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Student Gets PC Confiscated For Distributing MP3s
MagicYoshi writes "Ziff Davis has this story about Oklahoma State University confiscating a student's PC after the RIAA complained that he was distributing copyrighted music and movies." This doesn't make any sense: why would you go after this kid? Shouldn't you sue the people who wrote his operating system and FTP server? *cough* *cough*.
He was prosecuted by the federal government under federal wire fraud statutes, but the case was dismissed because the judge found that copyright infringement cannot be prosecuted under the wire fraud statute.
I wonder if the DMCA has superseded this precedent (though the Massachusetts case may not apply in Oklahoma), which seemed to make FTP sites into "common carriers" in the eyes of the law. More information here.
He wasn't just some Warez d00d. He hardly had *any* studio material. His site consisted almost entirely of live/rare/acoustic stuff. I've known/been trading rare stuff with this guy for a long time now.
So, just add copying MP3's to the growing list of things that people like to do but are illegal. Things that can drain millions of dollars from the economy in legal fees, court cases, high prices from artificial scarcity, costs of creating pointless encryption schemes, pointless police busts.
Doesn't it make sense that the way to create value in our economy (ie, make money) is to see what people like to do, and then figure out a way to profit from it?
Not that I feel particularly sorry for this kid, but I wonder what the RIAA is going to accomplish in their grand scheme of things.
I think they kinda missed a couple of people. Like the other million college students which are distributing. I hope they go for the ones who are distributing the Backstreet Boys first. then I wouldn't argue
Get paid to code OSS
...and you break them - you're gonna get in trouble when you're caught.
Civil disobedience is one thing - but if you take it to far you may end up being a martyr for your cause.
BlackNova Traders
it was siezed. The student is facing criminal charges, so they siezed his computer so they could do forensic stuff to it. Much like a car might be siezed if they thought you killed someone.
/*
*Not a Sermon, Just a Thought
*/
*Not a Sermon, Just a Thought
*/
Shouldn't you sue the people who wrote his operating system and FTP server?
The RIAA and MPAA wish to thank you for your insight. Indeed, we will very soon unleash our blood-thirsty lawyers on all persons who work or have worked on "Open-Source" network software, including their parent operating systems. Such software is not tolerable in a modern, free, capitalist world.
From now on, everybody is required to run Microsoft Windows(tm) software and pay a mandatory fee of $399/month as a provisional royalty payment for listening to sound and music.
Thank you.
/max
-- It's always darker before it goes pitch black.
This doesn't make any sense: why would you go after this kid?
I know you all have some silly ideas, but there is this thing called holding people responsible for their actions. I know its been passe for the past 20 years or so, but it really isn't such a bad idea.
I for one would be incredibly entertained if they started going after individual Napster users for copyright violations...It would be great
Judge: Your defense, Mr. er, Eleet Haxor
Haxor: Information wants to be free! I'm stickin' it to the Man!
Judge: Interesting... (gavel slams) Guilty as Charged!
DrLunch.com The site that tells you what's for lunch!
It is a known fact that the record companies charge artificially high prices for music, and the artist sees very very little of this money
And how many of this kids 40+ gigs do you suppose was filled with new, unappreciated, or otherwise struggling artists? Or do you suppose this was 40 gigs of Metallica, Madonna, Master P and similar high-profile artists, who have no trouble making money under the current system?
People who steal from the rich (record companies) and give to the poor (college students who enjoy music) are seen as modern day "Robin Hood"s and are considered heros, just like the legendary person.
First of all, Robin Hood, at least how you know him, is a work of pure fiction. If there ever was a real-life basis for Robin Hood (something that is debatable by historians), he likely was nothing more than a common thief. The fact that he happened to be stealing from an unpopular king is probably the only thing that made him famous.
Second, let's get a little perspective here, shall we? We're talking about the theft of music CD's via the MP3 file format: a luxury item. Let me repeat that: A Luxury Item. You can live without music. You can make your own music, or only listen to music created by those who don't try to sell it at exorbinate prices. Go downtown in an city of size on Friday or Saturday night, and you can hear a live bands all night for a few dollars cover. Attend local music festivals, and hear more music than you can probably listen to.
