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RIAA Says No Mystery In Rash of College Complaints

Posted by timothy on from the we-were-just-bored dept.

Doug Lederman writes "As colleges receive exploding numbers of complaints from recording companies about alleged illegal downloading of music files, theories abound about whether the industry is changing its criteria, aggressively targeting users who merely make downloaded music available to others rather than actual infringers. But after weeks of silence, the president of the RIAA says No: Better technology, he asserts, is merely resulting in better enforcement."

39 of 255 comments (clear)

  1. In other words... by dreamchaser · · Score: 4, Insightful

    RIAA: *Jedi hand wave* Pay no attention to the man behind the curtain. Nothing to see here. Move along. Move along.

    What a colassal house of cards the RIAA has built for itself. They are doing everything BUT look at the core reasons why people are buying fewer and fewer CD's. It's got far less to do with having to pay for it than it does with the overall quality of their pap...I mean products.

    1. Re:In other words... by CSMatt · · Score: 4, Insightful

      No. People still listen to it. Whether or not they consider it good enough to warrant purchasing is the real question.

    2. Re:In other words... by veganboyjosh · · Score: 2, Insightful

      I've got more downloaded music than most people I know. Most of it doesn't infringe on the RIAA by a long shot, owing to indie releases, obscure bands, etc. (Yeah, I'm one of those music fans.)

      The whole "we only download it because it's crap" argument doesn't hold water for me. If it's so bad, then why are people downloading it in the first place?

      Pardon the lame analogy, but if I own a pizza restaurant, and serve horrible pizzas, does that justify people stealing pizzas from me?

      I don't believe for a second that if the RIAA/major labels dropped all of their craphole music all of a sudden, and picked up a wide variety of talented, interesting musicians, that the illegal downloading would stop. Is that really what you're saying?

    3. Re:In other words... by dreamchaser · · Score: 4, Insightful

      I didn't say people downloaded because it was crap. I said fewer people are buying entire CD's when 90% of said CD is crap and maybe has one or two good songs.

      Of course that is subjective. Also, I have never downloaded music 'illegally' so I'm not one for making any apologies for that behavior. I want to see Fair Use and Copyright law changed, but in the meantime I respect the current legal framework. I've been *very* vocal with my local Congresscritter on this subject among others.

    4. Re:In other words... by L4t3r4lu5 · · Score: 3, Insightful

      Pardon the lame analogy, but if I own a pizza restaurant, and serve horrible pizzas, does that justify people stealing pizzas from me?

      ---------

      No, but you get to keep the original music track while the other person gets a copy. If I steal the pizza, you lose a pizza. If I DOWNLOAD a COPY of a file, you don't lose the file.

      This is why it is not THEFT.

      --
      Finally had enough. Come see us over at https://soylentnews.org/
    5. Re:In other words... by McGuirk · · Score: 5, Insightful

      Try to keep in mind, veganboyjosh, it's not quite like people stealing pizzas from you. Rather, it's akin to you owning a bookstore and people coming in, copying the books, and then leaving. You lose nothing, but gain nothing either.

      I'm not making a point to side either way at this point, just to point out this inconsistency.

    6. Re:In other words... by Vendetta · · Score: 5, Insightful
      I don't like 99 per cent of the food at McDonalds. Does that mean that I get to waltz in and steal an Egg McMuffin because that's what I like and not everything on their menu is an Egg McMuffin, so to punish them I steal and they get NO money, not even for the stuff I do like?

      I don't like the Recording Industries' lawsuits or DRM or behavior in general but it's people like you, who openly admit that they are "stealing", that make everyone on this side of the fence look bad.

    7. Re:In other words... by twistedsymphony · · Score: 5, Insightful

      What a colassal house of cards the RIAA has built for itself. They are doing everything BUT look at the core reasons why people are buying fewer and fewer CD's.
      Of course they think everyone is stealing music. When you try to understand the mindset of someone else the first thing you do is look at yourself. RIAA execs think that people are stealing music because they're cheap bastards and it's free, because they know that would be their own motivation if they were in the consumer's shoes.

      Did you ever notice that the people who are paranoid that they'll get screwed over are often the same people who screw over others every chance they get?
      --
      Collector's Edition
    8. Re:In other words... by Reapman · · Score: 4, Insightful

      I don't agree with the GP, stealing is bad however you justify it, but your anaology is weak... if you walked into a McDonalds, bought an Egg McMuffan, and had to pay $20 for it plus get 6 additional cheeseburgers for it THEN your anaology might hold.

