving files around on the Internet, is in fact theft of property from artists and companies."
http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story2&u=/pcworld/20040220/tc_pcworld/114863&e=4
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Joined: May 2003
Posts: 10,988 Likes: 43
Doog the MIGHTY 10000+ posts
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Doog the MIGHTY 10000+ posts
Joined: May 2003
Posts: 10,988 Likes: 43 |
1,000 down, 3 million to go. good luck you stupid mother fuckers. And especial good luck to you Ms. Scimeca.
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Joined: May 2003
Posts: 5,305
kung-fu treachery 5000+ posts
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kung-fu treachery 5000+ posts
Joined: May 2003
Posts: 5,305 |
New Anti-Piracy Law Imposes Stronger Penalties (October 13, 2008) US President George W. Bush has signed into law the Prioritizing Resources and Organization for Intellectual Property Act (PRO-IP), which imposes more stringent penalties on people convicted of music and movie piracy. The bill creates an executive-level position, Intellectual Property Enforcement Coordinator, who will advise the White House on protecting both domestic and international IP. The law has the backing of the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA) and the Motion Picture Association of America (MPAA) as well as of the US Chamber of Commerce. The US Justice Department opposed the creation of the IP czar, saying such a position would undermine its authority. http://uk.reuters.com/article/technologyNews/idUKTRE49C7EI20081013http://news.cnet.com/8301-13578_3-10064527-38.htmlhttp://www.pcmag.com/article2/0,2817,2332432,00.asp
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