But please, do not point at a $15 Metallica CD, and cry to everone who will listen about how wrong it is to charge such a price, and how you must steal it to defeat the evil record companies. That's just pathetic.
Oh yeah - and it wasn't just distributing anything/everything to random people. He allowed people who had rare/acoustic/live stuff to trade to upload to his site and in turn he'd give them access to his site. It created a *small* community of traders who loved acoustic/live music. I for one was very thankful to this individual because he allowed me to get many acoustic versions of songs that I likely would not have been able to find anywhere else.
Honestly, though, I hope this guy fights back like a sunuvabitch and hits as hard as he can. Illegal or not, I absolutely can't stand some big nasty company (or gov't agency) strongarming someone just to "make an example" out of him/her.
This student was no different from the average w4r3z d00d. For the past few months Slashdotters have been saying the RIAA shouldn't go after Napster because they are providing a service, now the RIAA goes after a person who is distributing thousands of MP3s of copyrighted work and advertizing for his wares in chat rooms and the RIAA is still wrong?!?
What the fuck do you want? The RIAA shouldn't go after a service that is a haven for music piracy and they shouldn't go after music pirates? Maybe you'd like them simply to spend millions of dollars producing, promoting and distributing music then give away CDs just like AOL.
Frankly as a college student, who frequently sees network bandwidth eaten up by people like this kid who had 10000 songs on his hard drive then advertized for total strangers to come saturate his campus' network, I have no sympathy for him.
The fact that this guy was advertising in chat rooms for his wares (*cough*) makes me lose any sympathy. It's one thing to copy some movies and songs and share them with your friends on an ftp server, I do it and I'm sure many other slashdotters do the same. But the wholesale distribution to anonymous people is just plain silly. And I'm sure that the university's computer policy doesn't allow people to run ftp servers or distribute copyrighted material.
No sympathy at all.
"He's more machine now than man, twisted and evil."
"It's very simple," said an RIAA spokesman. "He was distributing MP3s and violating copyright. And, in line with our new `zero-tolerance' policy, we will be seizing the tools of copyright violation: in this case, the fingers he used to type with, and the eyes he used to confirm his crime with. The surgery is scheduled for next week."
The spokesman denied that this was too harsh a punishment. "Oh, give me a break. It's in the Bible, after all. And don't forget that this is a temporary seizure. We will be keeping the eyes and fingers in cryogenic storage, and after one year we will return them to the student. We even pick up the tab for the surgery. Pretty sweet, if you ask me."
Free Software Foundation guru Richard M. Stallman could not be reached for comment. A source close to him said that he was "frantically trying to uninstall his copy of Gnapster."
Carousel is a lie!
In college, many of my friends and I do transfer music online. However, when somebody sets up an FTP server with 10,000 MP3s, using campus bandwidth, and gets enough traffic for the RIAA to be able to find his site, he deserves to get busted.
In the process of building up his collection, this student was hogging bandwidth that could have been used for academic or less bandwidth-intensive personal applications. Every once in a while, the network at my campus slows to a crawl and I *know* it is because somebody planning a party has decided to download 50-100 MP3s within the span of a few hours.
I would be upset if the RIAA harassed a casual MP3 user with only a few hundred files occasionally shared over Napster. But, this was an "always-on" FTP server with an inordinate amount of bandwidth. When somebody is so blatantly disrespecting all parties involved, I have no sympathy.
ByteMyCode.com: A Web 2.0 code sharing community.
So let's see, the kid distributed someone else's property without their permission. He broke the law, and campus rules, and got slammed for it.
I can guarantee that if someone distributed Linux without proper permissions, violating the GPL or something, you'd all jump on his back.
I support the distribution of music over the Net wholheartedly. But, the music and movies do belong to someone, and taking it from them is stealing.
Defending people who are obviously guilty just because it deals with "the Internet" serves no more then to dilute the cause and make you look like fools.
