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RIAA Settles Suits Against Students

Posted by michael on from the pay-up-and-no-one-gets-hurt dept.

wo1verin3 writes "Cnet's News.Com has reported that the RIAA has settled the suits with four students accused of sharing songs. The settlements will see each student making payments to the RIAA totaling between $12,000 and $17,000, split into annual installments between 2003 and 2006."

6 of 652 comments (clear)

  1. Re:For the sake of the artists by IshanCaspian · · Score: 4, Informative

    It was not a music-sharing service. It simply indexed the contents of all of the public shares campus. If I typed in RedHat 7 it would return a list of places where I could get the ISO. There was nothing about it that was specifically directed towards infringing.

    --

    But there is another kind of evil that we must fear most... and that is the indifference of good men.
  2. And with this... by cptgrudge · · Score: 5, Informative
    ...I will never buy another cd or music from an RIAA affiliated label for the rest of my life. They have now lost thousands of dollars in sales because of this. They are obviously doing what they feel is right. I must do the same. Unfortunately, this means not listening to some of my favorite bands anymore, but I believe they can be replaced. Nobody has a monopoly on creativity.

    Time to expand my musical tastes.

    independent-artists.com

    boycott-riaa.com

    Why RIAA Keeps Getting Hacked

    RIAA Affiliated Labels

    Hmmm. Can't seem to get to the RIAA site right now...

    --
    Qualitas edurus commercium, nullus penitus net rimor, nullus deus beneficium
  3. Re:You don't speak for me. by mrjive · · Score: 4, Informative

    No...these "kids" wrote samba (windows network share) spidering/indexing programs that made it easier to find files that might be located on open shares on your network.

    This is NOT the same as Joe Sixpack hosting gigs of mp3s on his own computer and making them available to everyone else, this is a matter of going after students writing software that has the potential to be used maliciously (sound familiar?)

    --
    If you can't beat them, arrange to have them beaten. -George Carlin
  4. Re:They shouldn't have settled... by August_zero · · Score: 3, Informative

    . Believe me, that scenario would have the RIAA shaking in their boots. There would be massive publicity, the RIAA would have been completely trashed before it was over and no one would have cared who won in the end I doubt it. The RIAA stance is an easy one to defend in the eyes of the general populace. Here in the Geek-culture we hate them, but no matter what your stance on the property rights of the recording industry vs the users is, you have to admit, it hardly seems that there is much of a legal leg to stand on when you try and convince a jury that file-swapping isn't stealing. The media, and the general public takes a more or less conservative stand on issues like theft. The RIAA would simply declare that the actions of these 4 is the reason that everyone else has to pay $18 a CD and the public would lap it up the same way they lap up $50 tax cuts and sweat over the $10 of their personal tax contribution that gets speant on welfare and public assistance. The settlement certainly makes it easier for the RIAA, but it also leaves the door open. They haven't lost their case yet, but they haven't won it either. Lets wait for a case that falls more in the gray before we expect a victory.

    --
    On Wall Street they say "buy low, sell high" On the pad we say, "buy high, sell high" Isn't that somehow better?
  5. Re:A Good Defense? by leviramsey · · Score: 4, Informative

    The US doesn't have loser-pays, although you can sue someone for your legal fees...

  6. Umm...Apple's DRM by interactive_civilian · · Score: 3, Informative
    Apple's new music store is a good idea, however I still won't buy into DRM music. I'd be happy to pay $0.99 for an unlocked MP3, but I'll never willingly purchase DRM materials that I can't unlock for my own fair use.
    Ummm...correct me if I am wrong, but you can burn Apple's DRMed AAC files into a regualar audio CD and then re-rip them to have DRM-free files (not to mention a nice back-up of the files in case you delete them). Most people won't go to this trouble, so Apple's DRM model can be successful for the majority of users, but it isn't that hard.
    --
    "Empathise with stupidity, and you're halfway to thinking like an idiot." - Iain M. Banks