      Now that they're coming out with DRM-free music at a pretty good bit rate, I'm all for it. I don't want to buy music that will die because some company decided to cancel their DRM system (see Microsoft)

    9. Re:In other words... by SlickNic · · Score: 5, Insightful

      I'm so tired of hearing this crap argument, first a physical product takes physical goods AND labor to reproduce. Music takes a negligible amount of labor to reproduce in digital formats. A CD, Cassette, 8track, ect... are all physical goods and you must pay to create them in addition to paying the artist/label. Digitally reproduced media should be priced accordingly, the music industry is just pricing it the same even though they have less costs to distribute the digital product. Some may not agree with me on this last part but I do think that if a song was $0.10 or $0.25 they would sell many many more songs and it would no longer be worth wile to download illegally when you could just buy the song correctly tagged in the formate/quality you want and be DRM free. The labels could save at least hundreds of thousands of dollars downsizing their legal department and getting rid of any CD stamping plants/contracts they may have. Music "collections" could also be sold, say $50.00 for every Beatles song ever written, bam one download and you have em all in your format/quality of choice. I really do think allofmp3.com has/had the right idea, they just need some more solid licensing.

      --
      Saying "all faiths are equivalent" is akin to saying "all drugs are the same".
    10. Re:In other words... by cahyotw · · Score: 2, Insightful

      Better technology, better enforcement, Papa John's

    11. Re:In other words... by krunk7 · · Score: 3, Insightful

      In my experience, it's often akin to one of the two following situations:

      • Like walking into a book store, reading the first two chapters, finding out the book sucks and never picking it up again.
      • Buying a book, loving it, having it fall apart due to crappy craftsmanship. So you copy a friends book and put it back on the shelf.
    12. Re:In other words... by z80kid · · Score: 3, Insightful
      Wish I had mod points.

      When I was a young'un I worked for a local farmer. I forget the exact circumstances, but the old man walked away from a guy he was dealing with who implied that the old man was trying to cheat him. He basically said, "Well, if you think I'm going to cheat you, then you should probably deal with someone else." and asked the guy to leave.

      He explained it to me later this way: "People who cheat expect you to cheat them. People who steal expect you to steal from them. He just expects us to do what he would do, given the chance.".

    13. Re:In other words... by Mr.+Underbridge · · Score: 4, Insightful

      I didn't say people downloaded because it was crap. I said fewer people are buying entire CD's when 90% of said CD is crap and maybe has one or two good songs.

      When was this not true? I recall the 80s fondly, but man that decade spawned some seriously shitty music. Really bad soft rock, appalling synthesized junk, hair metal. Yech. But people bought it because they liked it well enough. Need to come up with a better reason than quality for why people aren't buying.

      From what I can tell, there's a couple reasons: 1) people can buy tracks now. That's a fully legal reason why the record companies lose money. 2) There hasn't been a change in the dominant format now for what, 15 years? It's been a while since people bought their music twice. That made the record companies a lot of money. And 3)...piracy. It's really hard to argue that there's not a significant number of people who aren't buying music that they otherwise would have bought because it's now free. Sure, it's easy to rationalize - costs too much, crappy, whatever. But the end result is, if it's that bad then don't listen to it.

      Of course that is subjective. Also, I have never downloaded music 'illegally' so I'm not one for making any apologies for that behavior. I want to see Fair Use and Copyright law changed, but in the meantime I respect the current legal framework. I've been *very* vocal with my local Congresscritter on this subject among others.

      That, in my eyes, gives you a great amount of credibility. I think too many people use banners like copyright, and so on to justify illegal behavior. Calling the Congressrats is a great way to do it.

      I do think there is room for civil disobediance here - go download music that *would* have passed into public domain before the Bono act was passed. But downloading new music while claiming evils of copyright - which many people are doing - doesn't work.

    14. Re:In other words... by lbgator · · Score: 5, Insightful

      This is a bad analogy. Stealing a tangible good and stealing an arrangement of electrons are two different things. How about:

      You like McMuffins, but McDonalds only sells them in 12 packs and they won't let you split the cost among friends. Anyone who is caught splitting the cost of a McTwelvePack will be prosecuted. "This is ridiculous" you squeal, "MickeyDees can't tell me how to enjoy my McMackins!" You and your friends decide that buying one McTwelvePack each is ridiculous and is not going to happen - so you either resolve to not buy McMuffins at all or you set up an illegal breakfast sharing ring which will fleece McDonalds out of many potential dollars.

