RIAA Ends Harassment of Grieving Family

denebian devil writes "According to Cory Doctorow at Boingboing, the RIAA has dropped its case against the family of a dead man. 'Today, an RIAA spokesperson, Jonathan Lamy, contacted me today with this statement: Our hearts go out to the Scantleberry family for their loss. We had decided to temporarily suspend the productive settlement discussions we were having with the family. Mr. Scantleberry had admitted that the infringer was his stepson, and we were in the process settling with him shortly before his passing. Out of an abundance of sensitivity, we have elected to drop this particular case.'"

Comments

Just a question, and some thoughts

[daveschroeder]

Forget for a moment the RIAA, US copyright law, corporate media owners, and the like:

In any circumstance or scenario, is it ever acceptable for an owner of a work, or their duly specified agent, to protect that ownership, even when the work may be freely copied in an unlimited fashion, and to use the legal frameworks provided by the society in which it exists, to enforce or demand recompense for such ownership?

I suspect some people would honestly answer "No" to the above question. Fine; that represents a fundamentally different philosophical outlook on reward for one's work, if desired, and so on. I trust, therefore, that your disdain for such a system also means you're not a part of activity that would leave you on the receiving end of a legal suit from the RIAA.

As for this particular case: so the RIAA has long-established themselves as a bunch of shameless pricks. So what? Just because someone dies doesn't automatically invalidate a potentially valid legal claim. Sure tugs at the heartstrings, though, doesn't it?

Further, to those who would argue that all of the RIAA, industry, and/or legal activity on this front represent nothing more than a "failed business model", might I suggest something? If this has so utterly failed, why not develop the new model that replaces it? Hint: this won't be with the same commercial artists, so stop downloading and/or "sharing" their music instead of buying it. Don't consume that product, at all. Be a part of the solution to create and encourage the new artists, the new distribution channels, the new promotional channels, and the new studios and "labels" (yes, anything that gets sufficiently large and successful will have multiple layers of hierarchy, organization, and even bureaucracy), all of which will be required to support this new model to varying degrees.

But if you so heartily disagree with the current model, don't steal[1] (or otherwise consume) their goods, or enable others to do so.

Simple, isn't it?

[1] Oops, I meant "infringe on the copyright of". Still, the point stands. Isn't it fairly straightforward? Either legitimately buy it, or don't, and be ready for the consequences[2]. If you disagree with the "business model" or the legal issues surrounding it, don't be a part of it. And that includes not obtaining the content in question. Then all of a sudden, magically, the legal issues and artificial (or self-inflicted) fears of injury from a draconian legal system go away. Funny how that works!

[2] No one's arguing that the RIAA's model of figuring losses is valid, but it's equally (and massively) disingenuous, not to mention utterly ridiculous, to claim that nothing has been lost at all.

Re:Just a question, and some thoughts

[Tweekster]

Everytime their sales go down because of people saying "FUCK THE RIAA, I dont want any part of them" they claim it is piracy and get more laws in their favor.

Re:Just a question, and some thoughts

[Bryansix]

The lawsuit was frivolous. The person who died was not even the offender. It was the stepson but the RIAA did not spend the time to figure that out. Instead they just filed suit and held out an outstretched arm asking for money. This is extortion and a misuse of our already packed courts. Your entire argument is a straw man because it assumes that the person on trial is guilty. Even the RIAA admits that this person was not in fact guilty and did not in fact "steal" anything.

Re:Just a question, and some thoughts

[rolfwind]

But if you so heartily disagree with the current model, don't steal[1] (or otherwise consume) their goods, or enable others to do so.

Simple, isn't it?

I already avoid them with the help of http://www.riaaradar.com/

Now the only direct grievance I have with them is them illegimately trying to claim to represnet all musicians, lying through their teeth when claiming to care about said musicians (as is evidenced by their contracts), and the money they make off first stated claim (like a % of blank CD sales in some countries, etc)

Re:Just a question, and some thoughts

[geekoid]

It is called social disabdience.

Really, nobody has a problem with buying music, just the price.

