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RIAA Goes after LimeWire
PCM2 writes "A coalition of major recording companies sued the operators of the file-sharing program LimeWire for copyright infringement Friday, claiming the firm encourages users to trade music without permission." From thge article: " The case is the first piracy lawsuit brought against a distributor of file-sharing software since the U.S. Supreme Court ruled last year that technology companies could be sued for copyright infringement on the grounds that they encouraged customers to steal music and movies over the Internet. In the complaint, the record companies contend LimeWire's operators are "actively facilitating, encouraging and enticing" computer users to steal music by failing to block access to copyright works and building a business model that allows them to profit directly from piracy. "
'nuff said.
In related news, RIAA will sue all local and state police forces for causing crime.
Since police do not block every roadway and put GPS kill switches in all private cars,
police are the cause of all crimes committed in the USA. Not the actual bad actors who do bad things, they are not to blame - it's all the police's fault!
So, you can sue a software manufacturer for alledged crimes committed by people who use the software, but you can not sue a Gun manufacturer for making an explicitly lethal device that 'cause' bank robberies, wars, muggings, and small child deaths?
Using RIAA anti-logic,
the USA should disband all it's armed forces and give all
the USAs weapons to Hezbollah to ensure peace for Israel and safety for U.S. citizens.
Even if they manage to shut down Limewire, people will just move to another client in the Gnutella network.
No different than Napster and Kazaa, to name a few.
Will the RIAA ever realize this?
LimeWire wont work if you tell the truth when you install it. If you check the box saying you might use it for piracy, it wont work. So LimeWire isnt responsible. Why stop there? Why dont you blabbering fatcats complaining about "ethics" and "copyright infringement" sue Colt and Remington because they profit directly from guns used to kill people and rob banks? How about sueing Epson and Hewlett Packard because their printers can print copyrighted photographs, child pornography or pages from books?