      I know this seems like a truly outlandish analogy, but is it really? The GP says he enjoys a product and is willing to pay money for the product, but it is mostly sold in a format that he can't tolerate. Hence, he is left with the option to not buy the product or steal it. I am no psychologist, but it seems like human nature to me.

    15. Re:In other words... by Bageloid · · Score: 3, Insightful

      Im fairly sure we have Libraries and books still sell well. Hell, my local library even has Music... Then again, its not exactly a small library Link to library and example: http://catalog.brooklynpubliclibrary.org/search/Xfoo+fighters&searchscope=63&SORT=D/Xfoo+fighters&searchscope=63&SORT=D&SUBKEY=foo%20fighters/1%2C3%2C3%2CB/frameset&FF=Xfoo+fighters&SORT=D&3%2C3%2C This is how it should be, everything available at the library, if you want to own, you buy it yourself(as many music fans do).

    16. Re:In other words... by AK+Marc · · Score: 5, Insightful

      Of course, it would be unrealistic to argue that every, single unauthorized copy is a "lost sale," but arguing the opposite is equally silly.

      I object to the use of "lost sale." I would rather see "missed sale." A "loss" is a legal term used for theft. You have to have a loss to have a theft. Copyright can not be theft because there is no loss. Revenue, sales, and all that aren't items. You can't lose them. "Oops, I misplaced my revenue, have you seen it?" "Check under the bed." Nope, doesn't work, you can't lose your revenue. And any salesman will tell you a lost sale is a sale you would like to have gotten that never really existed. Again, not a loss. When someone copys a book, what has the author or bookstore or trade association "lost"? They still have all their copies in storage. They still have the copyright. They still have all the money they had before. There is no loss. Nothing is missing. With nothing they can point to that was touched, then it can't be a loss, and thus can't be a theft.

      Using "lost revenue" or "lost sale" implies that something that never existed was lost, which is impossible. "Missed sale" and "unrealized revenue" are much more applicable, but we all know that the content owners are purposefully misusing words in order to mislead (I call that lying) and won't stop. So I would argue that there is no grey. Either every copy made is a "lost sale" in the sense it is a sale that will not take place (whether it would have anyway being irrelevant) or none of them are a "lost sale" because a sale can never be "lost" in the strict definition of the word. That's why content owners pick such words to use. They can always make the arguement that the other side is irrational because they will use the words to create semantic arguements over "some loss" "no loss" and such, while they continue filing in court that 100% of all copies made are lost sales and no one is calling them on it.

      --
      Learn to love Alaska
    17. Re:In other words... by jedidiah · · Score: 2, Insightful

      > 3)...piracy. It's really hard to argue that there's not a significant number of people who aren't
      > buying music that they otherwise would have bought because it's now free.

      Bullsh*t.

      People have always been able to "get music for free" without piracy.

      Radio and MTV have always made this pretty easy. If you don't want to
      pay for 7/8 ths of the album from the one hit wonder band that you
      don't want you just stuck to listening to the radio.

      If you were really interested you might have gotten the 45.

      I still have a couple of 45's from hair bands of the 80's.

      There is only so many willing buyers. Preventing the willing buyers
      from engaging in some form of "mooching" won't magically make them
      willing to cough up money.

      Radio is littered with bands that I listen to on a regular basis
      but have never ever directly contributed to (or pirated from).

      Take an ipod, put it on random and insert some commercials and
      you wouldn't be able to tell the difference... which is kind of
      the point of an ipod to begin with.

      --
      A Pirate and a Puritan look the same on a balance sheet.
    18. Re:In other words... by baboo_jackal · · Score: 2, Insightful

      He he - +1 Funny, if I had mod points. (not in a bad way Funny, either - I thought "steal an Egg McMuffin because that's what I like and not everything on their menu is an Egg McMuffin" was funny).

      But GP had a point - record companies/iTunes/whoever are not actually providing what consumers want. I don't pretend to speak for all consumers, but I'm making this guess based on what people are stealing:

      Non-copy-protected audio files of arbitrary quality (i.e., file size and quality for however fast your tubes are and how much time you want to spend downloading files). IOW, consumers are stealing mp3's. Currently, record companies don't sell those. In fact, don't they maintain that the very existence of mp3s (and any non-protected format) of their artist's music is illegal?

