RIAA Apologizes for Incorrect Infringement Notice

theradixhunter writes "News.com is reporting that the RIAA has apologized to the Pennsylvania State University for sending a threatening letter making an incorrect allegations of copyright violations. It appears that the automated system that the RIAA uses picked the term "Usher" and the extenstion ".mp3" on an FTP site hosting the work of Professor Emeritus Peter Usher and falsely assumed that the files were songs by the musician Usher. The university accepted the apology saying "that this was an honest mistake by the recording industry" and Spokesman Tysen Kendig said Penn State "remains committed to working closely with the RIAA"."

Comments

MediaForce

[mrpuffypants]

Once again, I feel it's appropriate to slam MediaForce and their gang of sleazebag nerds that write the software that does this.

For shame....

Why pay attention when your extorting?

[FredThompson]

Why should the RIAA check their "sources"? They're making a lot of money/press by blackmail and coercion.

Just a matter of time before they pick on the wrong people.

It would be interesting to see how many time the RIAA systems access servers with restricted use policies: "Ve haf found der pirate!!!!" "No, you've trespassed on the private server of esquires Anastacia Lopez and Santana Aguilera of the law firm that prosecuted the tobacco settlement. Pay up."

Re:Why pay attention when your extorting?

[evilviper]

Why should the RIAA check their "sources"?

Well let's see... You put the name "Usher" in one of your own songs, and RIAA sends you the legal documents telling you to cease...

Well, that would be adequate legal evidence that they have illegially downloaded YOUR copyrighted material, and YOU can sue them for damages. They are not law enforcement, they have no legal immunity.

Nice change huh? Sue RIAA for pirating your music... Now if they hadn't sent the cease document, you would have a hard time proving all of this to a judge.

And just think, either the RIAA will have to pay you a truckload of money, or it will set a precident basically relieving anyone of legal liability for files they have downloaded.

Re:Why pay attention when your extorting?

[Dylan Zimmerman]

You have a really good point there. They seem to think that they are the only ones that own any copyrighted music.

Even more effective would be to make a group called one of the words from the title of one of Usher's songs and then use Usher in the song name. That would get at least two hits on their theft-o-meter unless they fix it Real Soon Now.

Of course, they don't have to download your material to see its title. That might throw a fairly large wrench into that idea. Plus, where would you put it? If it's on a P2P network, then they could argue that you intentionally made it available for download. Therefore, you would need to put it on a private FTP.

Now, a harassment suit would stick a lot better. You could argue that the RIAA is sending you baseless C&D letters and get a court to order them to pay you for any damages that you might face. It's too bad that this university doesn't understand what a threat to free speach the RIAA is.

You could even sue for mental anguish or some other outlandish thing that is impossible to disprove.

Of course, if they apologized without you giving them permission to download the file, then THAT could be construed as infringement of your copyright. They would have to listen to the file to verify that it wasn't really Usher. Either that or trust you, but we all know that the RIAA doesn't trust people.

Re:Why pay attention when your extorting?

[ColaMan]

Ha! Excellent Idea!

Put your copyrighted file on a website with a click-through EULA :

"Users downloading these songs must agree to pay the copyright owner *1 BILLION* dollars for each song downloaded. (Insert usual boilerplate here) To accept the terms of this agreement , press the "I Agree" button".

Make sure you advertise with google your website and it's file for download. Used a sponsored link if you feel like it.

The following steps :

1) They click through, get file, send cease and desist.
2) Me : "oh, you downloaded my file? Glad you liked it!excuse me, where's my BILLION dollars?"
3) RIAA get their crack legal team out to defend themselves.

End result is either:

1) RIAA proves that click through EULA's are not valid. We can ignore Microsoft and their EULA's all we want after that, with the added happy bonus of using an Evil Corps lawyers against another Evil corp.

or (my personal favorite)

3) Microsoft weighs in on my side with their legal team and I get my billion dollars. Ok, I'll donate a few million to the Gates foundation, and the EFF ;-) Again the happy bonus of using an Evil Corps lawyers against another Evil corp.

Maybe we could turn it into a sport - corporation-baiting, here we come!

Re:Why pay attention when your extorting?

