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Music Industry suing file sharers

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Music Industry suing file sharers

from WinCustomize Forums
WASHINGTON -- The embattled music industry disclosed plans today for an unprecedented escalation in its fight against Internet piracy, threatening to sue hundreds of individual computer users who illegally share music files online.

The Recording Industry Association of America, citing significant sales declines, said it will begin today to search Internet file-sharing networks to identify music fans who offer "substantial" collections of mp3 song files for downloading.

It expects to file at least several hundred lawsuits seeking financial damages within eight to 10 weeks.

Executives for the RIAA, the Washington-based lobbying group that represents major labels, would not say how many songs on a user's computer might qualify for a lawsuit. The new campaign comes just weeks after U.S. appeals court rulings requiring Internet providers to identify subscribers suspected of illegally sharing music and movie files.

The RIAA's president, Carey Sherman, said tens of millions of Internet users of popular file-sharing software after Thursday will expose themselves to "the real risk of having to face the music."

Rep. Howard Berman, D-Calif., who has proposed giving the entertainment industry new powers to disrupt downloads of pirated music and movies, said the RIAA's actions were overdue. "It's about time," Berman said in a statement. "For too long ... file-traffickers have robbed copyright creators with impunity."

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. "We will go after the worst offenders first."

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.






For the whole story:
http://abcnews.go.com/wire/Entertainment/ap20030625_1212.html
[Message Edited]
24,915 views 99 replies
Reply #26 from WinCustomize Forums Top
This is just a guess, but I'll bet a lot of things that are 'stolen' were paid for by someone (probably the original owner )
Reply #27 from WinCustomize Forums Top

#25 by Çërêb®øJÐ - 6/26/2003 6:58:31 PM
But someone else has, so it has been paid for right?

Oh yeah, I see your point........ they've already sold 1 copy of the CD, so what does it hurt, if 3,000 people download it, without paying for it? 
Are you for real, or just yanking my chain? 





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Reply #28 from WinCustomize Forums Top
because the artist deserves to be paid for those 3000 songs... DUH!!!!
Reply #29 from WinCustomize Forums Top
Well yes, but I'm not gonna pay $25 for a cd that I only want one song off of.
Reply #30 from WinCustomize Forums Top
I used to think the same way but I found out that if I sit down and listen to the whole CD there turns out to be other tracks I like as well.

I will stick to buying the CDs.
Decides, where i live new releases are only 13 bucks... not a big price to pay for keeping it legal.
Reply #31 from WinCustomize Forums Top
well this burst my bubble... i really do hate the record companies...

http://www.copyright.gov/title17/chapter11.pdf
[Message Edited]
Reply #32 from WinCustomize Forums Top
Yeah I suppose. Therefore, as of today, I am removing the 1000+ mp3 files from my computer. I'll be buying cd's now.
Reply #33 from WinCustomize Forums Top
umm, that link took me to a blank pdf, SC.
Reply #34 from WinCustomize Forums Top
Well this is interesting:

With Kazaa recently, you had a user level which shows the level of your sharing. The RIAA could easily use that info as a real easy way to find out who is sharing the most. What does this mean? Well Kazaa is goin legit. Set you up for a downfall and get cozy with the RIAA and whatnot.

http://www.detnews.com/2003/technology/0306/20/technology-197745.htm
Reply #35 from WinCustomize Forums Top
Oh no, not kazaa...

So people move fully to the OpenNAP network and the new secure p2p clients.

*yawn*

Next attempt by the RIAA?
Reply #36 from WinCustomize Forums Top
Shooting mp3-owners, I guess, no matter if all the files are from their own bought cd's or not...
For the record : I don't share any of them them over p2p programs... (I would be a heavy criminal with ~5200 tracks on my HD...)



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Reply #37 from WinCustomize Forums Top
5200*750 makes erm...

You are doomed, c242!
Reply #38 from WinCustomize Forums Top




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Reply #39 from WinCustomize Forums Top
So if i record a radio station im breaking the law too ?



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Reply #40 from WinCustomize Forums Top
In theory yes.  But as long as you keep it to yourself it's ok. But if you start distributing it, then it's blatant.
Reply #41 from WinCustomize Forums Top
Well this can go into DJing: Make a mix or blend and distribute or sell it. Many lables are for it and it gets the word out. If it's all mainstream, well then you're really not helpin the industry. But on the other hand, you can get the word out on somebody/group that's not that well known and then if you're interested, you're gonna wanna pick it up. It has been shown to increase sales.
Reply #42 from WinCustomize Forums Top
In the case of taping of the radio, the advertising goes towards the costs of running the station adn paying royalties to the copyright owners, so the copyright owners at least go some compensation, but not enough to justify taping whatever you want off the radio.

