RIAA To Sue Hundreds Of File Swappers

Shackleford writes "The Washington Post has an article saying that the RIAA is preparing hundreds of lawsuits against Internet users who illegally trade copyrighted music files. The lawsuits will target people who share 'substantial' amounts of copyrighted music, but anyone who shares illegal files is at risk, RIAA President Cary Sherman said in a conference call today. The first round of lawsuits will be prepared during the next eight to 10 weeks. They will ask for injunctions and monetary damages against file swappers. It seems that after a federal judge ruled in April that file-sharing services have legal uses and thus should not be shut down, the RIAA has found that it must go after individual users rather than the services that they use." palmech13 points to a similar article on Yahoo News.

Comments

Cry me a river

[mao che minh]

Simple answer: stop violating the rights of the RIAA and stealing and distributing their property, or face prosecution and legal fees.

It is illegal to obtain copyrighted material from sources that are not authorized to distribute it - especially knowingly, but knowledge of the illegal act is not neccassary. The buck stops there. Whether or not increased music "sharing" benefits the music industry, or if a lack of good music is to blame for falling profits, or the economy is the cause, etc, is completely irrelevant. Stop stealing.

Re:Cry me a river

[Frac]

Price fixing is also illegal.

So are cartels.

Welcome to the real world where people break the law, and only the poor or unlucky deal with the consequences.

So is this the latest /. excuse to pirate music? Sad...

Move out of America

[xQx]

The RIAA's only flaw in this is they believe they rule the world.

If they were unsuccessful in ruling out spammers, which, EVERYBODY hates... what chance do thay have for illegal music, which many love.

You're still not going to stop that old 'move it offshore' problem.

Glad I don't live in the land of the free