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RIAA Targets 21 Sites For Shutdown

New submitter souperfly writes "The Inquirer has a list of 21 sites that the RIAA is looking to get shut down by ISPs this week. The list includes sites filestube, Bomb-Mp3, Mp3skull, Bitsnoop, Extratorrent, Torrenthound, Torrentreactor and Monova, and at least one ISP — Virgin Media in the UK — has confirmed the number of targeted sites. BT confirmed it will block the site, but didn't say when. Before, it was thought that only six sites were lined up for a chop."

33 of 140 comments (clear)

  1. Dear Anonymous by intermodal · · Score: 5, Funny

    Please, find a violation on RIAA.org and get them shut down. I'm begging you.

    --
    In SOVIET RUSSIA... erm...NSA AMERICA, the Internet logs onto YOU!
    1. Re:Dear Anonymous by 0racle · · Score: 4, Funny

      Not your personal army.

      --
      "I use a Mac because I'm just better than you are."
    2. Re:Dear Anonymous by Xicor · · Score: 3, Informative

      lol, obviously we know they arent our personal army... that being said, there would be an argument to say they are an army for the good of the american public. i would hazard a guess and say that it would be beneficial to the american public if the riaa and mpaa would go fuck themselves.

    3. Re:Dear Anonymous by intermodal · · Score: 3, Insightful

      I agree except the part about "American". Anonymous are not restricted to only being an army for the good of the American public. and clearly the *AA groups are detrimental to all nations' publics.

      --
      In SOVIET RUSSIA... erm...NSA AMERICA, the Internet logs onto YOU!
    4. Re:Dear Anonymous by operagost · · Score: 2

      I agree except for the "good" part. Try "lulz". Anonymous is an army of vainglorious narcissists without any real sense of what person freedom really is.

      --

      Gamingmuseum.com: Give your 3D accelerator a rest.
    5. Re:Dear Anonymous by Solandri · · Score: 4, Interesting

      The thing is, the RIAA knows how to play the game - they paid for the rules after all.

      You can only get the extravagant fines for copyright infringement if you've registered your copyright with the Library of Congress (which involves paying a fee and sending them a copy of the work). If the copyright isn't registered, the owner can only claim damages suffered. So when the RIAA "steals" artwork or text from a random web artist/author, worst case they have to pay what they would've paid if they had licensed it, best case they're not caught and they pay nothing.

    6. Re:Dear Anonymous by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Informative

      As Jefferson said:

      We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and Lulz.

    7. Re:Dear Anonymous by BradMajors · · Score: 2

      The registration fee is $35.

    8. Re:Dear Anonymous by fredprado · · Score: 3, Insightful

      So? Even when it is cheap it still needs to be done, and many times it is far from cheap. For a photographer, for example, registering each picture he takes for 35 can add up to very high amounts.

    9. Re:Dear Anonymous by TheSeatOfMyPants · · Score: 2

      Solandri: You can only get the extravagant fines for copyright infringement if you've registered your copyright with the Library of Congress (which involves paying a fee and sending them a copy of the work). If the copyright isn't registered, the owner can only claim damages suffered.

      Evidently we can't file suit at all without registering with the LoC first -- though this is the first I've heard of it despite having read a hell of a loton the matter as a writer over the past couple of decades. From the USCopyright Office FAQ:

      Copyright exists from the moment the work is created. You will have to register, however, if you wish to bring a lawsuit for infringement of a U.S. work. See Circular 1, Copyright Basics, section “Copyright Registration.”

      Ihaven't seen anything related to the kind/sum of fines involved in the suit based on registration status. IIRC, all infringement suits are supposed to focus on loss of income ("damages"), with the US law originally written to target companies/individuals selling unauthorized copies, as they rarely gave the creator a share of the resulting proceeds.

      --
      Now mostly at Usenet:comp.misc & SoylentNews.org (it's made of people!)
    10. Re:Dear Anonymous by tepples · · Score: 3, Insightful

      Couldn't a photographer register copyright in an entire album of photos taken in a week or month or whatever?

    11. Re:Dear Anonymous by Kell+Bengal · · Score: 2

      Unlike those Spanish Inquisition guys - they surprise me every time!