It is my understanding that taping shows off of TV is okay as long as you are only doing it to catch shows you are going to miss and that you only watch it once and you don't share it with anyone else. The copyright owners of the television program got paid royalties for the broadcast.
Reply #43 from WinCustomize Forums Top
woooow....

I think this issue is hard to understand but if you really try to put yourself into the shoes of artist and music makers and put your own money on the line I think you will no longer see 'just listening to it' as legal.

There is always a breaking point. There are some people who do listen and then buy the CD or single. Others never buy it and download 100's of songs without a thought as to paying for it.

The RIAA is soppossedly going after the 1,000 uploaders and 1,000+ downloaders. They are going after the persons who supply all this music on p2p networks.


For those who will go to private networks will put themselves in more jeapordy. Anywat, most downloaders and uploaders are in colleges. Buying a private secure network just to download songs defeats the purpose of free


Those who are at work doing it are putting thier jobs on the line.


At any rate the RIAA is not going after DJ's and people who record tapes off of the radio because in more ways than not it helps thier bottom line and they have dollars to prove it.

On the other hand they have noting to prove that allowing fre download helps them in any way other than loosing revunue for high quality sound (unlike tapes off of the radiop or a CD)



I am still upset at the RIAA and those downloaders and uploaders who totally take advatage of the p2p system at others detrament. I don't believe that the downloading is the major reason for lower CD sales but it isn't helping.
Reply #44 from WinCustomize Forums Top
Some of you guys out there are so fake, acting like you really want to pay for "lleagl" music. Buullllllshit, no one does. If someone likes one song off the entire album there not going to pay 15 bucks for a cd that what they want. Also, are the musicans doin it for the money or for the music, I mean honestly think about it. I know of bands that would kill just to get there music to be heard by other people. BTW they cant find users by their IP because many people have IP rerouters. Also there are many "double" user screen names.

Just my 2 cents
Reply #45 from WinCustomize Forums Top

Ben, what do you do for a living? Do you do it for the love of doing it or for the money?  How about you work for free from now on?

If you only like one song, then buy it. There are places you can buy songs online.

And, ok. I'll bite the bait.
Do you realise that your friends musicians who would kill to get their music heard are actually the ones you are hurting by pirating music? Who do you really think pays for the songs you don't buy? The record labels? Pfff! Yeah, right! The top 10 artists? It hardly makes a dent in their budget. Do you know how the music industry works? Do you know how much it costs to produce, record, and distribute a record?  Do you know that only 1% of the records that are recorded are actually profitable? The 1% of the albums that mae it actually help the labels to pay to the loss that the other 99% create.  In other words, Britney Spears actually help finance the discovery of the new talents. If a bunch of people stop buying albums but download them for free instead, what will happen? Well, you can bet that the record label will not take as much risks with more chancy artists. They are more likely to only sign a contract with mainstream artists. The unknown and more nebulous artists will loose out, and so will we, music lovers, because we'll be stuck with only the Britney Spears wannabees.

Nothing is free. Everything has a price. The price of P2P is the potential death of good music.

Reply #46 from WinCustomize Forums Top
Ben, your wrong with that.

hands down...
Reply #47 from WinCustomize Forums Top
And ben I don't care how many firewall or rerouters you have, if someone wants your IP bad enough they will find it.
Reply #48 from WinCustomize Forums Top
What happens if the Kazaa users decide to boycott the music industries and stop buying music altogether? I surely won't support the rich music executives to rip off the artists for their own benefit. And then trying to sue poor college students. Just so that they can send their sons and daughters to Harvard while the artists barely survive. Where do you think the RIAA gets these hundreds of thousands of dollars to pay off the legislators? From the artists of course. With all this money they are spending, it sounds like just plain greed to me.

Personally, I've brought many more CD's because of file sharing. I was able to hear old music that I liked, and I went to buy it. If I heard hype about a new artist, I would look for them on Kazaa, and if I liked what I heard, I brought the CD.

I've heard no hype about Madonna's new album for example. So, I didn't look for it on Kazaa. She tends to put out a lot of junk. And, it would be a waste of my time since my intent would be to hear it to buy it.

The evidence of the massive lost revenue because of Kazaa or Napster is non-existant. Kazaa and Napster has surely sparked the interest in Music in spite of a poor economy. Try blaming the poor economy, and look at the stock market for the evidence of the poor world economy. Still, the instant I hear of mass law suits, I'm personally going to stop buying music altogether. I SAY BOYCOTT THEM. >
Reply #49 from WinCustomize Forums Top
Well CognitoToo, I'll just say as many people as you can name that bought because of Kazaa and whatnot, I can name just as many who haven't.

I'll bet half, if not the majority, will get it from Kazaa instead of buyin.

BTW, 128 sucks.