Obama Sides with RIAA

[CBright7831 0]

I'm not sure if this goes here or not:

 

Obama Sides With RIAA, Supports $150,000 Fine per Music Track

By David Kravets March 23, 2009 | 1:12:29 PMCategories: RIAA Litigation

The Obama administration for the first time is weighing in on a Recording Industry Association of America file sharing lawsuit and is supporting hefty awards of as much as $150,000 per purloined music track.

 

The government said the damages range of $750 to $150,000 per violation of the Copyright Act was warranted.

 

"The remedy of statutory damages for copyright infringement has been the cornerstone of our federal copyright law since 1790, and Congress acted reasonably in crafting the current incarnation of the statutory damages provision," Michelle Bennett, a Department of Justice trial attorney wrote (.pdf) Sunday to a Massachusetts federal judge weighing challenge to the Copyright Act.

 

The position -- that the Copyright Act's monetary damages are not unconstitutionally excessive -- mirrors the one taken by the Bush administration and should come as no surprise.

 

Two top lawyers in President Barack Obama's Justice Department are former RIAA lawyers: Donald Verrilli Jr. is the associate deputy attorney general who brought down Grokster and fought to prevent a retrial in the Jammie Thomas case. Then there's the No. 2 in the DOJ, Tom Perrilli. As Verrilli's former boss, Perrilli argued in 2002 that internet service providers should release customer information to the RIAA even without a court subpoena.

 

Presidential administrations often intervene in lawsuits in which the constitutionality of a federal law is in question. This case concerns a former Boston University student challenging a peer-to-peer file sharing case.

 

Still, parts of the government's brief sounded as if it was taken from the RIAA's public relations playbook.

 

"Congress sought to account for both the difficulty of quantifying damages in the context of copyright infringement and the need to deter millions of users of new technology from infringing copyrighted work in an environment where many violators believe that their activities will go unnoticed," Bennett wrote.

 

The RIAA has sued more than 30,000 individuals for file sharing the last five years. It is winding down the campaign and is lobbying internet service providers to discontinue service to copyright scofflaws.

[haws bah gawd 0]

$150K per track? So, what becomes of the person who can't pay the $1,650,000.00 fine for an 11 track album? Federal prison? Anything to get that economy back on track huh Barack?

[The Ghost of bps21 0]

I've got a couple of thoughts...firstly...how can they ever prove who downloaded tracks? Several people use my computer...so there's your reasonable doubt right there.

 

Secondly...once you buy the album legally aren't you allowed to back up the files any way you want to? So screw their 150 dollars a track...if they come after you go buy the album for 12 bucks and tell them to go fuck themselves.

[At Home 0]

Your service provider knows if you use P2P sharing, it's not difficult to see at all.

[2GOLD 0]

Secondly...once you buy the album legally aren't you allowed to back up the files any way you want to? So screw their 150 dollars a track...if they come after you go buy the album for 12 bucks and tell them to go fuck themselves.

 

According to them, no, you are not. If you want a copy for your computer, you must buy a second copy online for your computer. If you only own one copy, they claim you should only have that one copy. Anything more and you are stealing from them.

So you'd still be screwed.

[The Ghost of bps21 0]

But when you buy a CD you can back it up on the computer straight off the disc... That's illegal?

[2GOLD 0]

But when you buy a CD you can back it up on the computer straight off the disc... That's illegal?

 

Yes. You are making a copy when you only paid for one. After the copy, you'd own two. Therefore, you stole an album sale from them. According to them, you need to purchase another copy to balance things.

[The Ghost of bps21 0]

This government is stupid.

[At Home 0]

The RIAA may be the biggest collection of money-whoring fucking pieces of garbage shit in the known universe. They are trying to kill music.

[Molotov The Bear 0]

According to me, this is a load of bullshit.

[2GOLD 0]

 

The RIAA seems to just live in this fairy world where they think album sales decline on shit bands because of internet downloads. No RIAA, shit bands being shit bands is what lead to the decline in sales. Chain store exclusives leads to a decline in sales. Albums with only ONE good song and a bunch of garbage leads to decline in sales.

 

The RIAA is a drug addict. It's not their fault, it's everyone else's fault they are this way. They don't have a problem, it's everyone else who is the problem.

[tominator89 0]

It's impossible to curb music downloads and the exchange of copyrighted material. Pandora's box has been opened and it's not going back.

[haws bah gawd 0]

Anyone here know someone that's been sued by RIAA?

[CBright7831 0]

Anyone here know someone that's been sued by RIAA?

In highschool, a friend of mine had a friend of his who got a letter from them. I never asked how much the fine was.

[Obi Chris Kenobi 0]

Your service provider knows if you use P2P sharing, it's not difficult to see at all.