      I mean, at some point, does the RIAA figure out that their member companies would actually be able to make money selling non-DRMed versions of their artists' music? They're missing out on a potentially big stream of revenue here - I mean, how many adults, with actual money, would pay $1 (or $.50, or whatever the going rate is) to quickly download a high-quality, DRM-free version of a song, with minimal hassle (and I don't mean "minimal hassle" for a typical Slashdotter, (which is to say Usenet over a 56K modem) - I mean even stupid Limewire, and messing around with torrents is a pain in the ass sometimes for technically-inclined people, let alone others.) - i.e., just go to Columbia Records' site, a few clicks, and you've got the song.

      Hell, I would even use it, if the price were right. There's a price point at which it becomes worth it just to not have to go through the few extra steps required to download a song for free. Maybe it's $.10, maybe it's $.25. Who knows. Point is, they're just plain missing out.

    19. Re:In other words... by Hassman · · Score: 2, Insightful

      No. The difference is if you don't like McDonalds, you have other choices for your 99 cent food.

      With the record industry, you don't. What the poster is saying is that the product he WANTS TO BUY doesn't exist. Therefore he has to find it less than legal ways.

      THAT is what he is saying the record companies aren't getting. They aren't offering the products the consumer wants, so they aren't selling as many CDs. Instead of fixing the situation by adjusting their business model and providing the content wanted, they cry about illegal downloaders and in doing so alienate many many others.

      They have created a situation of loathing, and because of their actions have really created several types of groups that hate them for different reasons. All driving to the end result of them selling less and less CDs.

      --
      -Mark
      Dovie'andi se tovya sagain.
    20. Re:In other words... by Tetsujin · · Score: 2, Insightful

      This analogy has gotten way out of control. And I don't even like McDonald's!

      Here's the thing - The CD cost has to support not just the artist but also the promotion and distribution of that album, plus there has to be enough revenue left over to support the label's business of representing new acts in the hope that one of them will be successful - to find that one act that people will really like they have to gamble - attract artists they think might have potential to succeed and give 'em a shot.

      I think it's a fair bet their business model will have to adjust - but to say that the cost of that $20 CD is limited just to the per-copy production cost of the disc itself is not at all realistic.

      And don't forget this one critical fact, which you gloss over in your analogy: no one is "forcing" you to pay $20 for a CD (or a McDonald's breakfast). If you don't like the price at which they're offering their product, you don't need that product. You can get entertainment (or food) elsewhere. Play by the rules, or do without. The latter option really isn't as bad as you might think.

      --
      Bow-ties are cool.
    21. Re:In other words... by TechWrite · · Score: 3, Insightful

      You know what, from the perspective of the RIAA, I steal McMuffins all the time. Every weekend, I make scrambled eggs, sausage, and cheese on English muffins, thereby producing identical copies of McMuffins and depriving the McDonald's down the street of my $2. I know, I know, I really shouldn't admit to being such a criminal on a public website...

    22. Re:In other words... by Maxo-Texas · · Score: 4, Insightful

      I agree with you personally. There is a huge entertainment glut and I simply bypass entertainment that is too expensive (la femme nikita-- $80/season, X-Files, $75/ season) until it goes on sale ($15/season for both-- a reasonable price).

      However, artists have a right to a living, not a right to enormous wealth. Prices currently charge reflect out-dated models and it will probably take another 20 years for them to become reasonable. J.K. Rowling is an excellent example- no creative work justifies a billion dollar income- it's not a fair outcome to society as a whole. Millions of people are starving to death who would not be if the money were routed their way instead of to book creation. I believe that anything much over a lifetime's income for a single work is absurd and you should fight it anyway you can. So that would be about 40k*80 years or about 3.2 million maximum for a given creative work.

      Copyright is intended to encourage creation of works- not to make creators and their heirs and the corporation they sold the rights to impossibly wealthy forever.

      ---

      No one is forcing you-- but never in history has it been such an artificial restriction. It is literally a choice of "rent at a very high price this broken DRM'd very expensive product from us until we change formats again" or "get a superior unbroken copy you can keep forever for free". It is literally a choice between not getting the product at all (so they get no money) or getting a copy which takes nothing from them (so they also get no money). So it comes across more as sour grapes on their part than reasonable demands.

