Individual ReplayTV Users Pulled Into Lawsuit

1010011010 writes "A moderator on the AVSForum website has been deposed in the lawsuit against SonicBLUE. He says, "Never forget that the internet is as huge as it is tiny. Your off-the-cuff remark on some website you don't even remember visiting may someday be presented to you on a sheet of paper with an exhibit number." He goes on, "Right now, the RIAA has shown that it is perfectly willing to sue individual users who are believed to be sharing copyrighted material over the internet. I believe that it is certainly possible that copyright holders may seek to make their point directly to the users of ReplayTV by suing those users who are believed to be using the Show Sharing in a manner that they believe infringes on their copyrights." And, "I present this scenario, along with my first comment, in order to make sure that people understand what could possibly be at stake in this case. I know it seems unfathomable that you could buy a consumer electronics device at Best Buy and then be sued for using all of its features. There was a time when I would have said "what would they do, sue everyone?" But now I realize that the answer is that they don't have to sue everyone. They just need to sue a few to make the point." This worries me, as I've written my own software client (I'll decline linking to it here, thanks) for the Replay, so that I can perform the digital equivalent of saving shows I like on VHS tape, just like the Boston Strangler. I wonder if I will be re-living the CueCat vague-legal-threat experience, except that this time it won't be so vague? Maybe this should be an Ask Slashdot -- "Where does the RIAA get off?" As jleavens, the moderator who was deposed, goes on to say, "Join the EFF or simply donate a few dollars (http://www.eff.org/perl/join)." I would like to add, "Do not support the RIAA and other greedy organizations actively working to screw you." Yeah, seems obvious. Do something about it. Don't just not buy their CDs. Do everything you can to let people know how awful they are. And, if they want to use the legal system -- well, that's a sword with two edges. How do we get the RIAA outlawed? I think it's come to, "What's bad for the RIAA is good for America.""

Comments

Re:Deposed?

[Nutcase]

deposed.

When someone is questioned in a deposition (i.e. out of court, but legally binding testimony as part of the evidence gathering phase of a trial), then they have been deposed.

The question

[Nyarly]

The question shouldn't be "how do we get the RIAA outlawed?" Ultimately, the answer to that is to settle the legal issues finally so that some or all of the P2P, digital backup, personal control of data processing devices and digital storage issues are resolved in a way that makes sense for consumers (by which I mean actually makes sense for consumers, not makes sense in fantasy land.) And that involves, at the moment, having our interests valiantly defended by a small number of little known and unfocused charitable organizations (EFF, FSF, once in a month of Sundays the ACLU) (plus the inimitable Lawrence Lessig) from the ravages of a organization of some of the best financed, most motivated legal monopolies in the US. (And, the way things are looking, if you think I mean Americans by "our" think again.)

The question should be, how can this become a public fight? Because, really, the government should be serving the public good - what the American citizens want is what ought to go, and the courts at least are pretty good at making that happen. But the RIAA's biggest asset is the apathy (or the uninformed agreement) of the populace in general. So, is this a point of academia above the head of Joe Sixpack, or is this something that's been skewed and discarded by the broadcast press for so long that JS no longer cares or understands?

Individual ReplayTV Users NOT Pulled Into Lawsuit

[Anonymous Coward]

I have to read some stupid rambling just to get to this:

I believe that it is certainly possible that copyright holders may seek to make their point directly to the users of ReplayTV by suing those users who are believed to be using the Show Sharing in a manner that they believe infringes on their copyrights.

Just a stupid theory. The subject is false, there are no individuals pulled into this lawsuit. This story belongs on USENET, not Slashdot.

Re:RIAA?

[MeanMF]

Why is the poster being sued by the RIAA?

The RIAA is not involved in this particular lawsuit. The plantiffs are Paramount/UPN, Disney/ABC, NBC, and Viacom/CBS. The article is comparing this new action against individual users to the ones brought in the past by the RIAA against music sharers.