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RIAA Recommends Students Drop out of College
boarder8925 writes "An MIT student accused of copyright infringement has been documenting her struggles with the RIAA. Upon trying to negotiate her settlement, a representative told her that "the RIAA has been known to suggest that students drop out of college or go to community college in order to be able to afford settlements.""
Drop out of school so you can afford the settlement offer, which will severely hinder your earning potential, causing you to pirate more material because you can't afford it... lather, rinse, repeat.
Are any of you still buying RIAA label cd's? If you are, you are supporting this crap.
This has to stop.
clearly, if the person is no longer a college student, he/she will be less likely to pirate music. Brillant.
The RIAA is suggesting she may want to drop out of college to pay the settlement IF she agrees to it, because she was complaining that she couldn't afford it. It seems like they're doing what most bill collectors do, which is suggesting you get rid of pretty much every unnecessary expense you have in order to pay them. Of course, what they consider unnecessary may not be the same as what you consider unnecessary.
To agree to the settlement is basically to agree that you wronged them in some way, and should pay them. Once you've agreed to that, how you actually pay the settlement isn't their problem. They may make suggestions, some of which you might find distasteful or even absurd, but the bottom line is they don't care how you pay a settlement you agreed to, so long as you pay it.
She might have to drop out of school just to pay for the webhosting bill...
I can't believe that the RIAA would stoop to such a level. The scariest part is that perfectly intelligent people believe that everyone who is sued by the RIAA deserves it and is guilty. I wish that there was some simple way to explain to a lay-person how knowing the IP address of someone downloading music doesn't mean much in linking to an actual person. People assume that an IP address is like a social security number, that always links to a single person and always to the same person. This fallacy is one of our biggest problems in infroming lay-people about what the RIAA is doing. Maybe this bit of info will help people to see how evil the RIAA actually is.
Yes if you download copyrighted music, you're commiting a crime. Maybe it shouldn't be a crime, but it's a crime all the same. Yours is a weak justification of why the RIAA might want to not keep this illegal, but for the moment it still is illegal and so making a stand in court will probably not do any good.
I think the point here is that RIAA's methods are objectionable. From what I've read about them, I get the impression the RIAA is like the secret police in the way it works. People should be making a stand outside courts - like boycotting or setting up organizations to oppose RIAA.
I don't understand the problem. If you think they're evil, don't consume their products. Why the hell do people treat CDs like friggen crack? You DON'T NEED IT. Paid, free, physical media or downloaded, just stop. The artists are part of the beast as well, why respect them if they're willing participants as well? Don't even listen to it on the radio.
You can't simultaneously support something you find evil and retain a shred of credibility, so just stop. If you can't stop and are willing to break the law for your fix, I humbly suggest that you quite literally have a substance abuse problem and should seek professional help or a twelve-step program or something.
Hell, spend your CD money on booze and then join AA so you can sit around and blame the RIAA for your alcoholism.
"Go and invest that $150,000 in your own business and you'll be much happier (and successful)."
Sure, because all businesses succeed (hint: less than 1 in 10 do). Or because it's easy to get financing for a business plan when you're 18 -- don't forget that student loans and other financial aid are pretty much guaranteed. Or because people at the age of 18 all have the skills to run a business.
That "education" you speak of so disparagingly is what gives us a workforce that innovates, that has the knowledge necessary for complex jobs... like in the fields medicine (practice or research, you pick), or engineering, etc.
"Trolls they were, but filled with the evil will of their master: a fell race..." -- J.R.R. Tolkien on Olog-hai
It's extortion when you haven't committed the copyright infringement but have no hope of defeating their lawyers.
"Who is the Journal of Quantum Physics going to believe?" --Stephen Hawking
I don't understand everybody's thinking here. Don't hire a lawyer (thief) and tell them you won't settle. Tell them to take you to court and then demand proof that you stole. Then ask for continuance after continuance for discovery. Petition the court to summons records from the RIAA that shows the evidence for thier claim. There is a hole in thier evidence chain. There always is. I found this to be true in a simular situation with DirectTV that killed thier case and it only took about an hour and a half to find it.
Don't take thier crap and stand up to them firm. Even if you don't fully understand what they are doing, act like you are in control and they can't win. If you press forward this way, they can't win.
Athiesm is a religion like not collecting stamps is a hobby.
Just a reminder to those who might want to look it up in the dictionary:
extort n. To obtain from another by coercion or intimidation.
The threat and coercion being: Expensive legal fees or expensive settlement. For a person of limited resources, this is legal extortion. That's why some forms of torte reform are unreasonable and unworkable.
And if the fee isn't paid the RIAA gets to file liens or even get the defendant thrown in jail. Also as a reminder liens affect credit ratings which affect loan rates which affect future income... the snowball effect of this really is huge.
I would contend that the REAL piracy is a social piracy on the part of the RIAA. In my opinion, they're plundering our society for short-term monetary gains on what amounts to be bad business processes practices by the RIAA's members. I understand they want to make a buck (who doesn't?), but at what cost to society?
My apologies to the Pastafarians out there for putting the RIAA in the same ball field as the Flying Spaghetti Monster. His wrath will be mighty and oregano flavored.
