Riaa sues more file-sharers

[gitreel]

RIAA sues more file sharers

p2pnet.net News:- The RIAA wants to sue another 493 innocent people for sharing music online: 'innocent' because not one of the people pilloried has so far been found guilty of anything because not one of them has ever appeared before a judge.

As a Reuters story states it here, "The trade group [the RIAA, or Recording Industry Association of America], which represents the five largest recording companies, has settled more than 400 of those cases for around $3,000 each."

The last 'A' in RIAA stands for America, and yet only Warner Music, one of the five firms which keep the RIAA in business, is actually American. The others are: Vivendi Universal's Universal Music Group (France), Bertelsmann AG's BMG (Germany), EMI Group Plc's EMI (UK) and Sony Corps' Sony Music (Japan)

In the meanwhile, $3,000 settlements are at the low end. Some 'payments' have been for considerably more than $10,000 and 'settled' means the RIAA in effect makes victims an offer they can't refuse.

And its victims always pay.

They're ordinary men, women and children and rather than chance the huge financial penalties losing to Organized Music's limitless resources and expert legal teams inevitably would entail, they always settle out of court.

"The RIAA does not yet know the identities of those it targeted in its latest round of lawsuits but plans to discover them through court-issued subpoenas," says Reuters.

Until fairly recently, the RIAA used what amounted to a loophole in the DMCA (Digital Millenium Copyright Act - which it had inspired in the first place) to force ISPs into revealing client names.

Then the DC Court of Appeals decided file sharing wasn't an issue when the 1998 DMCA came into force and that the RIAA's efforts to subpoena the names and addresses of ISP Verizon's customers were therefore unlawful.

Consequently, these days, the RIAA has to follow due process. Like everyone else.

Twenty-four of the latest victims are being sued by name after the RIAA discovered their identities through John Doe suits but, "had declined offers to settle out of court, the RIAA said," according to Reuters.

In any case, it would seem, the lawsuits aren't having much of an effect in real terms.

While the music industry claims its sue-'em-all campaign is dramatically reducing the number of file sharers, and while Apple boasts people downloaded 70 million files from its iTunes Music Store in its first year, at a conservative estimate, four million people are online at any given moment uploading, downloading and/or sharing one billion files every month.

Nor is the music industry's contention that file sharing is "devastating" the multibillion-dollar music industry, as the Canadian Recording Industry Association states, accurate.

The music industry's statistical analysis techniques seem to vary, depending on the state of the moon. Be that as it may, in March, in their celebrated The Effect of File Sharing on Record Sales An Empirical Analysis, Felix Oberholzer and Koleman Strumpf revealed:

"Downloads have an effect on sales which is statistically indistinguishable from zero, despite rather precise estimates. Moreover, these estimates are of moderate economic significance and are inconsistent with claims that file sharing is the primary reason for the recent decline in music sales.

This could be the straw that broke the camel's back.

(Tuesday 25th May 2004)

[Cobra]

that file sharing is the primary reason for the recent decline in music sales

The sales are dropping because they're selling crap. If my local supermarket started selling crap at rip-off prices, I'd vote with my feet and leave. They'd lose sales just the same.

Cobra

[gitreel]

Yes, I agree cobra, but the riaa is too stupid to realize that.

[Cobra]

This is the thing, gitreel, are they too stupid? Or are they too greedy?

Or do they realise it already, but know that their sales aren't going down at all and they just feel like a bit of a tantrum?

Cobra

[gitreel]

I would vote for too greedy. They remind me of a little child with a football. They are not getting their way, so they are taking their football and going home.

[Capmaster]

They are turning out more crap. I bought more CDs in the '80s than all the years since then. And CDs weren't really common until the mid-'80s.

[pacmania_2001]

I think we'll move this to the Latest News forum.

[indolikaa]

Oh, the poor RIAA has to follow Due Process now?


********.

[gitreel]

I think we'll move this to the Latest News forum.

Thank you. I was's sure where to put it because it wasn't video related.