NOTE: My apologies if there is another post here with the same subject - a minor misclick on my part.
I got busted back in 97 for running an FTP out of my dorm just like this kid. The coolest part was that the RIAA actually faxed my univeristy president about me! I was listed by name and IP address. I felt so special.
I first became worried when I noticed attempted logins from the Network Security Office at our school. I prompty booted them out and shut down the server. But alas, it was too late. 20 minutes later I noticed my connection was gone. And a week later I was in Judicial Affairs getting bitched at by some old woman with bad breath.
I lost my dorm connection for an entire year because of that. So now I no longer distribute MP3s, I just take them. I paid my dues dammit!
So anyway, my whole point is that the RIAA has been going after individual students for at least 3 years now. This is the first I've heard of a confiscated computer though.
-=God Hates Me=-
There were three different occasions of students setting up a "home business" pirating software at the University of Alberta in the past few years (that I know of). All underwent similar procedures. These are the same sort of measures that would be undertaken if you were suspected of serving out pornography. If you're suspected of serving illegal content, then they take your machine at the time of arrest to look for said content to use as evidence. This just got media attention because the media is keeping a lookout for mp3-related news.
- W. Blaine Dowler
http://www.bureau42.com
- Compressing audio with the MP3 algorithm, storing such files, and playing them back is certainly not illegal.
- Like most media (game cartridges, software), if I purchase some sort of media I am entitled to duplicate it for archival purposes, in the event of a media failure. The law's such a bitch, ain't it? There's not a thing the RIAA can do to me for wanting to protect my investment.
Yes, distribution of said archives is illegal (just like "oh here, I'll just copy this new Metallica CD for you!" is illegal). Honestly, though, I hope this guy fights back like a sunuvabitch and hits as hard as he can. Illegal or not, I absolutely can't stand some big nasty company (or gov't agency) strongarming someone just to "make an example" out of him/her. You want to make an example, RIAA? Fucking set one. Let's see you get sworn affidavits from each and every employee on your rosters stating they've never copied a cassette or CD. Let's see a drop in CD prices. Let's have an honest answer to the nearly-constant charge that record labels royally screw artists. Does anyone remember back when compact disc technology was new and still-not-accepted yet? Remember the promises? "Oh, CDs are just expensive now because they're new. Before long, they'll be cheaper than cassettes!" Remember the last time you took two copies of an album, one on cassette, and one on CD, then compared the price tags? Hope you've still got your tape decks, folks, because that "archaic" technology just happens to have cheaper media available for it. For that consumer screw right there, I have never, and never will, feel any sympathy for the record industry whatsoever. Artists? Certainly feel bad for their situation -- they produce good tunes for us to enjoy, and get raped in return. But the record industry? Fuck 'em. With Napster, etc., I can frankly do just fine without them.Read my stuff.
You guys think this case is bad? This is nothing. I wish more people knew what is going on.
A family member of mine works in the Office of General Consul for the California State University system. The RIAA sends their requests for student information to this family member. The RIAA was told to go get a subpeona. So guess what? The RIAA got its friends in the California legislature to give them the power to issue their own subpoenas. I am not kidding. The RIAA has the power to issue subpoenas in the State of California.
Everett Eaton, public safety director at OSU,
Thank GOODNESS that this threat to public safety has been removed. We all know that distributing MP3s can lead to date rape in fraternity houses, underage drinking, and alcohol poisoning.
"We're doing some forensic review of the hard drive and determining what is there," Eaton said. "After we finish that review, we will evaluate the amount of substance he was distributing."
Oops! Sorry about that irony up there, Eaton. I didn't realize he was distributing illegal substances. My mistake - good thing you jumped in there!
BTW, am I the only one who is bothered by the fact that state colleges have their own police force? I can see the practical need for policing a large group of people, but I see a real conflict of interest here, from the perspective of the surrounding community (college police are controlled by the college) and the students (police and professors, all working together...)
It's not like campus police don't have anything better to do. How many rapes and muggings are there in a year?
