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ABA Judges Get an Earful About RIAA Litigations

NewYorkCountryLawyer writes "I was afforded the opportunity to write for a slightly different audience — the judges who belong to the Judicial Division of the American Bar Association. I was invited by the The Judges Journal, their quarterly publication, to do a piece on the RIAA litigations for the ABA's Summer 2008 'Equal Access to Justice' issue. What I came up with was 'Large Recording Companies vs. The Defenseless: Some Common Sense Solutions to the Challenges of the RIAA Litigations,' in which I describe the unfairness of these cases and make 15 suggestions as to how the courts could level the playing field. I'm hoping the judges mod my article '+5 Insightful,' but I'd settle for '+3 Informative.' Here is the actual article (PDF). (If anyone out there can send me a decent HTML version of it, I'll run that one up the flagpole as well.)" Wired is helping to spread the word on Ray's article.

34 of 349 comments (clear)

  1. Damn it! by geekoid · · Score: 4, Funny

    That article has a picture of you. Do you know what that means? It means it's harder to make snarky comments. Now my replies need to be thought out!

    I mean, you look like one of us(except for the monkey suit).

    --
    The Kruger Dunning explains most post on /. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dunning%E2%80%93Kruger_effect
    1. Re:Damn it! by G00F · · Score: 4, Funny

      "I only wear the monkey suit for special events such as funerals, bar mitzvahs, and court appearances. I.e., just like you."

      Eh, I dunno, the last bar mitzvah I went to, I dressed like a renaissance knight.

      --
      The spirit of resistance to government is so valuable on certain occasions that I wish it to be always kept alive
    2. Re:Damn it! by NewYorkCountryLawyer · · Score: 4, Funny

      "I only wear the monkey suit for special events such as funerals, bar mitzvahs, and court appearances. I.e., just like you."

      Eh, I dunno, the last bar mitzvah I went to, I dressed like a renaissance knight.

      Well I'm not a trend-setter like you.

      --
      Ray Beckerman +5 Insightful
    3. Re:Damn it! by ZackZero · · Score: 4, Funny
    4. Re:Damn it! by NewYorkCountryLawyer · · Score: 3, Funny

      I'll have you know I don't even own a monkey suit. :-) The dearly departed don't care what you wear, they're dead. I've never been to a bar mitzvah. For my only court appearance so far, I wore shorts and a T-shirt.

      OK OK.

      I take back the part about "just like you".

      --
      Ray Beckerman +5 Insightful
  2. you're doing it wrong by commodoresloat · · Score: 4, Funny

    The appropriate salutation is "a/s/l?"

    1. Re:you're doing it wrong by bluefoxlucid · · Score: 3, Funny

      and the appropriate answer is 12/f/cf

    2. Re:you're doing it wrong by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Funny

      What's a 12 year old girl doing in center field?

    3. Re:you're doing it wrong by martinw89 · · Score: 4, Funny

      Lawyering, NewYorkCountry style.

    4. Re:you're doing it wrong by dgatwood · · Score: 2, Funny

      No, no, she's in Core Foundation. Running in loops.

      --

      Check out my sci-fi/humor trilogy at PatriotsBooks.

  3. Re:Wow by H0p313ss · · Score: 3, Funny

    I also wish for a pony.

    And blackjack!

    --
    XML is a known as a key material required to create SMD: Software of Mass Destruction
  4. Re:Hey NewYorkCountryLawyer by NewYorkCountryLawyer · · Score: 5, Funny

    Saw your pic. I thought you were younger!

    I used to be much younger. But that was quite a while ago.

    --
    Ray Beckerman +5 Insightful
  5. Re:Thank you for your efforts. by NewYorkCountryLawyer · · Score: 5, Funny

    music thieves and the large Internet criminal element do thank you, NewYorkCountryLawyer

    Is that you, MediaSentry? I didn't know the internet criminal element were posting in this thread.

    --
    Ray Beckerman +5 Insightful
  6. Re:Thank you for your efforts. by dr_dank · · Score: 2, Funny

    Never mind that, did they give you free tickets to Mamma Mia?

    --
    Where does the school board find them and why do they keep sending them to ME?
  7. Re:+5 Insightful? +3 Informative? by NewYorkCountryLawyer · · Score: 4, Funny

    Funny, I didn't realize the ABA utilized slashcode.

    I guess you didn't read my Slashdot interview and the comments which followed it, where I said quite clearly:

    Thank you all for the interview, and for the rough and tumble comment period which followed it. I really enjoyed it. It was incredible fun. I've even learned an important new legal research method in the process. A lawyer can't just read a bunch of cases and statutes to know what the law is. He also needs to come to Slashdot, because if somebody here says something's the law, and it gets moderated to +5, then it's the law. Maybe lawyers don't know it, and Congress doesn't know it, and the judges don't know it, but sooner or later, I'm sure they'll come around.

    The legal profession is just starting to catch up to Slashdot, but we'll come around.

