RIAA to sue individual file-sharers

[Guest Cancer Marney]

The RIAA said its lawyers will file lawsuits initially against people with the largest collections of music files they can find online. U.S. copyright laws allow for damages of $750 to $150,000 for each song offered illegally on a person's computer, but Sherman said the RIAA will be open to settlement proposals from defendants.

 

"We have no hard and fast rule on how many files you have to be distributing ... to come within our radar screen," Sherman said.

 

The RIAA said it expected to file "at least several hundred lawsuits" within eight to 10 weeks but will continue to file lawsuits afterward on a regular basis."

- CNN story

 

Well this should fix things and put an end to all that evil loadin' down off Nappy. They're putting up hundreds of lawyers against the collective ingenuity of tens of millions of computer-users. What could possibly go wrong?

[Guest Smell the ratings!!!]

when I read articles about this kind of stuff, I always wonder:

 

what is it exactly that's keeping Hollywood from making asses out of themselves too? I have nearly 50 movies and 0 songs, but it's not as much fun if I'm not pissing anyone off.

[Guest Bannable Offense]

I already stated in another thread on this subject, RIAA's tyrannical attempts to subdue this problem is no match for the so-called communism they have deemed file-sharing to be. The problem will only get worse if RIAA continues to sue rather than embrace the changing landscape of music and adapt to it. RIAA's choice of scare tactics only make the population that does file-share loathe them even more.

[Guest MaxPower27]

I don't have file sharing turned on, and I have a very generic Kazaa Lite name.

 

I'm not worried.

[Guest MrRant]

They will use your IP there Max and trace it back to the ISP and then the ISP will look up who has that IP (you) and then... have fun.

 

The reason I think Hollywood isn't super pissed yet is mostly because they still do a killer box office, DVD sales are huge and the general quality and time that it takes to download a DVD rip from Kazaa is a factor as well.

[Guest MaxPower27]

BLAST!!....

 

I guess I'll just move all my stuff.

[Guest JMA]

The RIAA are a bunch of crazy fascists. They will fail at their attempts to stop file-sharing.

[Guest NoCalMike]

once again........

 

FUCK THE RIAA.

[Guest HollywoodSpikeJenkins]

I feel bad for the few people that they actually do put a fine on.

[Guest JMA]

I wonder if Kazaa has something about this on their website.

[Guest Midnight Express83]

If they want to stop file sharing, they should look no further than the price of a CD. If it cost 1 penny for 40 CDs, then why the fucking hell is it 15 bucks for one of them. All the shit to make it is payed off with one gold CD. All the profits for all involved are payed off with one platinum CD. Why don't they cut CD prices down in half atleast.

 

I don't have a problem buying CDs now a days but alot of CDs come out are crap with only 3 good songs. If there aren't atleast 5 good songs on one CD, I will not buy it. I refuse to spend money on crap. And what is killing the RIAA isn't "illegal music", its crappy music that is killing the the RIAA.

 

Another problem with suing file sharing users is this one thing. Without them doing the act, you can't blame them for doing it. You need to catch them in the act. Going into a chatroom and seeing someone with 1000 songs on their PC means nothing. Because they could own thoses CDs are just put it on their computer to make a playlist. Perfectly legal. And the only way to get anyone is to break the law themselves which is what they end up doing.

 

Hypocriticy is thy name.

[Guest MarvinisaLunatic]

I use Kazaa Lite, but my connection is so slow I can hardly download stuff. I also use the generic Kazaaliteuser name not that it matters much. If they sue me, I would dare them to find a music file on my computer, mainly because I have never downloaded a song off of Kazaa.

 

Id just hate to have to admit in court what I do use it for, but at least they wouldn't be able to sue me over it.

[Guest Ravenbomb]

so they're basing who they check on on how many files they have?

 

U.S. copyright laws allow for damages of $750 to $150,000 for each song offered illegally on a person's computer

 

WHAT?! If somebody has a thousand songs I could see them suing for $750 total, since that's how much buying that many songs worth of CD's, but up to $150,000 for each song?! That is way more than songs are worth. The RIAA is just making more and more of an ass out of its self

[Guest Lil Naitch]

Hell, I put all of my CD's onto my computer to burn comps, along w/ downloading songs occasionally.

And I agree with Midnight. Teh last CD I bought was Evanesence's new CD, adn I like every singel song on it. That was AFTER I downloaded two of the songs off of Kazza. Generaly, If I like what I hear when I download it, I buy the CD.

[Guest Ace309]

WHAT?! If somebody has a thousand songs I could see them suing for $750 total, since that's how much buying that many songs worth of CD's, but up to $150,000 for each song?! That is way more than songs are worth. The RIAA is just making more and more of an ass out of its self

 

Yeah, but for there to be a punishment or deterrent involved, there have to be damages above and beyond simple restitution. If you could just go download for free and if you got sued only have to pay back the retail cost of those songs, what incentive do you have to buy the CDs in the first place? With exorbitant damages in place, they hope to punish the offenders and encourage people to pay a (relatively) small price for the CD now rather than huge damages later.