The market is speaking, adopt or die. Laws fail when the fly in the face of what the majority want.

I wonder how much of what is considered 'pirated' is outside a sane copyright law(like 14 years.)?

Re:Just a question, and some thoughts

[RsG]

In any circumstance or scenario, is it ever acceptable for an owner of a work, or their duly specified agent, to protect that ownership, even when the work may be freely copied in an unlimited fashion, and to use the legal frameworks provided by the society in which it exists, to enforce or demand recompense for such ownership?

In any circumstance? I suppose I coulda agree with some circumstances.

I'd probably be fine with a lawsuit leveled against commercial infingers (ie, people selling material they don't own the copryright for). Likewise, small suits for non-commercial infringement I could support (by small, we're talking at most the commercial value for the material, eg 10-20 dollars per CDs worth of music, or per movie), if they were carefully executed and if the defendant was able to actual stand up for themselves in court.

What I, and other people, can't stand is the use of legal brute force against people who can't realistically fight back. Following the letter of the law with the intent of ruining someone in a civil suit which they cannot afford to defend themselves against isn't "protecting their copyright", it's mafia style intimidation.

Software company suing another software company for breach of copyright on their code? I'm fine with it, as long as the suit doesn't abuse the court system (think SCO and their delay tactics as an example of such abuse). Record company launching a small suit against a major uploader (instead of massive suits against everyone)? I would at least be on the fence, and acknowledge their rights.

Part of the problem of course is that the way the law is set up, the corporations have the upper hand. They can sue for the maximum possible amount per infringement, and they can drag out court cases longer than any individual could afford, forcing an out of court settlement. Plus, they aren't held to a high standard of evidence when it comes to bringing the case before a court.

For the record, I don't pirate. However, at this stage I've completely stopped buying RIAA label music, since I'll be damned if my money is going to pay their bloodsucking lawyers.

Re:Just a question, and some thoughts

[RsG]

I think his point was that telling people to boycott them doesn't work if they in turn shift any blame for loss of sales to piracy. How do you send them a message that the crap they're pulling won't be tolerated by consumers when they in turn are going to spin that message as justification for the very behaviour you boycotted them for?

Re:Just a question, and some thoughts

[kosh55]

If you want to send the RIAA a message then don't buy the music. Stealing it accomplishes nothing.
Besides, I don't buy the whole "we're doing it to send a message" bullsh*t anyway. You don't want to pay for
the music and this is an easy excuse.

You know, if everybody was truly as intent at getting a point accross as downloaders say they are then there would be a higher turnout for more important issues such as who is running the country.

Re:Just a question, and some thoughts

[jonbrewer]

The fact is that, even though automated, the RIAA is correct most of the time that people are sharing music that is under the RIAA umbrella.

Where do you get this fact from? I'd say it's entirely unsubstantiated.

It's along the same lines as me saying "The fact is, Dave Schroeder is a corporate shill.". This is just based on what I've read online. No evidence, just a guess - could be wrong, but I don't need to back it up, do I?

JB

Re:Just a question, and some thoughts

[Thangodin]

Unreasonably high prices and artificial scarcities create black markets. Draconian measures to thwart those black markets create criminal organizations who profit on those markets, by a process of natural selection which eliminates all but the most ruthless. International criminal organizations haven't found the business model to turn all this to their advantage yet, but give them time--they're working on it. When they figure it out, the RIAA won't be facing a bereaved family, but a wily group of thugs who do this professionally, with plenty of cash on hand for their own lawyers--if the RIAA can get to them at all. This, of course, assumes that the artists don't find an alternative first and cut the RIAA and the people they represent out of the loop. It's a race between the artists and the gangsters, but either way the RIAA will lose.

I would like to offer an alternative of what they should be doing--put the following notice in each of their CD's and DVD's:

This disk has no copy protection whatsoever. You can transfer, copy, rip, and burn it to your heart's content. You can even hand out these copies to other people, with one proviso: insist that if they like it, they should go out and buy their own copy.