      --
      Scientists point out problems, engineers fix them
      altslashdot.org: The future of slashdot.
    12. Re:Dear Anonymous by rtb61 · · Score: 3, Interesting

      It would seem you have the wrong idea about "Anonymous". Anyone can be "Anonymous", you can be "Anonymous". All that happens is you choose to do an act of protest and rather than doing it in your name, you do in under the banner of "Anonymous". Your choice of protest, what you are protesting and how you are protesting it, is entirely your own. Whether you choose to act on your own or in association with others is entirely you and their choice. Just remember to have fun while doing and take precautions. Safe protesting is like safe sex, taking precautions to prevent, diseases like government and corporate persecution twisted into corrupt prosecution (where the penalty is a "FAILED" extended court case but your are imprisoned for the duration anyhow).

      You want action, then you take action, either alone or in groups but please practice safe protesting.

      --
      Chaos - everything, everywhere, everywhen
  2. Thanks for the list by neo-mkrey · · Score: 5, Insightful

    I didn't know about half of those before.

  3. And all will have due process by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Insightful

    And all these sites will have due process rights and a day in court before any of thier sites or livelyhoods are ruined... Oh wait a minute....

  4. Re:what the flying fuck? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Insightful

    And, ah, yes, iTunes, AmazonMP3 are just terrible market failures that prove no one still pays for music.

  5. Re:what the flying fuck? by intermodal · · Score: 5, Interesting

    I'm glad the whip and buggy industries were not as organized as today's IP industries.

    Also, I find it insulting that Mr. Turkewitz considers shared music illegitimate by default. What music I have released, and most of my friends have released, was free and distribution was encouraged. In fact, my first release was on ocremix.org, where all the music is free and torrents of their content are an encouraged distribution method. I'm sure glad this RIAA shill has set us straight and made it clear how illegitimate our free community-minded distribution of our works is. Sure wouldn't want to encourage that kind of illegitimate "online music marketplace."

    --
    In SOVIET RUSSIA... erm...NSA AMERICA, the Internet logs onto YOU!
  6. Shutting down Virgin Media? by Aguazul2 · · Score: 2

    I thought for a moment this was going to be more interesting. "But you can't shut down our ISP, how will we connect to the internet?" "We don't care. Virgin Media has been used for copyright infringement and must be eliminated from the face of the earth. Our business model requires it, and we all know that the well-being of the music industry overrides all other concerns."

    1. Re:Shutting down Virgin Media? by suutar · · Score: 3, Interesting

      This brings to mind a persistent fantasy of mine: buying a substantial share of an RIAA member, and having them repudiate the RIAA and otherwise stop being evil, and watching the rest of the RIAA panic as they lose market share. The reason this comes to mind is that while I don't have the resources to do it, Richard Branson might...

  7. The RIAA can kiss my ass by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 2, Informative

    They stole from Canadian artists and are suing people who pirate albums from Canadian artists, against the will of said artists.

    1. Re:The RIAA can kiss my ass by HiThere · · Score: 3, Informative

      They steal from US artists, too. Never believe them when they say they're doing something for the sake of the artists. The artists never see any of that money (bar one or two out of a thousand or so). They drive more artists into debt than they make wealthy. And by debt I mean they get them to sign a contract allowing the company to promote the artist as they choose, and commiting the artist to pay for it, and when the promotion costs more than (by *their* accounting) they bring in, the send the artists a hefty bill. And every time they've been reviewed by an external auditor (it's rarely possible to force this) they've been found to be under counting the profits.

      You are, on the average, better off if you never sign anything they offer you. The exceptions occur, but they are so rare as to be an anomoly.

      --

      I think we've pushed this "anyone can grow up to be president" thing too far.
  8. Re:what the flying fuck? by intermodal · · Score: 5, Interesting

    oh, I'm no artist. I was a post-surgical kid on Vicodin with a demo version of Fruity Loops on Win98. But I have since taken up guitar, partially inspired by that experience.

    Music is not an industry. Music is practically a food group.

    --
    In SOVIET RUSSIA... erm...NSA AMERICA, the Internet logs onto YOU!
  9. Re:what the flying fuck? by jedidiah · · Score: 4, Insightful

    H1Bs are an underclass. That's the real problem with H1Bs.

    If someone is important enough and their skills important enough that you want to drag them half way across the planet then treat them like a real person and give them a green card or even instant citizenship.

    No republic should tolerate the creation of an underclass. It's a threat to the liberties of everyone. It's also ultimately bad for business since the bottom line is entangled with individual liberty.