      They have set the price so high that it is a mockery and the cost of production and illegal acquisition is so low that obeying the law is widely perceived as stupid. Hell, even their own children are copying their products illegally in their own houses.

      --
      She was like chocolate when she drank... semi-sweet at first and then increasingly bitter.
    23. Re:In other words... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1, Insightful

      Good point - if they could come up with a model where some consumer paid hundreds of thousands of dollars for the first CD, then this buy-one-get-infinite-free model might just be crazy enough to work!

      Having said that, whether or not you convince me to not pirate is irrelevant. The point of the matter is, as long as people can easily get quality copies for cheap or free, there'll be piracy. You can't eliminate piracy, and you're a fool to try. However, if you accept that piracy will always be there, it makes more sense to compete against piracy as if it were another business. Therefore, the most sensible thing for the record companies to do is try and offer a better service than your competitors - offer then something that pirates can't offer. Increase the number of concerts - people are still paying for concerts! Increase the number of formats music is put in, and I'm not just talking about OGG vs MP3 - Records, CDs, Digital, DVD (concert recordings or DVD-A), HD, etc. Pull out all the stops to let digital stores offer the most comprehensive range of music possible - it's disgusting that a multi-billion dollar business has a poorer range of music put together by Johnny-John War3z-d00d. And for god's sake, at least offer digital copies of comparable quality! How can you expect someone who (for whatever reason) has decided to pirate to DOWNGRADE the level of quality, convenience and range, AND at the same time start paying money?

      Per Mickey-D's analogy, it's like Cheez-e Charlee Cheep Cookin' across the street offering a Big Mac clone for free, with home delivery and your choice of condiments. Sure Cheez-e Charlee's is slightly legally dubious, but a good portion of people are going to go there for as long as McDonalds doesn't compete.

  2. I call BS. by Tavor · · Score: 5, Insightful

    It's not better technology, it's better targeting. College students are 'soft targets'. They have limited funds, hence they are more liable to share music and less likely to be able to fight back. The RIAA doesn't want to try and extort from someone capable of fighting back, you know.

    --
    Windows has detected an undetectable error.
    1. Re:I call BS. by kannibal_klown · · Score: 5, Insightful

      That's a good theory, but it has some flaws. For example, they're still going after universities with good law schools as well as ivy league schools.

      The law schools have a chance to fight back and have the resources to put up a decent struggle. And many students attending law schools have parents with money and/or connections.

      I'm not saying those 2 scenarios invalidate your theory, but something to think about.

    2. Re:I call BS. by Jarjarthejedi · · Score: 3, Insightful

      Given what has been the standard university response so far (with a few notable exceptions) the type of school the student goes to is much less important than just about anything else, they'll still likely give the student up and do nothing to help.

      --
      There are two kinds of fool One says 'This is old therefore good' Another says 'This is new therefore better'- Dean Ing
    3. Re:I call BS. by penguin_dance · · Score: 5, Insightful

      It's not better technology, it's better targeting. College students are 'soft targets'. They have limited funds, hence they are more liable to share music and less likely to be able to fight back. The RIAA doesn't want to try and extort from someone capable of fighting back, you know.

      Naaah, it's because that's the age group that's downloading most of what's out there. Most of us old foggies with such an inclination have already either bought and/or downloaded all the music they want. The stuff they have coming out today is crap. If they wanted to sell music, they should have been marketing to baby-boomers with disposable income (and technically, probably less aware of how to find and download the illegal stuff) instead of poor college students!

      Now, get off my lawn!

      --
      If you've never been modded as "flamebait" or "troll," you've never tried to argue a minority viewpoint here!
    4. Re:I call BS. by nine-times · · Score: 2, Insightful

      Good point. Also, I think the real goal of the RIAA is to shape public perception. There are two ways of looking at this whole "file sharing" thing. Either:

      • This is all about the steady march of progress, and the interplay between changes in technology and changes in society. The record industry originated out of new technology that allowed sound to be recorded, and will undergo some change as physical distribution becomes obsolete. So it goes.

      -or-

      • This is all about people who lack a sense of fairness, trying to get something for nothing. People are tearing down societal rules and mores in order to satisfy their immediate urges without any consideration for the damage they're doing to our current system. Our current system works and is good, and to dismantle it is needless destruction.

