Record Industry Sues 532 More U.S. File-Sharers

Patik writes "The RIAA today issued 532 new subpoenas for music file swapping, many of them college students using their campus networks. They will not say which ISPs or colleges were involved, but that the users were sharing "substantial amounts" of music files. This brings the total number of subpoenas to 1,977. The RIAA has been averaging $3,000 per settlement so far." Readers Digitus1337 and Warpedcow point to stories respectively at Wired and Reuters.

Comments

Whew!

[Anonymous Coward]

Thank goodness I only share and download pornography!

Seriously though, they need to make sure the
punishment isn't worse than the crime. Ruining
a college student's record/life may not fit that
description.

worth the karma

[machine of god]

bastards.

You've got it all wrong

[Adam9]

No no no. The money goes to pay the lawyers to help protect the artists from these thieves!

Re:You've got it all wrong

[JDBrechtel]

True, because the next step of piracy will be to skip the RIAA all-together and kidnap the recording artists themselves and force them to record the MP3s at gunpoint.

Bankrupt the RIAA-Cheaper by the dozen.

[Anonymous Coward]

"Lawyers don't come cheap..."

Indian lawyers do.

Re:KLite

[cpu_fusion]

And the best place to get Kazaa Lite these days is... yep, Kazaa !!! And if you're silly enough to download a binary executable off Kazaa without checking an MD5 sum or something, you might even get bonus Trojan Lite (tm) software!

Re:$3000 per settlement???

[philovivero]

so are they giving all the money they've received to the authors/performers of the music? How do they decide who gets what and what's the money used for.

It is decided using a complex formula, but I'll give you an example, using eg Counting Crows:

• 99% -- Record Industry Execs
• 0.05% -- Band manager
• 0.03% -- Hookers and blow
• 0.01% -- Flowers for the receptionist
• 0.005% -- A couple of beers for the record execs' buds
• 0.004% -- The Anti-Slashdot lobby
• 0.001% -- The band, Counting Crows. They can divvy it up however they want between themselves.

Is it clear now?

Re:Good odds, keep sharing!

[cpu_fusion]

I've seen numbers that claim 50,000,000 people in the US use P2P applications. Let's do the math:

Yes, let's...
50,000,000 users * $3,000 average settlement = $150,000,000,000

Crap, why even make music. They just need more lawyers! Somewhere, in a top secret lab, the RIAA is cloning lawyers.

I see those bastards plans clearly now.

Waaah

[Anonymous Coward]

Waaah, the big bad RIAA is big and bad and mean and they won't let me have their music for free. Waaah! I just summed up all the posts on this topic.

In 1977....

[R33MSpec]

"..This brings the total number of subpoenas to 1,977.."

In 1977:

February 11 - A 20.2-kg lobster is caught off Nova Scotia (heaviest known crustacean).

Coincidence?!? YOU Decide

Re:Cause you know it's working

[Guano_Jim]

people still share music in groves.

Groves?

Fscking druids ruining it for everybody.

Re:KLite

[corbettw]

Not with that broken link, you can't.

Say it with me, folks: Slashdot breaks up long lines, rendering most plaintext links more trouble than they're worth. And enclosing links in anchors is easy. Why, scientists have shown that even a monkey can enclose a link in anchors. Are you stupider than a monkey?

It's been said before.....

[Valiss]

"We keep losing customers! I don't understand! We sue the fuckers, and they still won't buy our products!"

Re:$3000 per settlement???

[roystgnr]

• 99% -- Record Industry Execs
  
• 0.05% -- Band manager
  
• 0.03% -- Hookers and blow
  
• 0.01% -- Flowers for the receptionist
  
• 0.005% -- A couple of beers for the record execs' buds
  
• 0.004% -- The Anti-Slashdot lobby
  
• 0.001% -- The band, Counting Crows. They can divvy it up however they want between themselves.

Is it clear now?

It's clear once you do the math: their accountant is skimming 0.9% off the top!