Every dollar you spend is a vote. Paying for this is a way of telling the artists you like it and want more. If you like this music, paying for it means that you will get more; more from this artist, and more from similar artists--and maybe even music from artists you will want to hear who are quite different, but otherwise wouldn't have enough support to get started. You may think that recording artists make a lot of money and don't need your support. In fact, there are a lot of expenses that they incur just to make and promote this album, and it takes a lot of sales just to break even. And hey, if they do get filthy rich, it may take a lot of money to persuade them to get back into the studio. Either way, you get more of what you want.

If you don't pay for this, and a lot of people who like it copy it for free, the artists will have to get a day job. They will stop making albums, and probably won't play anywhere more than a day's journey from home. Sucks to be you. The music that you like won't be made anymore. And every time you turn on the radio, you will hear music made by people whose fans are just too damned stupid to know how to copy it.

So, do what you want. But if everything on the radio and at the music store is infantile crap, don't blame us. We warned you.

That's what they should be doing. Of course, they're not. Wall Street has a saying: "A bear can make money, a bull can make money. A pig always gets slaughtered." The RIAA is a pig. They're going to get slaughtered.

Re:Just a question, and some thoughts

[daveschroeder]

So what? Well, it inclines me to disrespect their outlandish claims to certain intellectual/cultural "properties", for starters. And note that this malice against the RIAA is quite likely felt by a majority of the demographic concerned, not just a fringe few. Because they are indeed shameless pricks, as you said.

Just because someone is a prick doesn't make them incorrect.

I'll agree that it's not the best way to Win Friends and Influence People, however.

So I'm guessing you agree with those illegal wiretaps and so on. After all, if you aren't doing anything illegal, the "draconian" system (getting more draconian as time goes on, it seems) will just "go away" and never effect you! And I guess you believe DRM will never come and bite the legit consumer in the ass, right?

This is actually a very interesting argument.

However, I'm not making the "if you haven't done anything illegal, then you have nothing to fear" argument. Rather, I'm saying "if you run afoul of the law, don't be surprised if that comes back to bite you".

I'm sure we can both agree that there should be some level of laws and order in a civilized society. This isn't about Big Brother, fascism, or a totalitarian regime. It's about content owners of property that is intangible in a certain sense being able to ensure that it's paid for. I'm not making any value judgments on how much money should be involved, and so on. The problem is that members of a society based marginally on rule of law and on the intrinsic value of the work and property of others making their own decisions about what they will and won't pay for, and deciding to take what they don't feel is worth the price, and this on what are essentially luxury items at that (no, I don't believe commercial music and movies are a necessity to human survival, and I realize all of the artistic and cultural arguments that may be intertwined there).

To say that I'm making an "if you're not doing anything illegal..." argument unfairly distills this argument down to a situation where we should apparently have no laws. I can understand thinking a "law" is unfair, and I can even understand people who think (erroneously, in my opinion) that taking copyrighting materials without paying for them is an act of civil disobedience. What I don't understand is why people feel they have this sense of entitlement to copyrighted commercial content, just because it can be easily copied. Like it or not, there is a LOT of money that goes into making a lot of this content. And if it's crap (like Britney Spears or the next worthless "blockbuster"), then don't be a part of it. My only point is how often people seem to talk out of both sides of their mouth, decrying the latest pop princess while simultaneously downloading (and not buying) some other artist on a subsidiary of that same label. If you don't support that business model, or think it's "dying", I simply can't understand why people would want to consume its content. Even if they like the content, why don't they come to the realization that it was that very system that produced the content they enjoy, and they'd better work to improve themselves in whatever stage of life they're at so they can afford to purchase and support the nice things they want.

As to DRM, I think it's in some forms a necessary evil. I DO NOT like DRM. It is a tool for control, and too often, some want to use it to roll back consumer rights that have been long since won (such as the Broadcast Flag, in the context of time shifting television). As long as it is unobtrusive as physically possible and doesn't roll back rights that we already have, I don't think it's a problem, because it does prevent casual, en masse, copyright infringement. Yes, yes, anyone and their brother can download any number of programs that strip all sorts of DRM, but the simple truth is that this escapes the capabilities of most people, and such tools will ALWAYS be relegated to the fringe because their use will be illegal in some jurisdictions. That pr

Re:Just a question, and some thoughts

[geekoid]

"1) The price of music does in no way give you a right or justification to pirate it."

