BusinessWeek Takes On the RIAA

NewYorkCountryLawyer writes "BusinessWeek magazine has gone medieval on the RIAA, recounting in grisly detail the cruel ordeal to which the RIAA has subjected a completely innocent defendant, Tanya Andersen of Oregon. Nobody can read the story and come to any other conclusion than that the RIAA and its lawyers are total jerks. Of course we've been reading about Atlantic v. Andersen on p2pnet.net and on my blog, and discussing it here, but there's something extra special about a mainstream publication like Business Week really letting them have it."

Comments

Re:Let's Stand Up - A Call to Action (mildly O/T)

[n1ffo]

Why don't we, through /., set up a site, aggregate information about similiar cases and build up a body of evidence to "[...] show that the RIAA engaged in serial bad-faith lawsuits [...]". In the long run, the space could serve as a place for debate on the current copyright regime, the inflated monetary value assigned to the songs/movies downloaded, etc.

It seems to me like Groklaw would be a perfect place for this sort of activity. After all, isn't it the sort of thing they did in the early days of the SCO trial?

Re:It's worrying actually

[TimHunter]

The difference is, of course, that we're on to them now. Although the scenario you describe may have used to work, the 'net is putting a crimp in such plans. The web allows "regular people" to interact and organize at almost no cost. We can share information via blogs like Slashdot, p2pnet and Recording Industry vs. the People. The article says that Anderson "searched the Net for a case like hers." Her lawyer can use the 'net to find and communicate with other lawyers who are fighting the same fight to share advice and strategy.

The 'net helps even the playing field. Think about Sony, still recovering from getting their asses handed to them over the rootkit debacle, backing off on their plan to charge extra for a crapware-free PC http://blog.wired.com/gadgets/2008/03/sony-pay-an-ext.html within a day of the news hitting the intertubes.

Go read the stories on the Consumerist http://consumerist.com/ about customers using the 'net to get refunds on bad deals and real service from fake "service departments" from the likes of Sears, Citibank, and Comcast. (Well, maybe not Comcast.)

The Internet, like the printing press, is a transformative technology. That means nothing is ever going to be the same. You and I already know it and sooner or later Big Business will, too. For an excellent book on the power that the 'net brings us, check out Clay Shirky's Here Comes Everybody: The Power of Organizing Without Organizations.

Re:It would be a good thing...

[Narpak]

I forgot to make a link to http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Corporation
The movie/book might not be entirely objective, or cover all bases as well as it should, but I thought it would be relevant in reference to the debate about giving corporations "the rights of a mortal man" as the previous poster wrote.

Re:Interesting choice of words

[NewYorkCountryLawyer]

Mr Gabriel, for the RIAA, asserts that: we could have pursued the case until the end of time.

That's interesting in itself, considering that most people who engage in litigation only pursue a case until they win; is he in fact implicitly admitting that the RIAA could not have won the case, merely strung it out for as long as it took to bankrupt everyone else involved? Yes. That's his specialty. Stringing cases out until the end of time, until everyone else -- including his clients -- are bankrupted.