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

rock and roll will never die

[unk1911]

RIAA will never win. they don't stand a chance. move with times. that's all i can say

Assasination

[Anonymous Coward]

Let us start assasinating the people at corporationns that are doing this fucked up shit. They might start to think twice about what they are doing, maybe even do something that benefits society.

Re:MediaForce

[0xdeadbeef]

You know, that's what the plantation owners said to the slaves.

why not kill two birds with one stone?

[martin-boundary]

The RIAA should search for files containing Usher and mp3, but instead of deleting them, they should all be replaced with ten second "sample" music clips. That way, users don't have to worry about losing files, *and* they get exposed to music they might like. This might even boost record sales!

I believe RIAA is responsible for the new virus.

[Anonymous Coward]

I think the RIAA hacked into my computer not too many days after 9/11/2003 and disabled many of my MP3's. A lot of you will notice this. You may have just thought it was bad encryption or corrupted files. Many of you deleted those files. Those are evidence, any MP3 that you have that can't be opened in any program and/or you've been wondering about for a while, that is. It is dated after 9/11/2002. I gave myself a year because I'm so smart I can't remember that far back. You need to keep them if you have any left. These may be evidence against the RIAA. I accidentally formatted my hard disk not more than 3 or 4 months ago and lost all of them I had. The RIAA could have possibly reverse engineered the MP3 codec and the Kazaa program, created the virus, experimented with it, tweaked it to perfection, waited until a vast number of people joined Kazaa, and then unleashed it. This is possible because humans work for the RIAA and humans are creative beings. It's called Fizzle, I think. It uses e-mail to transmit. Apparently through some of the similar means as the SQL Slammer Virus. But I don't know much about programming. I really need to learn. My e-mail address is at the bottom of this. It's very easy to get a lot of e-mail addresses of the people that are using Kazaa right now. There are (or were) around 4 million at any given time. (People, on the Kazaa network. Pay attention.) You don't have to know them if you're just trying to kill them, or get rid of all the copyright infringement going on so that you can start making money again. That sentence made no sense. I'm sorry for being creative and possibly violating the law, because apparently free speech is gone where I live. I have watched it disappear for a very long time. Of COURSE the RIAA posts bad/wrong/stupid/incorrect/blatant/purposeful/conj ured(don't those words all mean the same thing, or, at least, one logically leads up to the other, once again, sorry for the excessive creativity)figures. (Ahem, stockholders, if you please, a loud scream all at once. Do you still trust them ((The RIAA, I'm talking to you, stockholders, you listening?)) They sure pay for a lot of things...) (Btw/ physical possessions are meaningless.) Explain this one to me, because maybe I just don't understand: How do I know this? Well, if they calculated all the transactions correctly for all of their taxes, income, expenses, gifts, buyouts, rollovers, hires, fires, kills (not that I know that they did it, or any of these things, but I'll bet they're involved in at least just one...) and anything else related to money, then they really are god. Because the RIAA employs SO many people. A LOT of evil people. All humans lie. If you can find me a human that you know has never lied, you need to bring him to me so that I may proclaim him god, because I am an angel. You can't tell me there's not 1 single evil/bad/corrupt/fearful/loathed/despicable/terrib le/angry/pissed off/mad/sulking/immature(a lot easier for me to make up negativity, as there is way too much of it in this world, I could go on for days)employee working for the RIAA. A lot of people working for them could tell you there are. And that's a lot of confessions to be making. I hope there are some Christians there too. Cause' they're usually pretty honest. :) 1 spoiled apple rottens the bunch. Somewhere inside the RIAA, a transaction messed up. They failed. One of the employees got either/or/and tired, drunk, high, stupid, angry, depressed, or happy (or something); and screwed up one transaction, one day. I promise. Hum(jmcfarland at quapaw2.qti.tec.ar.us)ans are humans. We fail sometimes. We are imperfect machines. The principles of our American government (if you live in America that is, apparently THE most exciting place to be) conflict with this idea. The government has too much power because it believes it is god even when it's not. It is supposed to be perfect because we are supposed to trust our government. We are forced to trust our

Re:Perfectly reasonable

[sleeper0]

Haha get over yourself and your freshman poli sci course! You think you are making some kind of noble point? "I shall not tolerate discrimination against what others might steal, so that I myself will be free to steal what I wish with impunity". Haha, go get 'em martin luther.

Re:The current state of things...

[efflux]

Yeah, here's the letter I got:

Subject: Copyright Infringement is Illegal

Did you know that offering access to an illegally duplicated copyrighted song could cost you over $150,000 in damages plus legal fees if a record company sues you for copyright infringement and wins?

Most record companies and movie studios now employ firms to act as "Internet Watchdogs". These firms have various ways of looking for illegal copies of songs, movies, games, software, and other copyrighted works. Recently, record companies and movie studios have stepped up their efforts to crack down on illegal sharing of copyrighted songs and movies.

Just last week, the Recording Industry Association of America filed lawsuits against four college students for allegedly offering access to copyrighted music files within their campus networks. The lawsuits, according to an April 4, 2003 article in The Chronicle of Higher Education, ask for damages of $150,000 per recording. The lawsuits were filed directly against the four students; the universities attended by the students were not named as defendants, and received no prior notice of the pending lawsuits.

Sharing copyrighted works without the express consent of the copyright owners is illegal, even when the sharing is only within the campus network and no money is exchanged for the works. As an illegal act, sharing copyrighted works is also against University policy. Students in violation of this policy will be subject to campus disciplinary procedures.

and my relpy, sent from the safe anonymity of a yahoo account:

I don't appreciate receiving these preemptive threats. I wish Central would get the RIAA's dick out of their mouth and stop sending their propaganda through campus-wide e-mails. I would be surprised to find a student who *isn't* aware of the recent lawsuit, or who *isn't* aware of the RIAA's attempt to crack down on copyright infringement. This is not a public service announcement. Stop acting like it is.

I wish I attended a school that had a broader sense of integrity than enforcing outmoded copy restrictions through abusive scare tactics only so that they will be seen as a "cooperative agent" by the RIAA.

Fuck you, buddy. I'll have none of it.

and the school's response:

You would be surprised to know how many students do not know about this problem, it is our intention to try to make sure that they do not get into trouble. I am sorry that you do not see the value in this approach.

Now, I know this guy was "just doing his job", and I most likely gave him an unjustly bad day. However, I was flat pissed that they were doing this. I don't even download songs and I was feeling targeted. Best I can say for the guy who sent this out at our school, is at least he took my abuse well.

Re:Why pay attention when your extorting?

[EpsCylonB]

4) ???

5) profit!

Re:Why pay attention when your extorting?

[hymie3]

1. Make "profit" jokes.
2. ???
3. Profit!!!