Yes, in fact it does give me justification.
What it doen't give me is an excuse from being prosecuted in a court of law.
Just like any form of civil disobediance. Like not getting up from a bus seat even though the law says you should*.

My point was, the industry would have less pirates if they priced at the market demand point, and that the market is changing.

"2) A "sane copyright law" is subjective, and is currently not "actual copyright law". It doesn't matter."

I was just wondering how much of the reported 'pirated' is older then a certian period.
It would be interesting to see a breakdown of the amounts by release date of the products.

None of this matters, because the market force regarding copyright is building. People in grade school today will expect music to be distributed digitally and cheaply.
The music corporation is nothing more then a middleman who isn't needed anymore.

*I am only using it to illestrate the point, I am not putting them on the same pedistal.

Re:Just a question, and some thoughts

[Null Nihils]

However, I'm not making the "if you haven't done anything illegal, then you have nothing to fear" argument. Rather, I'm saying "if you run afoul of the law, don't be surprised if that comes back to bite you".

I wouldn't be surprised per se, if a frivolous lawsuit ended up on my doorstep. I don't think anyone with a healthy amount of cynicism would be. You would go, "gee, the decision to download that music / buy those Cuban cigars* / go 20km over the speed limit on that seemingly deserted road, has had some disproportionately unpleasant but not entirely unexpected consequences!"

Likewise, the RIAA cannot do what they do and expect everyone to keep playing by the rules. They should not be surprised either! (But they sure sound surprised. And a little confused...)

Anyhow, I admire the non-participatory response (in fact, I myself don't recall downloading any RIAA music in a good many years, although if I really liked some of their shit I might not hesitate to "steal" it) but I think the desire to disobey is, in this case, an understandable human response, and possibly even an honorable one -- it's certainly more honorable than giving the RIAA more money.

To demand that people refrain from enjoying the music that the RIAA lords over seems a little unreasonable. It reminds me of an example: In the video, an atheist mentions to a Christian that he does not appreciate "In God We Trust" being written on the currency. The Christian's response is (to paraphrase): "If it bother's you, don't live in the USA".

In other words, disobedience is a legitimate form of protest (and please note that I believe violence is not.)

* Actually, I don't think Cubans are illegal in my country, but its just an example and I don't smoke anyways.

Re:Just a question, and some thoughts

[soft_guy]

As a society, do we really want to pass a bunch of unenforceable laws?

Do we really want to cripple the consumer electronics industry that is huge and employs lots of people to specifically benefit the entertainment industry that is tiny and employs only a very small number of people at (mostly) very low wage jobs?

The entertainment industry is telling us that we have to choose between the two. If this is really true, I would choose to protect fair use rights and the consumer electronics/computer/software industries. If no more hollywood movies or bubblegum rock records get made, then I guess that really isn't that big of a deal in the grand scheme of things. The sun will rise whether we're being force fed hollywood crap or not.

Re:Just a question, and some thoughts

[multisync]

like a % of blank CD sales in some countries, etc)

This really pisses me off. In Canada, we pay a levy on blank media regardless of what we are using it for. There are plenty of "legitimate" uses for blank cds, such as burning ISOs of Linux distros, sending digital photos to friends and family, backing up legally purchases music ... but the assumption is that we *must* be using them to burn mp3s downloaded from p2p networks. What crap.

It's bad enough that I'm fined for the illegal behaviour my government -- and the cultural gatekeeers at the RIAA -- just know I must be engaged in, but I would *really* resent paying it if I were an independant artist producing my own cds to sell at gigs or on a web site. Imagine the struggling artist who, by choice or circumstance, decides to produce his own cds. He not only has to compete against the huge RIAA steam roller for the mindshare of his fan base, but he also pays them a percentage of every cd he produces, that they can then use to bribe radio stations and finance lawsuits against their customers.