[Nilfennasion]

www.moonfog.com
www.peaceville.com

As you can see, there are plenty of supermarkets you can walk to in this case. I've bought hundreds of CDs from these labels at considerably higher prices than the RIAA-approved sellers, and the telling sign is that I will continue to do so.

[BobV]

I don't think the RIAA/producers wants to admit to itself that there are just so many more ways to enjoy good quality music other than buying a CD. ie cable, internet, XM ... For example I listen to most of my music through Rhapsody. I get just about whatever I want whenever I want it.. Why Buy?

They need to wake up and realize that they have become a victim of their own industry.

[Mr anderson]

when are they going to force the isp's to give their clients name out & what is the Uk views on this matter?

[iooi]

The CD's are Over Priced
The Artists are Over Paid
and yes the CRAP is over here too.....

Public opinion is the same over here as in the States....These over paid idiots haven't got the sense to see where the problem is.... They have brought it on themselves by the overpaying of overhyped so called megga stars who are over the hill.......
The real problem is the rubbish they are churning out that is causing sales to drop off. Add in the fact that there are so many computation albums doing the rounds not its just a farce.
Cd single is around £3 a album is around £9 go figure which gets bought.....

[Mr anderson]

Ive gotta say this, i think they should take a "MAJOR" re-think of how they want the outcome to look, because as im looking at this, it looks like it will go belly up , i know they want to stop it, but they have given people this tech, if anyone is the blame its them. They must have known that something like this would happen & anyway if i re-call right, bill gates designed the OS ( i mean his mates he just paid them, then took them into his company), when he designed it he should have thought of the pro's & the con's?

[RottenFoxBreath]

also,in the UK,AOL-they wil hand out all details to any interested parties.
BT-they do the same,although recently they added a "1gig per month limit,on outgoing and incoming services"i.e:when the total adds up to 1gig,your service is DCed.*but not until they get in touch with you,as my father recently recieved a phone call from there customer services,asking him what he had been doing(he went through his 1gig in a day,when he refused to explain himself,the woman on the phone said that it was ok,as they can trace whatever they want.
so he promtly told her to shove it up her arse,and now hes waitng on --
blueyonder/Telewest-they dont seem to give a shit.
they seem to be the only unlimited ISP.

[VCDHunter]

also,in the UK,AOL-they wil hand out all details to any interested parties.
BT-they do the same,although recently they added a "1gig per month limit,on outgoing and incoming services"i.e:when the total adds up to 1gig,your service is DCed.*but not until they get in touch with you,as my father recently recieved a phone call from there customer services,asking him what he had been doing(he went through his 1gig in a day,when he refused to explain himself,the woman on the phone said that it was ok,as they can trace whatever they want.
so he promtly told her to shove it up her arse,and now hes waitng on --
blueyonder/Telewest-they dont seem to give a shit.
they seem to be the only unlimited ISP.

I'm with BT and haven't heard anything in relation to this 1gig a cap except for the new service they advertise for £19.99 that has a 1gig per month limit. This service will be of no use to me at all - I did over a gig yesterday.

[Nilfennasion]

I have no idea why, but I don't download much of anything. I find it much easier to get software or video from other sources. Odd, that.

Maybe I should contact the RIAA and inform them that of the 250+ CDs I own, their endorsed record labels have made maybe two dozen, and the MP3s I have on my hard drive can be traced back to said collection in 99% of cases.

[iooi]

also,in the UK,AOL-they wil hand out all details to any interested parties.
BT-they do the same,although recently they added a "1gig per month limit,on outgoing and incoming services"i.e:when the total adds up to 1gig,your service is DCed.*blueyonder/Telewest-they dont seem to give a shit.
they seem to be the only unlimited ISP.

Many Isp's in the UK don't care what you download or upload, but if you read their T/C if its NOT LEGAL then you are up the creek... THat will apply to blueYonder as well. If the RIAA or whoever come a knocking they could pass on the infomation if they wanted too.
AOL are part of the Time Warner group arnt they so they will pass stuff on.... One good reason amounst many not to use them....

