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Class Action Initiated Against RIAA
NewYorkCountryLawyer writes "Ever since the RIAA's litigation campaign began in 2003, many people have been suggesting a class action against the RIAA. Tanya Andersen, in Oregon, has taken them up on it. The RIAA's case against this disabled single mother, Atlantic v. Andersen, has received attention in the past, for her counterclaims against the RIAA including claims under Oregon's RICO statute, the RIAA's hounding of her young daughter for a face-to-face deposition, the RIAA's eventual dropping of the case 'with prejudice,' and her lawsuit against the RIAA for malicious prosecution, captioned Andersen v. Atlantic. Now she's turned that lawsuit into a class action. The amended complaint seeking class action status (PDF) sues for negligence, fraud, negligent misrepresentation, federal and state RICO, abuse of process, malicious prosecution, intentional infliction of emotional distress, violation of the Computer Fraud and Abuse Act, trespass, invasion of privacy, libel and slander, deceptive business practices, misuse of copyright law, and civil conspiracy."
Now is the time for all those who complained about RIAA to join in and take this to a good conclusion.
How can we contribute?
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The RIAA will be sentenced to giving all members of the class $12.67 in music downloads from the Kenny Rogers store (with DRM).
This seems a bit overhyped to me. Yes, I want the RIAA to go away, I want the RIAA to stop using brutal tactics, however, they do have the legal right to prosecute people illegally distributing their IP.
Please note that this is specifically for those wrongfully accused. The best we can see from this is getting the RIAA to calm down (a good end no doubt).
For those who are wondering, this will not be the death knell for DRM and the RIAA.
-1 flamebait +1 UnfortunatelyTrue
"Hate is baggage. Life's too short to be pissed off all the time." Danny Vinyard -American History X
$10 says the lawyers are the only winners.
As long as the RI.... Record Companies lose, I'm OK with that.
Corporation, n. An ingenious device for obtaining individual profit without individual responsibility. - Ambrose Bierce
Certainly the same shoddy, and likely illegal, MediaSentry investigative methods were used against all defendants. And the Settlement Support Center refused to dismiss anyone from a lawsuit who didn't pay them the extortion tax regardless of the evidence -- or lack of it. And even innocent defendants had large legal bills if they fought. Plus all had their computers, privacy, and reputations besmirched by the RIAA publicity steamroller regardless of the outcome of the suit -- with no apologies offered afterwards.
But is this enough in common to qualify as a class? While I hope so, the legal system doesn't operate with the same kinds of logic I employ in ordinary, everyday life.
"It's the height of ridiculousness to say for those 9 lines you get hundreds of millions."
As much as I want to sock-it-to-'em, I think this lady is asking a wee bit too much, and this will do more harm than good in the long run.
Remember folks, many, if not most, of the *IAAs victims are technically guilty. True, the RIAA and friends are coming down on them unnecessarily hard, but it's not like they are truly innocent. It's the innocent ones that, thankfully, get the nice press.
The fact that many or most of the defendants are actually guilty will greatly weaken any class-action suit.
A much better solution is to make judges nationwide aware that just because the RIAA/MPAA say someone is violating the law doesn't make it so. Many judges are already waking up to this fact and stopping the mafIAA from taking the "easy road to victory," ending ex-parte motions and other dirty tricks.
If the RIAA think my IP address is stealing, then get a court to order my ISP to order me to contact the court and, after hearing from both sides, let the court decide if the RIAA is entitled to my contact information. Allow my lawyers to subpoena records from the ISP before the RIAA gets my personal information. If the judge denies the RIAA's request, or if they eventually lose at trial, make them pay all my reasonable and actual expenses. If the suit was done with malice, with reckless disregard for the facts, or as a fishing expedition, have the court fine the RIAA for wasting everyone's time.
Knowledge is how to play a game, intelligence is how to win, wisdom is knowing what game to play.
In my opinion, the great threat of the RIAA and the age of digital music is not just downloaders, but also their legal, pay-per-track alternatives...
/. has reported on many occasions about the "falling profit gaps of the recording industry," and how "legal downloads are not filling this gap," as if there was ever any chance of this happening.. This is a question of economics, not piracy...
Why have the record companies fought Apple for higher prices? Why have some companies refuted the potential profits of a deal with iTunes?
It is the a la carte concept of iTunes, allofmp3, kazaa, napster, etc... you name it that's the real issue at hand here...
I think the big motivating factor for downloading music is NOT based on an unwillingness to pay a small fee for the songs you want, it's based on an unwillingness to pay $20 for at most 3 songs that you want...
Since the glory days of the music industry, they've primarily sold albums as it was the most convenient and economical form of distribution. This method suited the consumer well as he didn't have to rush out to the store everytime a new song came out, it suited the musician well as it allowed to him to make a good hour or so of music, then go on tour and wow the crowds, and it suited the industry well because even if only 1 or 2 of the songs on the album became hits, people would still shell out the full price of the album for those songs they wanted.
Fast track to the present, and the internet has tipped the economic balance in favor of the consumer. Although the album system is still convenient in the ways listed above and many not-listed...(for instance "branding"), consumers appear no-longer willing to buy full albums for the most part.
So, I find it funny that
People are not rushing out to the cd store anymore. Hell, I haven't stepped foot in one in over a year. People are downloading the SONGS they want, and that's it...or they're waiting for their friends to get it and send it to them. In my opinion though, these people are not thieves, just opportunists, responding to a large imbalance in price between the traditional cd, and the legal or not-so legal per-track alternatives.
Why else has it taken so long for legal download services such as iTunes to come about. How many years after Napster's destruction did it take? Why didn't the RIAA look at the story of napster (after they sued the piss out of it) and build their own legal alternative? Because they know what it means...it means they can no-longer fleece the consumer with the album like they've been doing for a loooong time.
So, although the album will likely remain a convenient unit for musicians and for "branding" purposes, I see the concept of consumers purchasing full albums a fast-fading one.
The album....is dead
If society as a whole continually and blatantly breaks a law, the law is unjust. The ramifications are not to be taken into consideration, society has already spoken and are willing to accept the consequences of their actions. What is really sad are the people who are trying to hold on to the last grasp of something that society is not willing to accept any longer.
Perhaps it would be more of an indication that the speed limits were set wrong. Either way, if the speed limit is 45 and everyone is going 75, there's a problem there. People don't often go faster than they feel safe going (cf. the imbecile who flies past me on the straightaway and then slows down over 20mph from his previous speed on a gentle curve), and if there's no increase in the number of accidents, the speed limit is quite obviously set wrong. Whether it's a means to generate revenue via tickets, an incompetent traffic engineer, whatever, it's still wrong.
My blog. Good stuff (when I remember to update it). Read it.
Are you a lawyer? Did I touch a sore spot? ;)
I get that the lawyer is the one putting the effort into winning the case. My point is that the lawyers are the ones that benefit in these cases, not the victims. Class action lawsuits penalize the defendants and reward the lawyers. The general public does see a benefit though in that the threat of class action suits will (hopefully) discourage large entities like corporations from screwing the little guy who would otherwise have little legal chance against them.
BTW: I do not consider myself to be a victim in the MS issue. It was about some legalese loophole or something from the late '90s. The check I got was essentially found money. Not enough to buy a meal, but better than a stick in the eye.
The problem with the record industry is they do not understand how to make profit in the Internet (they should read Slashdot ;-). They are lost at sea and they want us to be a hostage to be milked until they figure out a way to get more money.
Donde Ser Geek No Duele