I agree with the original poster. The only thing that is going to end this nonsense is to *stop* listening to music produced by RIAA member labels. Stop watching movies produced by MPAA member studios. No more commercial radio or television. Use the money you spend on cds and movie tickets to attend live performances of independant artists in local venues, and buy a t-shirt or a cd from them while you are at it.

They've turned art in to a commodity, like soap or toilet paper. It's time we tuned them out.

Re:Just a question, and some thoughts

[Qzukk]

it still shouldn't be a problem, then, right?

Wow, it's the "if you have nothing to hide" argument all over again!

I can think of several ways it can become a problem, starting with RIAA whining (read: paying for congresscritters' re-election) to Congress.

Then, Congress can pass laws requiring applications to not play back files that lack DRM at all. But that won't be a problem, right? You didn't really need those God Ate my Homework or Minibosses mp3s you downloaded from their websites, or the Creedence Clearwater Revival mp3 collection you bought legally from emusic.com, or the Jim's Big Ego music you bought from slabster.

Or maybe, Congress can pass a law requiring that all audio files capable of transmission over the internet require that they be cleared and signed by an appropriate institution in order to prove that they aren't actually recordings of the Beatles or Metallica. Of course, someone will have to be in charge of this, and naturally the RIAA already has plenty of experience in handling money for artists, their Soundexchange company is perfect for the job. About $5 per minute for a lackey to listen to your podcast to make sure you aren't infringing any copyrights sound about right?

Should I keep going? Or is it clear now that if the RIAA runs to Congress (or hell, runs for Congress, after all, Sonny Bono did a good enough job) that even if you're not warezing or buying RIAA products, it can be a problem.

Re:Just a question, and some thoughts

[MooUK]

"How do you send them a message that the crap they're pulling won't be tolerated by consumers when they in turn are going to spin that message as justification for the very behaviour you boycotted them for?"

Email would seem a good first choice.

No, I'm being serious. Every time you don't buy RIAA-backed music, or every time you buy non-RIAA music, email them telling them why. If they don't get the point fast, something is seriously wrong with them.

Re:Just a question, and some thoughts

[MooUK]

For what? As I recall, at least in the US, spam is specifically commercial, no?

Re:Just a question, and some thoughts

[Anonymous Coward]

Punk, leave the trolling to the experts.

Besides, we're not pussies, we're the most successful result of the banks and governments conspiring to make us slaves, and give us enough "gifts" as slaves that we don't realize it, and simply spend hours working or lusting after what we don't have and shouldn't need, dependent on drugs for diseases brought about by dangerous food packaging practices, subsidies, big business, and malnutrition, such as the reason that all our processed foods cost more to produce than natural foods, but the non-processed foods cost more and are usually farthest away from the store than are the processed foods - it's why the corn syrupy foods and sugar-filled foods and processed crap are closer to the store. And yet every idiot and his mother in this country wonder why there's a "sudden" obesity problem in our USA. Sheesh. I'm 27 years old born and raised in our crappy country and I never once got fat.(Bin Laden, you dick, why did you bother asking slaves of American Banks for their cooperation? If you really believed half of the shit you spouted, you'd have blown up most of America's big business a long time ago, and if you had, you'd still have been hailed as a terrorist by the richest top 5%, but to everyone else you would've been a fuckin' ecoterrorist hero and you would've been done a long time ago... a long time ago, you dumb shit. Fuckin' newbie-ass wanabe ji-had-raising violent extremist - Allah, God, Gaia ... all of 'em have a big-ass fly-swatter with your name on it, you murdering low-life.)

Note the sudden change of topics and the introduction of completely unrelated, unverified, but ultimately true information in an infuriating way, most especially regarding the fact that this topic deals with how the shitty-ass RIAA is trying to save face much like the evil Walmart does.

THAT, you silly fop (Yes, I'm still trolling-I've got my groove on now), is how you troll.

"I just think things should work properly." - Dyson.

Re:Just a question, and some thoughts

[gnarlin]

What I don't understand is why people feel they have this sense of entitlement to copyrighted commercial content, just because it can be easily copied

I can enlighten you on that point.