Guess BT are impossing the limits on the new services and why should'nt they as you are getting adsl on the cheap....But i thought if you went over you could buy more gigs... I know my isp has this limited service and you can add a extra gig for £2.99 i think. Time you have finished it will cost more than the unlimited service... 8)

[VCDHunter]

They are turning out more crap. I bought more CDs in the '80s than all the years since then. And CDs weren't really common until the mid-'80s.

Agreed they are turning out more crap nowadays, but these "fall in sales figures" aren't as cut and dried as the RIAA make out. I've quoted a little article I read recently.

The UK market has sprung even more of a suprise. UK record sales since 1997 have increased year on year unhindered.However, the figures published by the BPI tend to confuse this fact by bundling vinyl and cassette sales into their totals and declaring drops ! Yes, cassette sales fell last year by a massive 64.4 per cent. But then so, we believe, did sales of Pong console machines. To include these stastical drops in the data is deliberately deceptive, especially when CD sales, the alleged victim, are increasing.

[ryoohki]

Artist are producing 50min CD's and sell them 19.99$CAD

WTH! ...i can get LOTR for 24.99$ with a $***load of extra stuff that i'll almost do an indisgestion...

[hhhhbk]

also,in the UK,AOL-they wil hand out all details to any interested parties.
BT-they do the same,although recently they added a "1gig per month limit,on outgoing and incoming services"i.e:when the total adds up to 1gig,your service is DCed.*but not until they get in touch with you,as my father recently recieved a phone call from there customer services,asking him what he had been doing(he went through his 1gig in a day,when he refused to explain himself,the woman on the phone said that it was ok,as they can trace whatever they want.
so he promtly told her to shove it up her arse,and now hes waitng on --
blueyonder/Telewest-they dont seem to give a shit.
they seem to be the only unlimited ISP.

blueyonder is great
we use the line pretty much to its maximum 24/7
(shared 2mbit 6 people)
and they have never complained

i alsohave an ntl 600k at home and they never complain either
there was some rediculous GB per day cap supposedly put in place but they quickly changed their stance as customers were getting p***ed off and dropping them like a bad habit
also i think that it violated the unlimited internet term in peoples contracts and could open them up to legal challenges


bt have always been useless at providing internet they try and charge 16 quid for dialup whereas ntl offer it for free

cant see me ever getting a phone line off BT would far prefer fast blue yonder internet and a contract mobile instead of a landline

my only gripe with blue yonder is that it was a 4 week wait for them to come put it in

[Nilfennasion]

Artist are producing 50min CD's and sell them 19.99$CAD

Actually, the artists themselves have no say in the sale price. The recording label only gets a say in as much as they set a wholesale price that the store must pay, which varies of course from store to store. Which gets us into the issue of price-fixing. Why should it be cheaper to buy mass-produced trash when labels who make something worth buying seem to be forced to charge so much?

[Nilfennasion]

Artist are producing 50min CD's and sell them 19.99$CAD

Actually, the artists themselves have no say in the sale price. The recording label only gets a say in as much as they set a wholesale price that the store must pay, which varies of course from store to store. Which gets us into the issue of price-fixing. Why should it be cheaper to buy mass-produced trash when labels who make something worth buying seem to be forced to charge so much?

[Nilfennasion]

Actually, the artists themselves have no say in the sale price. The recording label only gets a say in as much as they set a wholesale price that the store must pay, which varies of course from store to store. Which gets us into the issue of price-fixing. Why should it be cheaper to buy mass-produced trash when labels who make something worth buying seem to be forced to charge so much?

[Nilfennasion]

Actually, the artists themselves have no say in the sale price. The recording label only gets a say in as much as they set a wholesale price that the store must pay, which varies of course from store to store. Which gets us into the issue of price-fixing. Why should it be cheaper to buy mass-produced trash when labels who make something worth buying seem to be forced to charge so much?

[budz]

a female college student in hawaii got sentenced to 27 months in the federal pen for child porn on her computer. she was downloading music from KAZZA. i'm not sure if she knew the child porn was on her pc. her attorney said in order for her to download more songs KAZZA added more child porn. go figure eh!

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