I think that the whole mp3 is a bit overblown, and all these cases have mainly been cooked up by a bunch of lawyers. But then again, without all these cases simmering, all the lawyers would go away, your economy would collapse and your country would fall into anarchy:-)
Seriously though, you can understand how they are running scared, if everybody had broadband (which will happen within the next 5 years) the process of pirating (or copying) a cd becomes so much easier. Its has never been (and will never be) possible to stop people copying something electronic for their friends. I suppose that by doing a few test cases, and convincing a few people to change the law, by the time the technology is readily available to everybody some laws might be in place to curtail the problems faced.
I think some of the focus needs to be shifted towards changing peoples attitudes, rather than this "you are stealing, you are breaking the law, you could go to jail" tactics by the RIAA. Advertising needs to be focused on persuading people to go buy the real thing - nobody really likes a tight ass and essentially that is what people are by not spending a few bucks on a CD. Personally, I tend to try a few things I might otherwise not hear on radio via mp3 (easy with a 5 station duopoly in Australia and only ½ of a station worth listening to), download a few tracks and then go out and buy it if I like it enough. Sure, I don't always do it and have my share of copied cds, but a lot of the time I do, and that is extra money for the record companies that they would not otherwise have. The other focus needs to be a shifting away from persecuting college/young people - they are the majority of ones that pirate but mostly because they can't afford it. As I get older (reaching mid-20's) I find that I am copying things less and less and going out and buying them. I think it's a natural progression, as you have more money you go out and buy things you might otherwise have just copied because you had no, or very little money.
Well here is Australia we have a similar problem, although thankfully I don't think they all use automatic machines like they do in the US. Fortunately my parents have kept their different surnames, so generally if they ask for "Mr and Mrs X", you know straight away who its going to be (either that or authority:-), so either way it's a good time to say "No" and hangup). Good tricks I've found can be:
1) "they were both killed in a car accident last week.... (pretend to be upset): who is this? you bastards" and then hang up. Not only do they feel really guilty (hey, it might even put them out of work due to emotional grounds), but guaranteed they won't call back
2) Ask them whether they know your first name (they won't)
3) Breathe heavily (that can freak them)
4) Ask _them_ whether they would be interested in buying your products (revenge!)
5) Use a large whistle and blow HARD (generally the phone system will top out the volume, but it doesn't sound too good with a headset).
6) Best of all if you have CallerId and they are stupid enough not to turn it off (often they work from home), call them between the hours of 12am and 6am and ask whether they want to buy your exciting range of... [whatever they rang you about].
7) Read them back their phone number if you have CallerID: say you work at a telephone company, tell them its really easy to find out where they live from their number and say that you're coming around tonight to sort them out/disconnect their phone for misuse/etc (evil but fun).
8) Read them back a b.s. fake law (they won't go to the trouble of looking it up) and tell them that if they don't disconnect in the next 5 seconds they will be fined $xxxx dollars (in an authoritarian voice).
9) Burp into the phone and then hang up (almost as good as spitting on them, but obviously you can't do that)
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I think that the whole mp3 is a bit overblown, and all these cases have mainly been cooked up by a bunch of lawyers. But then again, without all these cases simmering, all the lawyers would go away, your economy would collapse and your country would fall into anarchy :-)
Seriously though, you can understand how they are running scared, if everybody had broadband (which will happen within the next 5 years) the process of pirating (or copying) a cd becomes so much easier. Its has never been (and will never be) possible to stop people copying something electronic for their friends. I suppose that by doing a few test cases, and convincing a few people to change the law, by the time the technology is readily available to everybody some laws might be in place to curtail the problems faced.
I think some of the focus needs to be shifted towards changing peoples attitudes, rather than this "you are stealing, you are breaking the law, you could go to jail" tactics by the RIAA. Advertising needs to be focused on persuading people to go buy the real thing - nobody really likes a tight ass and essentially that is what people are by not spending a few bucks on a CD. Personally, I tend to try a few things I might otherwise not hear on radio via mp3 (easy with a 5 station duopoly in Australia and only ½ of a station worth listening to), download a few tracks and then go out and buy it if I like it enough. Sure, I don't always do it and have my share of copied cds, but a lot of the time I do, and that is extra money for the record companies that they would not otherwise have. The other focus needs to be a shifting away from persecuting college/young people - they are the majority of ones that pirate but mostly because they can't afford it. As I get older (reaching mid-20's) I find that I am copying things less and less and going out and buying them. I think it's a natural progression, as you have more money you go out and buy things you might otherwise have just copied because you had no, or very little money.
Well here is Australia we have a similar problem, although thankfully I don't think they all use automatic machines like they do in the US. Fortunately my parents have kept their different surnames, so generally if they ask for "Mr and Mrs X", you know straight away who its going to be (either that or authority :-), so either way it's a good time to say "No" and hangup). Good tricks I've found can be:
... [whatever they rang you about].
1) "they were both killed in a car accident last week.... (pretend to be upset): who is this? you bastards" and then hang up. Not only do they feel really guilty (hey, it might even put them out of work due to emotional grounds), but guaranteed they won't call back
2) Ask them whether they know your first name (they won't)
3) Breathe heavily (that can freak them)
4) Ask _them_ whether they would be interested in buying your products (revenge!)
5) Use a large whistle and blow HARD (generally the phone system will top out the volume, but it doesn't sound too good with a headset).
6) Best of all if you have CallerId and they are stupid enough not to turn it off (often they work from home), call them between the hours of 12am and 6am and ask whether they want to buy your exciting range of
7) Read them back their phone number if you have CallerID: say you work at a telephone company, tell them its really easy to find out where they live from their number and say that you're coming around tonight to sort them out/disconnect their phone for misuse/etc (evil but fun).
8) Read them back a b.s. fake law (they won't go to the trouble of looking it up) and tell them that if they don't disconnect in the next 5 seconds they will be fined $xxxx dollars (in an authoritarian voice).
9) Burp into the phone and then hang up (almost as good as spitting on them, but obviously you can't do that)