> The only "extortion" they're doing is going around people who are guilty of copyright infringment against their members
You misspelled "accused". Glad I could clear that up for you.
Done with slashdot, done with nerds, getting a life.
Allow me to clarify --- if someone accuses you of downloading copyrighted material, you are risking a the fine; regardless of anything so sticky as the truth of wether or nor you actually did it.
The RIAA doesn't need to prove anything. They just claim it, demand a settlement, and strong-arm you into settling. They are never obligated to prove a damned thing. And since it's a civil matter, they know it's cheaper to settle even if you're innocent.
I could claim you're a child molester, but since I have no basis to make the claim, it would be unfair to tar you with that brush (this is a metaphor, not a personal attack, I'm sure you're a perfectly nice person around children).
What if someone who legitimately has NOT downloaded material is accused by the RIAA? They're expected to settle out of court, accept responsibility and blame -- or, they spend a godawful amount of money defending themselves.
People hate these suits from the RIAA because they are brough forth without evidence, without any objective 3rd party, and a whole passle of cranky lawyers. I've said before, the RIAA is effectively acting as their own court system without supervision. And, they can effectively do any damned thing they want to any poor schmuck whose ISP was strong-armed into giving up their information.
The fact that there are no checks and balances on the way this is done, means it's a situation that's just rife with chances for abuse. Oooh, the latest Brittney SPears album didn't sell well? Fine, we'll just make up a couple of people to sue and recoup our losses. It would be no different from the complete vapour trail they provide now.
Any situation in which your accuser seems to automatically be able to force you to settle for thousands of dollars, or be bankrupted in court, is completely broken.
Now, it sounds like the person in this article may have actually downloaded stuff. But if, and I can guaran-f'in-tee I've never downloaded music, I was accused of this same thing, I'd be left with the bullshit choice of settling and accepting guilt, or fighting it and paying through the nose.
Lost at C:>. Found at C.
Yeah wow nice troll buddy but it more likely will go like this:
Anti-**AA lawyer "Your Honor, These *.AA people are threatening lawsuits all up in here. They have no evidence. They should make their peace.."
Judge - "Wow.. your right. Case dismisssed!"
*.AA - " but but PIRATES!!"
Judge - "Pirates sail the sea son, now take your extortion racket and leave town"
*.AA - * whine whine lumbering dinosuar of the old world noises *
Judge - "Thats it motherfuckers, you going down!!"
*Judge pulls out sawed off shotty and jumps up on his bench*
Judge - " Pistol grip pump motherfuckers!! "
* *.AA lawyers head asplode *
* Lawyer falls down, a crimson fountain coats everything in recently depreasureized blood. A leather satchel falls to the floor *
Judge - "Well now you dirty slime-yer, whats this?"
* Judge opens the satchel and a small white kitten tumbles out*
Kitten - "mew!"
Judge - " Those evil bastards, they were going to eat that kitten "
* Anti-**AA lawyer steps onto the severed skull of *.AA lawyer crushing it to dust*
Judge - " your kitten eating hording culture days are over. Set my people free! "
* all the peoples of the world get together and share their collective culture and world peace is declared (also bu$h gets cancer and dies)*
-FIN-
I'll just use my special getting high powers one more time...
To put this into context for anyone who's thinking "huh?"
:)
Bad debtors were once jailed within 'Debtors Prison', being removed as functional members of society, until their debts were paid. Once this was proved to be ineffective, and as modern considerations on fair rights came to play, an effect coined as 'The Race of the Swiftest' occurred. Creditors would, upon learning of a company's misfortune, take legal action against a debtor and be granted a portion of the company's assets in compensation for their debts. While this was reasonably effective for such creditors, there was no remedy for those creditors who were not as 'swift' to learn of the insolvency soon enough.
As a result of this unfairness, various governments introduced Bankruptcy, such as Canada's 'Bankruptcy & Insolvency Act' and the US's 'Bankruptcy Act' (Chapter 11). The intention of these is to balance all interests, while being fair. They are all, in one form or another, intended to (a) give an honest but unfortunate debtor a 'fresh start' by relieving of them of the burden of most of their debts, and (b) to repay creditors in an orderly and fair manner using the resources of the debtor (read: liquidate assets and distribute to creditors based on a fair order of security and distributed evenly within each class).
Just in case debtors prison sounds confusing
-M
when you see the word 'Linux', drink!
The key to 1008 in this context is that there has to be the use of a digital audio recording device or digital audio recording medium. The question is, what are those things? Well, we have some important definitions in 1001. Usually the sort of person who cites 1008 will always forget to have checked 1001, to make sure that 1008 actually says what it appears on first glance to say.
So, in order for a computer to be a digitial audio recording device, it must have a digital recording function which is designed or marketed for the primary purpose of making digital audio copied recordings for private use.
This is not the case, however. Ordinary personal computers are general purpose devices; their digital recording functions are the same, whether the data being recorded is text, music, speech, pictures, etc. Thus, it doesn't qualify for 1008.
Similarly, in order for a hard drive to be a digital audio recording medium, it must be primarily marketed or most commonly used by consumers for the purpose of making digital audio copied recordings by use of a digital a
-- This and all my posts are in the public domain. I am a lawyer. I am not your lawyer, and this is not legal advice.