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RIAA To Stop Prosecuting Individual File Sharers

Posted by kdawson on from the declare-victory-and-withdraw dept.

debatem1 writes "According to the Wall Street Journal, the RIAA has decided to abandon its current tactic of suing individuals for sharing copyrighted music. Ongoing lawsuits will be pursued to completion, but no new ones will be filed. The RIAA is going to try working with the ISPs to limit file-sharing services and cut off repeated users. This very surprising development apparently comes as a result of public distaste for the campaign." An RIAA spokesman is quoted as saying that the litigation campaign has been "successful in raising the public's awareness that file-sharing is illegal."

2 of 619 comments (clear)

  1. I wonder... by sskinnider · · Score: 1, Redundant

    A new can of worms is about to open. What will the burden of proof be for an ISP? It is very likely that it will be in their best interest to limit the amount of P2P filesharing whether it is legal or not. This seems like a win for the RIAA. What recourse will a cut off user have? If they signed a year contract with an ISP will they be required to pay a penalty because they were cut off? The judicial system is flawed, but what system will innocent people have if ISP's decide to cooperate whole-heartedly with the RIAA.

  2. Except... by kevind23 · · Score: 1, Redundant

    ...file-sharing isn't illegal.

    Now if you'll excuse me, I need to finish torrenting a Debian DVD.