      Now obviously the record industry would like us all to accept the second explanation. But really, right now they only need older people to accept the second explanation, because older people tend to have more power. It's lucky for them, since older people are tend to dislike change, and tend to see things exactly in this way.

      And who do older people usually think are "trying to get something for nothing" and "tearing down societal rules and mores... without any consideration for the damage they're doing to our current system"? Young people. Therefore, if they are targeting college kids specifically, it's probably a pretty crafty move.

      I mean, they may as well group "file sharing" in with drug use, promiscuous and unprotected sex, binge drinking, drag racing, school shootings, and rap music. Forget the fact that the whole internet is really a large P2P system, and "P2P protocols" are just a more advanced method of distributing load. Oh, and pay no attention to the fact that the music industry itself used to be that scary/subversive thing that old people feared.

    5. Re:I call BS. by misterhypno · · Score: 5, Insightful

      But the law schools are NOT going to protect the students charged with illegally downloading music - at least not without the student having to pay the law school SOMETHING, not to mention the mandatory court costs, fees, deposition transcriptionist fees, ad nauseam, which many students simply cannot afford.

      Add to that the fact that a court trial, even the prep time, TAKES TIME, which, for a student in a degree program, simply cannot afford to use up, either, as many of their classes happen during business hours as well, when the law school's legal aid offices are open.

      Time lost from study + money lost to legal expenses over possible legal losses from the RIAA running the clock out to nearly forever through the use of continuances and out-of-state venues FOR their cases = a broke student who has flunked out of the degree program they were IN, who is in debt forever to the RIAA as well as to the courts.

      Not a pretty picture.

      The RIAA seems to be banking on this and, to be honest, mailing more threatening letters on their way TO the bank.

      And the above paradigm works whether the student is guilty of illegal downloading or NOT.

      Which sucks for the student and is rapidly becoming what seems to be a second-stream cash-cow for the RIAA... and the recording ARTISTS, whom the RIAA is SUPPOSED to be PROTECTING, never see DIME ONE OF ANY OF THESE MONIES!

      How "fair" is that?

    6. Re:I call BS. by sm62704 · · Score: 4, Insightful

      That's part of what pisses me off. I'm 56, long out of college, have a halfway decent job, turn on the radio and what do I hear?

      I hear shit that's targeted to unemployed twelve year olds. And the RIAA complains about losing sales? How is someone with NO MONEY supposed to buy your crap?

      Do they have any fucking idea how many LPs, cassettes, and CDs I've bought in the last 40 years since I got a paying job? And how shitty today's music is to my old-skool rock'n'roll ears? The only mainstream band from this century I like is Buckcherry, and I wonder how they ever got a record contract. All today's shit is Simon Cowell Production-like, minor key wimpy emo shit they call "rock", rap (hint: black people my age hate rap even more than I do), tuneless screaming hardcore, and the like.

      Find another Zeppelin. Find another Hagar. Find another Pink Floyd. Find another Stones. Find another Chuck Berry. Find another Alice in Chains. Because we have money. Twelve year olds don't you damned cocaine-soaked idiots!

      --
      mcgrew's razor: Never attribute to stupidity that which can be explained by greedy self-interest
  3. Tagged: yeahriht by Spy+der+Mann · · Score: 4, Insightful

    This isn't about technology. The RIAA's aggresive war against users isn't based on good or bad technology. It's just a bunch of lies.

    * An IP address can't be used to pinpoint a user, and that's a FACT. What does that have to do with better technology?
    * The companies they hired to do their investigations weren't authorized by the government. That's ILLEGAL. What does that have to do with better technology?

  4. Re:actual infringers? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 3, Insightful

    Aren't the folks making music available the actual infringers? (Assuming the conversation is limited to music copyrighted by an RIAA member and not openly traded such as in the case of bands who allow taping and trading of tapes of live shows.)

    Who are the actual infringers, if not the folks making the music available to others?

    If I leave my apartment door open and you walk in and help yourself to my friend's beer, who's the thief: you or me? Even if I advertise on Craigslist "my friend's beer is unguarded in my unlocked apartment", it's still you stealing it...at best, I'm contributing to your stealing it.
  5. "Better technology" by circletimessquare · · Score: 4, Insightful

    "Better technology," any of us with a brain asserts, "is merely resulting in better clients. Next up: IP obfuscation"

    morons

    9 thousand lawyers versus 90 million technologically savvy, music hungry, poor teenagers

    place your wagers

    you lose, morons

    --
    intellectual property law is philosophically incoherent. it is your moral duty to ignore it or sabotage it
  6. Better filters == more spam by MacDork · · Score: 4, Insightful

    As long as they are not facing serious consequences for filing lawsuits against dead people, the homeless, children, and people who don't own computers.... this will only get worse.

