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RIAA Admits ISPs Have Misidentified "John Does"

Posted by kdawson on from the record-keeping dept.

NewYorkCountryLawyer writes "The RIAA has sent out a letter to the ISPs telling them to stop making mistakes in identifying subscribers, and offering a 'Pre-Doe settlement option' — with a discount of '$1000 or more' — to their subscribers, if and only if the ISP agrees to preserve its logs for 180 days. Other interesting points in the letter (PDF): the RIAA will be launching a web site for 'early settlements,' www.p2plawsuits.com; the letter asks the ISPs to notify the RIAA if they have previously 'misidentified a subscriber account in response to a subpoena' or become aware of 'technical information... that causes you to question the information that you provided in response to our clients' subpoena'; it notes that ISPs have identified 'John Does' who were not even subscribers of the ISP at the time of the infringement; and it requests that ISPs furnish their underlying log files, not just names and addresses, when responding to RIAA subpoenas."

17 of 271 comments (clear)

  1. Why? by okinawa_hdr · · Score: 3, Funny

    Why don't the American people storm their buildings with pitchforks?

    --
    okinawa japan
    1. Re:Why? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 2, Funny

      I know the liberals on Slashdot are going to hate to hear this, but chances are that John Doe is guilty. The guy's a constant trouble maker, always up in court on charge after charge. Yeah, innocent until proven guilty but no smoke without fire!

    2. Re:Why? by HTTP+Error+403+403.9 · · Score: 4, Funny

      I know the liberals on Slashdot are going to hate to hear this, but chances are that John Doe is guilty. The guy's a constant trouble maker, always up in court on charge after charge. Yeah, innocent until proven guilty but no smoke without fire!
      He's also constantly found dead in shallow graves across the United States.
      --
      I'm not a Troll, it's reverse psychology.
    3. Re:Why? by soft_guy · · Score: 2, Funny

      I know the liberals on Slashdot are going to hate to hear this, but chances are that John Doe is guilty. The guy's a constant trouble maker Yeah, Exene too.
      --
      Avoid Missing Ball for High Score
  2. Welcome to www.p2plawsuits.com by mcguirez · · Score: 5, Funny

    Thank you for visiting our new p2p lawsuit settlement site.

    By reading this text you acknowledge your interest which implicates your guilt.

    Your ISP has been notified of your crimes - expect a bill.

    Love,

        RIAA

    --
    When you hear hoofbeats, think horses, not zebras
  3. www.p2plawsuits.com by Lev13than · · Score: 5, Funny

    I get a kick out of the fact that www.p2plawsuits.com currently points to a GoDaddy placeholder page filled with ads for P2P software and instructions for streaming satellite signals to your computer.

    --
    When you have nothing left to burn you must set yourself on fire
    1. Re:www.p2plawsuits.com by tx_kanuck · · Score: 4, Funny

      wait a second.....I go to *their* website, and see that they are advertising P2P programs that allow me to download files for free? Wouldn't that then give me a good excuse of why I was downloading? "I swear your honour, I went to their website and the RIAA had advertisments on their website for eDonkey. Why were they advertising something that is illegal?"

      Just an idea, and IANAL

      --
      Now, if that makes sense to anyone, could you please explain it to me? I think I've confused myself.
  4. Meanwhile... by castiron5615 · · Score: 4, Funny

    ...John Doesn't is still SOL.

  5. If your name is really John Doe? by geoff+lane · · Score: 4, Funny

    Can you sue for libel?

  6. Re:The more you tighten your grip, Tarkin... by TwoScoopsOfPig · · Score: 2, Funny

    To Photoshop! Away! I must design a label! The "Anti-Label Label" is the new "organic" or "all-natural"!

    --
    #include <disclaimer.h>
    #include <beer.h>
  7. Better discount.... by ivan256 · · Score: 2, Funny

    The RIAA is now offering a pre-settlement discount of 100% for customers of ISPs who agree not to keep DHCP logs beyond the current leases.

  8. Re:The more you tighten your grip, Tarkin... by TwoScoopsOfPig · · Score: 2, Funny

    I'm really not so excited as to merit such a prodigious number of exclamation points, I swear. They just happened, officer! Really, they did!

    --
    #include <disclaimer.h>
    #include <beer.h>
  9. Pirate! by Rob+T+Firefly · · Score: 5, Funny

    At what point would a "pirate" not really be guilty of much if they're only sharing a small portion of a particular songfile, say 0.01%?
    We at the **AA have identified your recent post as containing both zeros and ones, which are concidentally found in illegal MP3 files ripped from the latest Dave Matthews CD, scanned PDFs of every book on Oprah's list, and illicit DivX copies of all the "Lord of the Rings" films (including the crap one with the cartoons.) Please come with us, sir.
    --
    Slashdot Burying Stories About Slashdot Media Owned
  10. Let me get this straight.... by Churla · · Score: 3, Funny

    The RIAA is offering up the ability for you to go to a website.. pay a "pre-settlement" and then not be libel if they get around to suing you. Is that it?

    Wait... Does this mean I'm clear of future lawsuits?

    How about they just be more up front and sell a $250 "Get out of lawsuit free" card. Then you buy that, download all you want, if/when they sue you, you hand them the card, and it's done? Or is that too close to the "we know you're a criminal" iPod tax?

    We could have drive thru courts!

    --
    I'm a fiscal conservative, it's a pity we don't have a political party anymore
  11. RIAA should be forced to retain music purchase log by GuyverDH · · Score: 2, Funny

    The RIAA should be forced to retain permanent logs of every song, cd, cassette, music dvd purchase so that when the defective by design media is damaged and or destroyed, they can provide a FREE replacement of the music we purchased.

    --
    Who is general failure, and why is he reading my hard drive?
  12. Re:The more you tighten your grip, Tarkin... by hoggoth · · Score: 2, Funny

    Your Anti-label is great until it grows big enough and you cash out, join the RIAA, and own a mansion and a yacht.

    --
    - For the complete works of Shakespeare: cat /dev/random (may take some time)
  13. Soo... by MacrosTheBlack · · Score: 2, Funny

    If a duck flies north over the Golden Gate Bridge at 2pm on the first Sunday in March, they'll offer a $1000 discount!

    What a deal!

    Maybe that should be a pig. Or a RIAA executive.