= -=-=-=-=-=-=-
And yes because some money-hungry corporation gets a law passed then the already-thin police budgets now have to spend hundreds, if not thousands, of dollars on a professional forensic analysis of some student's hard drive.
Is this what the founding fathers had in mind when they penned "no unreasonable search and seizure"? You know he won't see that hardware returned until it is no longer worth its weight in scrap metal.
What if some company passes a law that not tying your shoelaces is a crime? Are the police gonna start prosecuting that one?
This seems like a breakdown in separation of powers. How many blue laws are still on the books but wholly ignored by the police? Laws about sodomy come to mind, or spitting on the Sabbath. Sure, the legislative branch handed us this piece of crap we call the DMCA, but I blame the executive brance for becoming a private army at the beck and call of corporations. If I was a police chief and some company called to complain about a kid sharing music...I'd tell them to take a number and where to stick it.
Feh. Just my two cents.
Still, makes you want to go install Scram Disk as soon as possible.
- JoeShmoe
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-- I wonder which will go down in history as the bigger failure: the War on Drugs or the War on Filesharing
In related news, the student's body was stripped of electrons, after a schoolmate pointed out that it was theoretically possible that he was storing infinite numbers of MP3s in them.
"It was a real tragedy," admitted Everett Eaton, public safety director at OSU. "Fortunately, I was across town at the time, so I wasn't caught in the blast as the resultant plasma explosion wiped out half the campus, leaving the remainder a radioactive wreck that won't be fit for human habitation, let alone study, for about 50,000 years. The boy did not survive the procedure, of course, but do the crime, do the time, I always say."
http://www.kuci.org/~brianm/mp3.jpg
Within the next four months, a student or "other individual found downloading illegal MP3 tracks" will go to jail "as a clear signal that piracy will not be tolerated in the US."
So my question is, do American jails have enough room for 20 million pirates?
Matt
Fairtunes
It starts becoming a major world issue when record and movie companies buy laws such as the Digital Millennium Copyright Act which say that I cannot even listen to SDMI music or watch DVD movies except under their terms.
It's a major issue that even if I have the technical skills to circumvent their restrictions, I can't utilize or publicize those skills for fear of turning into a Jon Johansen.
It's really a major issue when a judge dictates to me that I can't even post a hyperlink to a file named decss.tar.gz (as in the Kaplan ruling), just because it might constitute contributory infringement.
I'd like to change the laws within the system if I could, but at this point our so-called democracy is so corrupt with corporate influence that frankly I don't have much chance of achieving anything legitimately.
You could build a more basic system based on the concept -- just build a really basic, thin electromagnet and tape it to the drive itself. When the Gestapo comes to your door, just press a button to zap the drive. Or, you could include a battery and have it rigged to zap the drive if the case is improperly removed, or whatever.
Probably are legal ramifications to this, what with destroying evidence and all. Still, remember that Mitnik is only loose now because the cops couldn't read his hard drive ("No, your honor, it's not erased -- it's just very heavily encrypted").
This is still only a band-aide. The megacorps have become the modern tyrants, and we're moving towards a world where we won't have any wiggle room to protest -- government and corporations working in together to keep you as a slave. They'll control what you see, hear, learn in school and (thanks to the first three) what you think.
Solutions? There's only one -- if government can't protect us (which is what governments are supposed to be doing in the first place), perhaps it's time to strike back in the same way that people have always struck against those who would control them, the tyrants. Protest as all of those who would be oppressed have finally been forced to, and force the hand of your master -- by any means necessary.
Not that I'd advocate violence -- government and the TV say it's bad, so it must be. So, don't think in that direction. Go about your day, smile about your $20k in stock options and your car and your existance. Don't care if your kids are being raised with corporations controlling their schools, or if all your news comes from the same parent company. Ignore the fact that money is speech, and politicians are bought and sold. At least you can barbeque on the weekends and buy expensive little scooters for your 1.5 children.
Apathy is just so conveniant.
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Every year during my review, I just pray the words "slashdot.org" aren't mentioned.