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Last.fm User Data Was Sent To RIAA By CBS
suraj.sun sends in an update from TechCrunch on a story that generated a lot of controversy a few months back, "Did Last.fm Just Hand Over User Listening Data To the RIAA?" "Now we've located another source for the story, someone who's very close to Last.fm. And it turns out Last.fm was telling the truth, sorta... Last.fm didn't hand user data over to the RIAA. According to our source, it was their parent company, CBS, that did it. Here's what we believe happened: CBS requested user data from Last.fm, including user name and IP address. CBS wanted the data to comply with a RIAA request but told Last.fm the data was going to be used for 'internal use only.' It was only after the data was sent to CBS that Last.fm discovered the real reason for the request. Last.fm staffers were outraged, say our sources, but the data had already been sent to the RIAA. We believe CBS lied to us when they denied sending the data to the RIAA, and that they subsequently asked us to attribute the quote to Last.fm to make the statement defensible. Last.fm's denials were strictly speaking correct, but they ignored the underlying truth of the situation, that their parent company supplied user data to the RIAA, and that the data could possibly be used in civil and criminal actions against those users."
Media companies lie! Film at 11.
I promise I didn't tell on you!... my mom did.
Boy howdy techcrunch are going to make a lot of ad $ from hits on this unsubstantiated story from scared last.fm users who have one or two dodgy mp3s though - of course - there's no chance that that consideration entered into their decision to publish it.
I'm currently listening to a future Eminem track. I got it by running bittorrent through a time-machine. The evidence is plain for all to see (or my playedlist)
Good grief.
Belief is the currency of delusion.
So the Somalis are hijacking music now, eh?
Everybody listen to me
And return me, my ship
I'm Your Captain
I'm Your Captain
Todos mis movimientos están friamente calculados
Yes, I can just see the stunning, Law & Order-inspired jury argument. "Ladies and Gentlemen, Mr. Shorty did not illegally download U2's then-unreleased album. In fact, he had a legally-obtained copy of the Joshua Tree album, and he renamed all the tracks to the names of the tracks of the upcoming albums so he could fantasize about listening to the new album.
I don't think I could even pull it off with a straight face.
Today's Sesame Street was brought to you by the number e.
Thank you, Mr Buzzard. We'll be seeing you once we figure out how to sue Australia. -RIAA
Do you have some sort of list of last.fm users I could look over to confirm your statement?
No but the RIAA could help you with that one.
"responsible journalism"! Ha ha, is that one of those oxymorons like "military intelligence" or "jumbo shrimp"?
Shutting down free speech with violence isn't fighting fascism. It IS fascism!
If this does turn out to be true, who is going to use their service ever again? Even if someone doesn't have any pirated music on their computer, who wants their music collection data sent to the RIAA? What about legitimate purchased songs being flagged as being pirated?
It hardly matters whether the music is pirated or legitimate, all they care about is money, plain and simple. The Righteous Inquisition Army of Autocrats has made statements in the past that indicate that if they had their way, you would have to pay for every time you listen to any piece of music, regardless that you purchased it already. They always want more money, and they won't rest until the day where they can bill you for having a copy of that song burned into your brain neural patterns as an "all-you-can-listen portable recording". Every time you listen to a song for free on the radio or on the street, an RIAA lawyer gets an ulcer.