Copyright was first established in the United States with the Copyright Act of 1790, which allowed for a term of 28 years. The Constitution explicitly described copyright as a statutory right created for public benefit: "The Congress shall have Power [...] To promote the Progress of Science and useful Arts, by securing for limited Times to Authors and Inventors the exclusive Right to their respective Writings and Discoveries" (Article 1, Section 8).

Does copyright today work for the public benefit?
Fundamentally, copyright is an agreement between the public (by their representives) and the owners of culture, so that those who make culture can feed themselves and their family, buy a house etc. while the public can enjoy the fruits of their labor. Copyright is then supposed to expire into the public domain after the author has made use of his rights that encourage him or her to make more.

The owners of culture have keept extending copyright again and again, added more restrictions on the public with who they supposedly made this agreement with without consulting them in regard to their extensions and additions.
Now copyright lasts from 50 to 70 years (different from country to country) after the death of the original author. Tell me this. How can the author be enticed to make more works for the public good if he or she is dead? Could you please anwser me that?

At some point the non-referred public just took their hat and left because they weren't worth consideration anymore it seemed. As far as the internet using public is concerned, the original agreement between them and the supposed owners of culture has been broken though negligence and being shameless pricks (as you so eloquently put it). Copyright was also originally made to restrict publishers because publishing (i.e. getting your work out to the public) was very expensive. Now, that it has become so very inexpensive one would think that copyright would last a shorter time, not longer.

You keep saying the the public must stop doing this because they are violating the copyright act. But those laws were NOT written with the public consent (and don't try to say that the public agreed because they got passed, that is like saying that deciding to hurt somone without that person being there to disaprove is the same as having their agreement to do it). For the owners of culture it is nothing short of having your cake and eating it too. They make the laws and the public is supposed to obey them without question. The peoples representatives aren't anymore.

Regarding digital restrictions management.
You say that it is a necessary. Your justification for it seems to be that without it it would be too easy for the public to copy whatever part of the culture they liked to give to their friends or edit or make use of in some way. You further explain that this must not be so because they would be violating copyrights. It is nothing short of treating people as criminals before they commit the crime. Inocent until proven guilty indeed!

Being able to easily copy and mix material is increadably useful to everyone. However the copyright cartel have nibbed it in the bud by passing the DMCA. Now, anyone copying material that is "proctected" with digital restrictions management is now a criminal. Is that in the public good or for the good of a few rich people and corporations?

Simply but, the copyright agreement simply isn't nearly as useful to the public as it once was. If the supposed owners of culture wish to keep the current system somewhat intact and they want the public to edhere to the original agreement then they must use their representatives in the House to shorten copyright considerably (to say the original 28 years retroactively), eliminat

If this is an abundance of sensitivity...

[DragonPup]

...then I imagine a lack of sensitivity from the RIAA resembling a prison in Uzbekistan.

Let me try to understand this

[exp(pi*sqrt(163))]

It's OK to steal music if one of your relatives is about to die.

Did I understand that correctly?

Muahahah...!

Re:Let me try to understand this

[Reverend528]

Only if their name is on the ISP's bill.

Re:Let me try to understand this

[Reverend528]

Or you can just download the stuff under your name and then die. Whatever's easier for you.

Surprise (or not)!

[cplusplus]

Hey, the RIAA's cold black heart has a drop of warm kind blood in it afterall :-). Or not. I'm sure they were only considering the bad PR and not the family.

Re:Surprise (or not)!

[geekoid]

the lawyer that couldn't make this work has since been flayed and served in the corporate cafeteria.

Yeah, right.

[lax-goalie]

Mr. Scantleberry had admitted that the infringer was his stepson

They can say that all they want, now that the only person who could confirm it is dead. If they really had the goods, they'd be all over the stepson with a lawsuit.

That's not quite right....

[LordPhantom]

Due to the abundance of negative PR this has generated , we have elected to drop this particular case.'

There I fixed that for you.

Im touched...