    Also, the idea that corporations can poach talent from across the planet is also unequal. If they can do that then we should likewise be able to do the same (work where the cost of living is cheap).

    --
    A Pirate and a Puritan look the same on a balance sheet.
  10. Re:what the flying fuck? by MikeDataLink · · Score: 2

    Here's a glimpse into that alternate future.

    http://whyswords.files.wordpress.com/2009/12/horsecar.jpg

    --
    Mike @ The Geek Pub. Let's Make Stuff!
  11. Re:what the flying fuck? by X0563511 · · Score: 3, Funny

    Vaguely. I seem to remember lots of violence being the result, incidentally.

    --
    For large sets, this will be our guide even unto death, for the LORD will work for each type of data it is applied to...
  12. Re:Whew by X0563511 · · Score: 2

    If you'll kindly read the article, you'll find out that doesn't actually seem to matter to these clowns.

    --
    For large sets, this will be our guide even unto death, for the LORD will work for each type of data it is applied to...
  13. thanks for the list of 21 sites!! by themushroom · · Score: 2

    Yeah, that was nice, don't tell us what all is affected.
    (MP3Skull will be no big loss, never saw a downloadable file ever.)

    And I'm betting if KAT was on the list we'd hear about it.

  14. "This is not even my final form" by oic0 · · Score: 2

    The RIAA is actually the music industries final form. The only way for them to remain relevant is to become a law firm that litigates non stop.

  15. Re:what the flying fuck? by AmiMoJo · · Score: 4, Insightful

    Well, kinda. Music sales are way down, even including MP3s. What is booming is streaming. Most music is shit, or at least not worth 50p to own, so people just stream it instead of owning it. Streaming doesn't make as much money as sales.

    The other worrying thing is that apparently streaming and MP3 are good enough quality for most people. The music industry was rather hoping that there would be a market for higher quality than CD, in the form of SACD an DVD-Audio. It's their own fault really, modern music (even re-releases of old stuff) is so heavily compressed and distorted that there really isn't any point trying for higher quality recordings.

    Protip record labels, if you want to sell more discs. The last two I bought were re-issues of ones I already owned but properly mastered. The only people still buying your warez care about sound quality. Everyone else listens for free on YouTube or the radio.

    --
    const int one = 65536; (Silvermoon, Texture.cs)
    SJW, n: "Someone I don't like, and by the way I'm a fuckwit" - AC
  16. Re:what the flying fuck? by DigiShaman · · Score: 3, Informative

    I don't pirate online, but that's not to say my previous collection is from umm...dubious origins. In any event, I do stream music rather than listen to FM radio because it opens me up to whole genres of music I would otherwise not be exposed to short of making a random purchase of music. Which BTW was the norm back in the mid 90s's and prior. Back then if you wanted to hear music other than what was on radio rotation, you got exposed to music from other peoples collection (which was often limited), or close your eyes and pull an LP/CD/Cassette and random and hoped for the best. However today, I'm finding all sorts of obscure bands that range from absolute shit to pure genius-why-isn't-this-top-40 level of stuff. Eventually, I'll find something I like and will do one of two things. 1; find a used CD and purchase online or, 2; purchase music from iTunes. Come full circle now, I'm purchasing more music thanks to legitimate internet streaming than I've ever did before. As for the RIAA, they can go fuck themselves!!! They're not the sole arbiter of what music should and shouldn't be popular. I'm not fucking cattle!

    --
    Life is not for the lazy.
  17. Re:what the flying fuck? by Runaway1956 · · Score: 2

    You are obviously poorly educated, my friend. Let me help you with a basic concept. Any activity which fails to enrich either an American corporation, or the wealthiest 1%, or both, is by default "illegitimate". Your purpose in life is to help to amass more fortunes for those who already have more money than they can ever hope to spend. If you are not fulfilling that purpose, then you are illegitimate.

    Check your sarcasm meter - the above is sarcasm because I have posted it. Had a RIAA rep posted it, there would be no sarcasm at all - he would be 100% serious.

    --
    "Windows is like the faint smell of piss in a subway: it's there, and there's nothing you can do about it." - Charlie Br
  18. An opportunity! by Thanshin · · Score: 3, Insightful

    This is good news. The torrent server panorama was getting stale and complacent.

    Cheers to the new players! Live short and bright lives!