 

Of course, that's just the theory. I think it's ridiculous of the RIAA to do this, much like the rest of you do.

[rising up out of the back seat-nuh 0]

Theres a pretty good article on this in the news section of www.bbc.co.uk. What I get from that is that they're logging on to the net, seing who's sharing music files and taking a list of their names. It seems kinda pointless when there are far more effective means of finding out who's pirating, but hey, it's the feds. The fact that they announced it first suggests it's a scare tactic to stop people from downloading rather than a way of getting their money back. Apparantly it's working too: after they announced it, the number of users on Kazaa fell by 16%

Also, it's worth noting that this action is being taken by the American RIAA. In theory, anyone outside the states can't be persecuted.

[Guest cynicalprofit]

I find it funny that the money they will spend on the lawyers will come from the very people who they are suing, assuming they bought music in the past.

 

I bought, what 6 cds today, and spent 6.50$ or there about, it was all music I never heard before, THAT was a fair deal. 12.99$ and up for 1 cd, would not be.

 

Ya know that 25% sales drop in cd purchasing went somewhere, and the insane amount of blank cds sold last year is probably where most of it went. And the war in Iraq is not whats preventing me from buying music, its the lack of quality of the music. I make 8$ an hour and you expect me to pay 12$ and up for a cd with less then 1 hour of music on it? Yeah....right, thats gonna happen.

 

The RIAA, by taking away music, maybe starting a war they can not win.

[Guest Nevermortal]

I find it funny that the money they will spend on the lawyers will come from the very people who they are suing, assuming they bought music in the past.

 

I bought, what 6 cds today, and spent 6.50$ or there about, it was all music I never heard before, THAT was a fair deal. 12.99$ and up for 1 cd, would not be.

 

Ya know that 25% sales drop in cd purchasing went somewhere, and the insane amount of blank cds sold last year is probably where most of it went. And the war in Iraq is not whats preventing me from buying music, its the lack of quality of the music. I make 8$ an hour and you expect me to pay 12$ and up for a cd with less then 1 hour of music on it? Yeah....right, thats gonna happen.

 

The RIAA, by taking away music, maybe starting a war they can not win.

Its more then 12 dollars. CDs are frequently over 15 dollars. Some even go to 18.99.

[Guest Ripper]

I thouhgt music sales dropped only 8.5 percent. What did I miss.

[Guest godthedog]

i'd be more than happy if i could pay $12 for a cd. it would be like i was 14 years old again.

 

anyway, i'm not worried about this since i don't have anything close to a large collection, and 90% of the stuff that other people download from me is porn anyway.

[Guest NoCalMike]

RIAA made 17 billion in 2002. What are they complaining about?

[Guest cynicalprofit]

RIAA made 17 billion in 2002. What are they complaining about?

wow, lets hear them beg for sympathy after announcing THAT fact. Lets see, the average america makes 1 million in their ENTIRE life, it would take them how many LIFETIMES to make the amount they made LAST YEAR ALONE.

 

If they win in the courts, there will be bloodshed.

[Guest EricMM]

You're misinformed if you think the RIAA won't do exactly what it wants to do.

 

How many high priced lawyers does 17 billion afford? And how many can YOU afford?

 

You want to be taken to court for sharing a few gigs of music? Can you afford that, thousands of dollars per song? Sure, they're willing to settle for less, but you'll still have to sell a lot of your stuff including your computer to pay them off.

 

And no one is going to stop them. I wonder though. I always thought it was illegal to profit from copyrighted material, but I never knew it was illegal to share most of it.

[Guest El Satanico]

I have a lot of music on my hard drive, but the majority of it was recorded from CDs I own. However, recently downloaded songs I haven't listened to yet are the only shared music files I have and are only shared for a day or two at most.

 

What I don't understand is, how exactly are they going to look for these people? By way of chat rooms or what.

[Guest Danny Dubya v 2.0]

Heh... actually, on Kazaa they've been automatically messaging random people that the RIAA is watching them without being able to really do anything to them.

 

That's one of the more pathetic scare tactics I've heard lately.

[Guest El Satanico]

"Hi...how you doing buddy"

 

"um...hey"

 

"you have any of that rock n roll music that i can download?"

 

"uh...not really...who do you ask"

 

"how about hip hop...you have any of that hip hop music"

 

"dude...who the hell are you...leave me alone"

[Guest MaxPower27]

I have messages turned off too.

[Guest Scarlet Pimpernel]

I've get a few weird messages, mainly just asking questions that look like they'll lead on to further conversation. Like "U a fan of ________?" But I just dismiss them as bored rednecks.

[Guest Smell the ratings!!!]

I always get porn ads in messages. I find this odd for two reasons.

 

1. I never seem to get them while downloading porn.

 

2. Clearly I know how to get free porn, so why would I pay for it?

 

 

uh...RIAA is bad. Rage against the machine. yeah.

[Guest cynicalprofit]

and how much of that 4 grand i made last yera does the riaa really need or plan to get, i live below poverty, they cant get shit from me.