    --
    Ray Beckerman +5 Insightful
  8. Re:+5 Insightful? +3 Informative? by fyoder · · Score: 3, Funny

    It has become a geek meme. Can also be used as a pickup line, as in "Hey, babe, anyone ever tell you you're +5 beautiful?" Followed shortly by, "Hey, sweet stuff, I see you've barfed in your drink. Can I buy you another?"

    --
    Loose lips lose spit.
  9. Re:Hey NewYorkCountryLawyer by RuBLed · · Score: 2, Funny

    But in 6 years you would be 3 times older than me. How old is the child sitting beside me now?

  10. Re:Wow by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1, Funny

    oh forget it- just give me the hookers and be done with it

  11. Re:Thank you for your efforts. by tobiasly · · Score: 2, Funny

    Never mind that, did they give you free tickets to Mamma Mia?

    What does free tickets have to do with anything? He's simply explaining to them: there's another side to the RIAA's arguments, and I'd like to articulate it, if you'll take a chance on me.

  12. Re:All that needs to be said by Hijacked+Public · · Score: 3, Funny

    He gets paid to submit articles to Slashdot?

    --
    "Sacrifice for the good of The State" - The State
  13. Re:Hey NewYorkCountryLawyer by unity100 · · Score: 2, Funny

    when i was your age, we used to eat our dung for dinner.

  14. Never mind that AC... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Funny

    Ladies and gentlemen, I have uncovered a plot! A fiendish plot that undermines the very foundations of Slashdot itself!

    Notice how Ray Beckerman goes out and defends people against the RIAA, to win the hearts and minds of Slashdotters. Then he uses that goodwill to get stories published from the firehose, onto the front page. What happens next is the really fiendish bit: he posts a series of comments on the article, whereupon the moderators invariably mod them up to +5.

    Can't you see what he's doing? It all fits: Ray Beckerman is a karma whore! This is a bigger conspiracy than twitter and his sock puppets!

    1. Re:Never mind that AC... by Some_Llama · · Score: 2, Funny

      no, no, don't you see? In the universe everything has a polar opposite.. Ray is the anti-Roland Piquepaille.

      If one posts a story and links to the other Slashdot will implode! (or explode?)

  15. Re:Thank you for your efforts. by Merls+the+Sneaky · · Score: 2, Funny

    This is exactly what they do, ever heard of shoplifting?

  16. Re:NYCL's silence means...(A POLL) by NewYorkCountryLawyer · · Score: 3, Funny

    5) None of the above.

    --
    Ray Beckerman +5 Insightful
  17. Re:Wow by MrCreosote · · Score: 3, Funny

    If you have hookers, why screw the pony?

    Unless...

    --
    MrCreosote Meow!Thump!Meow!Thump!Meow!Thump! "You're right! There isn't enough room to swing a cat in here!"
  18. Re:Hey NewYorkCountryLawyer by abushga · · Score: 2, Funny

    I was young once, but I got over it. (Mark Twain)

  19. Re:Thank you for your efforts. by Opportunist · · Score: 3, Funny

    Shed a tear? I'd pay for the bacon!

    --
    We used to have a Bill of Rights. Now, with the rights gone, all we have left is the bill.
  20. Re:Question for NYCL... by o0z3 · · Score: 2, Funny

    A bash quote comes to mind :)

    #104052

    -NES- lol
    -NES- I download something from Napster
    -NES- And the same guy I downloaded it from starts downloading it from me when I'm done
    -NES- I message him and say "What are you doing? I just got that from you"
    -NES- "getting my song back fucker"

    bash.org

  21. Re:fishing with a net... by meringuoid · · Score: 2, Funny
    Especially since you can see from the list of people they sued, that they have only sued dolphins(casual defenseless infringers), and not a single barracuda(large scale industrial pirates)...

    How many gigabytes of mp3s do I have to accumulate to level up to 'shark with frickin' laser beam on its head'?

    --
    Real Daleks don't climb stairs - they level the building.
  22. Re:What's this I shit? by NewYorkCountryLawyer · · Score: 4, Funny

    I? Who the fuck are you?

    You must be new here.

    --
    Ray Beckerman +5 Insightful
  23. Re:Wow. by NewYorkCountryLawyer · · Score: 3, Funny

    Ray, You rock! Great article! I'm not worthy. I'm not worthy. Seriously, I sent the link to both my friends!

    Thanks for reminding me. I need to send it to my friend.

    --
    Ray Beckerman +5 Insightful
  24. Re:All that needs to be said by NewYorkCountryLawyer · · Score: 5, Funny

    He gets paid to submit articles to Slashdot?

    Don't I wish.

    --
    Ray Beckerman +5 Insightful
  25. Re:Thank you for your efforts. by NewYorkCountryLawyer · · Score: 2, Funny

    I don't know... I don't think alligators would enjoy eating undead blood-sucking vampires.

    If an alligator were to unwittingly swallow an RIAA lawyer, he would definitely spit it back; if alligators can spit. If they can't spit, well..... you know.... they'd regurgitate.

    --
    Ray Beckerman +5 Insightful