  7. Evolve or Die by aarenz · · Score: 3, Insightful

    RIAA needs to take a step back and look at their business model. Ford used to create cars with bolts and pieces that were so unique that nobody made part for their products except them. That backfired at some point and they started to go with the flow. Musicians need to get a grip on where the money that is paid for their music goes. Reduce the big overhead of managers and promotions people and get back to making music. If you can do live performances and get rid of the ticket brokers overhead, you can make enough to live on with just a few concerts in medium sized venues each year. If you can not perform live, then you best not expect to make a killing in the industry since you probably do not have real talent, but just know someone that can mix down anything and make it sound good.

    In most cases, when you make the black market seem more dangerous, and there is still a demand for an item, the illegal market will grow. If CD's were priced to make enough to cover costs of production and a small amount for the musician and composer, they would sell like crazy, especially if there was something that set it apart from the mainstream duplicated junk that is generally available. It is much the way the TV industry has gone, 3 networks with reasonable quality, then it became 200 channels, most of which is not worth burning the screen by playing. Quality will win out in the end, if there is a reasonable distribution method and pricing for it.

  8. Re:What's interesting ... by whisper_jeff · · Score: 5, Insightful

    I hope your response to the RIAA is something along the lines of:

    We have received your DMCA notices. None are attributable to IP addresses given out by our DHCP server. One is attributed to a terminal server with no internet access. Thus, we will be taking no action other than to file these notices. Should we receive future notices which may be attributed to an IP address assigned by our DHCP server and thus one of our students, we will pass along the DMCA notice as well as a record of all filed and incorrect DMCA notices we have received so that the student in question can be made fully aware of the accuracy of your efforts should they wish to formulate a legal defense.

    Let the RIAA know that their machinegun approach to this will be used against them when it comes time to prosecute. I doubt they'll slow down but the increasingly large file of haphazard DMCA notices will eventually show that they are filing frivolous lawsuits.

  9. Re:What's interesting ... GET THIS STORY OUT by Nom+du+Keyboard · · Score: 4, Insightful
    This story needs to be spread more widely. The RIAA has claimed that their methods are close to perfect (you'll catch a few dolphins maybe, but not many). Yet when they sue the wrong person because the inaccurate IP address happened to match up with somebody else's account that person either capitulates, or pays thousands in lawyer bills to clear their name only to see the RIAA attempt to walk away without reimbursing them (like you're guilty just for having a broadband account in the first place) for their costs.

    This is so wrong, and the RIAA continues to get away with it because they refuse to admit to any errors in their methods. If the unreliability of the RIAA IP identification methods got wide circulation they might not be able to pursue any of these cases based on IP address/timestamp information alone.

    --
    "It's the height of ridiculousness to say for those 9 lines you get hundreds of millions."
  10. Re:MediaSentry - "contractor" or "inve NOTE TO RAY by Nom+du+Keyboard · · Score: 2, Insightful
    Ray,

    I call your attention to the What's interesting ... thread above in this discussion where the poster is pointing out just how unreliable the RIAA method of identifying IP addresses and timestamps is proving to be in the real world. If this is the only method the RIAA has at their disposal to identify lawsuit targets, and it's as widely bad as the poster states, this might serve to rip apart the RIAA cases at the very beginning.

    While not an exact analogy, although the basis of it in terms of unreliability is the same, imagine if people tried to use fingerprint data in court in a world where 1 out of 10 people had the same fingerprints. No court would accept that. If the RIAA is so provably wrong so often, then maybe the courts shouldn't be accepting this data as identification of anything at all.

    (Note: this would also explain the two tier system of the RIAA cases. First a multiply joined John Doe case to get identities, followed by extortion, followed by individual cases. The first case filters out all the bad or unidentifiable addresses when the ISP says they can't identify a user for that IP address/timestamp. Of course, if the RIAA is following this stragety then they already know how flawed their methods of identification are, and are using this method to compensate for it by having addresses that at least identify somebody.)

    --
    "It's the height of ridiculousness to say for those 9 lines you get hundreds of millions."