[D-Cypell]

Such an "abundance of sensitivity" shown in not trying to finacially ruin a grieving family. I do hope the pope has been informed, beautification must begin immediately!

Well at least all those people who have been asking, "Where will RIAA draw the line?" have had their questions answered. Clearly the answer is, "Somewhere between 12 year old girls and dead people".

Re:Im touched...

[RsG]

"Where will RIAA draw the line?" have had their questions answered. Clearly the answer is, "Somewhere between 12 year old girls and dead people".

I'm sure there's a joke in there somewhere, but I'm afraid to try and find it.... :-P

Hmm... Lawyer? Sensitivity?

[RyoShin]

Out of an abundance of sensitivity [CC], we have elected to drop this particular case

Something doesn't seem right...

[opens his Lawyer Dictionary]

Selective Casing... Settlements, Large Payouts from... Whoops, went to far... Okay, here we go, "Sensitivity":

sensitivity Pronunciation Key (sns-tv-t) n., scapegoat
A term used when dealing with a large public backlash against previous actions, usually involving death, abuse, sexual harrassment, or being caught in the Ritualistic Lawyer Act of eating a kitten
We are regarding our lawsuit against the 90-year-old grandmother with sensitivity.

too little too late

[MoFoQ]

I don't know about the rest but I think it's a bit too late...the cat's out of the bag that the RIAA is even more viscous than the Grim Reaper and a pitbull/lawyer combined.
Makes ambulance chasers look like Saints.

And I'm not sure if they should use the word "Productive"....they could have just said "legal settlement" instead of admitting that their settlement tactics are "productive"...which is like the oil companies saying their price increases are profitable. Not something you want to admit to in public.

They need to learn to spin better or at the very least not shoot themselves in the foot.

+10 karma points for them

[Anonymous Coward]

Too bad they're still at -78431486143872354038164.3.

In breaking news...

[Eric Damron]

In a statement today the RIAA said that it was dropping its law suit against the Scantleberry family but added "We will, however, expect to be compensated for any music that is played at the funeral."

Misleading title

[Anonymous Coward]

The key word in the statement: "temporarily".

Read: They're still going to bully the family into paying grossly in excess of any true damages caused, they're just going to wait until they don't get any bad publicity for doing so.

temporarily suspend ?

[nurb432]

Or permanently dropped?

All dislike of the RIAA aside, the fact this was even an issue shows how twisted and out of touch these people are.

If the public hadn't heard about it, i bet they would on the kids doorstep with a warrant.

They are sick.

this reminds me of

[56ker]

A while ago my mum got a speeding ticket/fine through the post as her car had been photographed speeding. It wasn't her that actually did the speeding (it was my brother) but she was the one who was assumed to do it because she was the owner of the car. She told them who it was who was speeding and no action was taken against her.

Now, in the RIAA case against this person if they were acting sanely, rationally and not just trying to extort money from people or launch frivolous lawsuits in an attempt to deter people from infringing copyright they would've dropped it long before the person had died.

Different meaning?

[lullabud]

They may have said "abundance of sensitivity", which we would all take as them having a large quantity of pity to pour forth onto people who are mourning, but what I think they meant was "we have the balls to sue dead men, 12 year old girls, people who don't own computers, but like all balls, ours too are easy to hurt and they make for easy targets since they're so big". Clearly this was forfeit due to the PR nightmares that perpetually haunt them and their big balls before their abundant sensitive parts get kicked.

Gentlemen, start your copiers...

[Just Some Guy]

I no longer believe that the RIAA and its constituent scum have any standing for consideration of rights. None. Zero. Want to download a song? Go for it. Upload an album? No sweat. Steal a shipment of CDs and sell them on eBay? Knock yourself out.

These subhuman filth have no right to own anything, least of all a fictitious monopoly on a set of manufactured waveforms. Since they're willing to destroy lives to protect their greed, I think they forfeit the moral expectation to profit from their wares.

Seriously, enough is enough. An "abundance of sensitivity"? Bah! That one sentence lost me forever. I mean this truly: I will never again buy anything when I think that a member of the RIAA may benefit in any way. Screw you guys, I'm going home.