 

They know but do they know exactly what its for? There are several legit companies (Blizzard, Steam, Sega, Sports Interactive) that use P2P to distribute updates for their games, games themselves and other legit downloads as its an ease on their own bandwidth to distribute the information.

[daileyxplanet 0]

So Biden got to Obama when it comes to piracy, eh?

[kkktookmybabyaway 0]

I've got a couple of thoughts...firstly...how can they ever prove who downloaded tracks? Several people use my computer...so there's your reasonable doubt right there.

 

And you think that the federal government will care?

[daileyxplanet 0]

On that note, why should the federal government care about piracy at all? Yeah you're "protecting" the free market, but aren't sales of 'great' things up no matter what? I highly doubt Kazaa and Bearshare prevents an album from going platinum.

[haws bah gawd 0]

Damn, I forgot about Kazaa. I feel old. Kazaa Lite was fun until they stopped updating it. I remember a story from a couple years ago where a single Mom was contacted by RIAA. She foolishly tried to fight them in court. The Judge ruled in favor of RIAA (obviously), and awarded them $270,000 in damages, which I doubt the woman will ever be able to pay. Unfortunately, I have no clue where to find the news article.

[Black Lushus 0]

What is this shit? Black people usually like getting free stuff!

[daileyxplanet 0]

And they like to steal even more. AmIrite?

[zhangmeijie 0]

For years, the RIAA has claimed that having the IP address of a computer that has shared unauthorized files is the equivalent of having the evidence of who was actually sharing files. That, of course, is false. The IP address simply can help you know who paid for the internet access, but not who was using what computer on a network. In fact, this even had some people suggesting that, if you want to win a lawsuit from the RIAA, you're best off opening up your WiFi network to neighbors. It seems like this strategy might actually be working. Earlier this month the inability to prove who actually did the file sharing caused the RIAA to drop a case in Oklahoma and now it looks like the same defense has worked in a California case as well. In both cases, though, as soon as the RIAA realized the person was using this defense, they dropped the case, rather than lose it and set a precedent showing they really don't have the unequivocal evidence they claim they do. The RIAA certainly has the legal right to go after people, even if it simply ends up pissing off their best fans and driving people to spend their money on other forms of entertainment -- but, if they want to do so, they should at least have legitimate evidence. It's good to see that some are finally pointing out how flimsy the evidence really is.

[YourKock'sReallyGreat 0]

I remember earlier this decade that alot of people were settling with the Music companies for 10k fines. One story was about an 8 year old girl who downloaded thousands of songs. They went after her.

[Skywarp! 0]

Hey, anyone remember when the RIAA was trying to sue the US Government for royalties from the "public performance" of the copyrighted music being used for torture at Gitmo?

[zhangmeijie 0]

Hey, anyone remember when the RIAA was trying to sue the US Government for royalties from the "public performance" of the copyrighted music being used for torture at Gitmo?

Really? that is the dumbest thing ever.

[haws bah gawd 0]

I remember earlier this decade that alot of people were settling with the Music companies for 10k fines. One story was about an 8 year old girl who downloaded thousands of songs. They went after her.

 

Yea, I remember that girl. I believe she got her own Pepsi Superbowl commercial explaining the situation.

[YourKock'sReallyGreat 0]

I remember earlier this decade that alot of people were settling with the Music companies for 10k fines. One story was about an 8 year old girl who downloaded thousands of songs. They went after her.

 

Yea, I remember that girl. I believe she got her own Pepsi Superbowl commercial explaining the situation.

 

 

She was downloading lots of bullshit though. Like tv show theme songs, etc.

 

Is it illegal to make a copy of a song off the radio? Is that stealing?

[Angles Broken Fricken Neck 0]

Is it illegal to make a copy of a song off the radio? Is that stealing?

 

Probably. I still find it obsurd that it is technically illegal to put mp3s onto mp3 players unless you use Itunes or some shit.

[FroGG_NeaL 0]

I've gotten letters a few times, asking me to stop downloading certain things from certain sites, and also Limewire one time.

 

Just stop doing what they ask and they'll leave you alone. I've stopped useing every thing they've asked, and I still manage to get any song, album, movie, etc. with no problem.

 

Personally, I'm more concerned with cigs going up another dollar on Wednesday.

[CBright7831 0]

I've gotten letters a few times, asking me to stop downloading certain things from certain sites, and also Limewire one time.

 

Just stop doing what they ask and they'll leave you alone. I've stopped useing every thing they've asked, and I still manage to get any song, album, movie, etc. with no problem.

 

Personally, I'm more concerned with cigs going up another dollar on Wednesday.

They've already gone up here.

 

I've had to resort to buying USA Golds nowadays because they are the cheapest ones out there.