[JimDabell]

Well, that would be adequate legal evidence that they have illegially downloaded YOUR copyrighted material, and YOU can sue them for damages.

Actually, even if you ignore the fact that you are offering the file for download yourself, their error clearly shows that they only looked at the filename, they didn't listen to it. You don't need to download something to see the filename.

Now, if somebody were to have, say, the first ten seconds of an Usher song as the start of an mp3, and then 20 minutes of somebody criticising that style of music, that would fall under fair use. It would also confuse them once they start to check that the music is actually infringing.

"Honest mistake" ?!?!?!?

[drdanny_orig]

If you think about it, almost every word in the English language appears in some band's name somewhere. The mistake may have been "honest" (although I find that a questionable use of the word), but they're apt to be making it a lot in the coming months.

And it would also appear that simply using a phony filename extension will be enough to fool the "automated system." From now on, I and all my partners in tune trading criminal activities will use .RIAA to denote classic .mp3, and .MPAA instead of .mpg or .mpeg, but only on even numbered days. Other times we'll switch 'em around. That oughta hold 'em off for a while.

Oops! Did I just divulge a circumvention technique? Will I be liable for prosecution under DMCA or US-PATRIOT or some other silly-ass law?

database of RIAA ips?

[Lawrence_Bird]

is there any database of RIAA server IP's or their minions? Just on general principles I would like to block them all. Their actions are damn close to illegal search and seizure, at least IMHO.

Hosting Fake Files

[aSiTiC]

This gives me a great idea. Just like RIAA/MPAA is flooding p2p networks with fake files we could flood their search methods with fake files.

If every internet user with a webpage hosted 2-3 blank mp3 files with names like "BritneySpears-Baby.mp3", etc... The time it would take RIAA/MPAA to find all of them and verify them as blank would flood their capabilities.

Re:The current state of things...

[NetDrain]

The direct connect hub that a student ran here at Cal Poly in California raised its head too high and got cut off -- the student got a judicial review and ran off with his tail between his legs.

Even my Residential Advisor got nailed for a movie. People get their ports shut off and get called in by the dozens. My friend who works in the Residential Network offices, in addition to telling us what they're cracking down on, told me that they get a good deal of letters from the MPAA and the RIAA, demanding specific students knock it off: under the DMCA, our school acts as an ISP, and can be held accountable. It hasn't really deterred anyone, and there haven't been any criminal charges, but students get nailed all the time.

Except those who still know how to lie low and run Hotline servers.

RIAA == Penn State Board Member

[asv108]

Penn State is working closely with the RIAA because Barry Robinson a lawyer for the RIAA is on the Board of Trustees so instead of representing the interests of the university and protecting the students, Penn State president Grahm Spanier has chosen to let a trustee influence university policy for the sake of the crooked organization he works for. I should post this AC but I really dont give an fsck. Penn State is dedicated to building unnecessary buildings while removing as much parking as possible. I now have to walk 20 mins from a staff parking lot to work so fire me before I die of heat stroke this summer ;)

Re:A new advocate

[Technician]

Notice the Prof is now looking into the excess dammage by the DMCA and is contacting Congress? We need more of these to hit Congress.

Re:The current state of things...

[int69h]

You'd think that a university should understand copyright better.

Making copies of any copyrighted material without the right to do so is against both state and federal law and University policy.

Hogwash. Making copies of anyone's copyrighted materials is permitted by US law. Distributing those copies is another matter entirely. I propose they rename it to copyanddistributeright.

Sorry I forgot the block in the closing blockquote.

Perjury?

[SvnLyrBrto]

Don't those DMCA threaten & harass letters almost always include a statement along the lines of: "I hereby swear, under penalty of PERJURY, than I am the copyright holder or the legal representative therof."???

Said statement was obviously NOT true in this case, and I don't think those letters include a disclamier like: "unless I get CAUGHT lieing, and apologize afterward".

So do those "swear under penalty of perjury" clauses have any real legal validity? If so, isn't it appropiate for some RIAA/Metallica drones to be shareing bunkspace with Charlie Manson in the very near future? After all, when a regular citizen does it, perjury is a pretty BIG deal. Why should the RIAA/Metallica enjoy any immunity?

Or are those lines not, in any way, legally binding? If that's the case, why include them at all?

cya,
john