Has anyone ever considered Jury Nullification to get folks to simply declare the concept of intellectual property and perpetual copyright invalid? If most folks agree (and I don't know if they do or not) that the law is broken, isn't the judge obliged to agree?
Jury Nullification is a refusal to convict in a criminal case which is clearly against the evidence and the law.
It has no relevance to a civil case. Verdicts can be set asside. Double Jeopardy does not apply.
9) How does the RIAA show that the music you have on your computer are not backup mp3 files from CDs that were destroyed or lost by you?
- Dunno that one... Obviously if you have like 5000 mp3's, they might ask that you prove you had the finacial means to buy that many CD's
The RIAA tracks the movement of files on and off the P2P nets. You'll be nailed when the traffic reaches a critical mass. They won't know and they won't care if you have been looking for a free replacement file after a fire.
Are there any precedents in history of any industry doing anything like this before?
Performance rights agencies like ASCAP and BMI have been around since the nickelodeon days. The identification of copyright infringement with piracy was current when the Black Flsg was still flying across the Carribbean.
There is nothing new ain any of this except the fact that the necessary technology and skills have become accessible to individuals with moderate incomes and flexible ethics.
But would you happen to be able to post the names, phone numbers and home mailing addresses of your colleagues that work for the RIAA? Don't be shy about telling us which one has won the most cases against low income citizens.
Does the word "disbarment" ring a bell?
But let's be honest here. It would be a damn short list. To be a significant uploader or downloader you will have a midline PC or better and broadband service. You will be middle class. You just might be among the technocratic elite posting to Slashdot.
The truth, of course, is that cases aren't won, they are settled.
You can probably find among the thousands of pending cases and settlements another poster child for the EFF. But these can quickly wrung out of the system when they become an incovenience.
There are so many variables (no pun intended) involved when you're trying to "prove" that an individual is guilty of downloading/seeding mp3s via the internet.
Innocent or guilty has no meaning in a civil case. There is simply a finding of fact for the plaintiff or defendent. You don't have to be certain, you only have to be reasonable.
This is where the Slashdot defense of "plausible deniability" will let you down. On deep instinct, a judge and jury will trust the simpler explanation.
Is there anyway to ask a judge to throw out cases when the RIAA's lawsuits become unbelievably ridiculous?
Of course you can ask a judge to throw out a case, but an ordinary civil action is simply an assessment of financial responsibility under a particular set of circumstances.
You win some, you lose some. You almost never get the opportunity to make new law.
I mean, who is going to chase after these lawsuits and counter sue?
The federal courts deal only with "cases and controversies."
Meaning, simply, that they are fundamentally hostile to ambulance chasers, to lawsuits that are purpose-built to reshape constitutional law, the rules of evidence, and so on.
Issues are framed as narrowly as possible. Decisions are made as narrowly is possible.
Could there be an epic counter suit that would make the RIAA stop with law suits?
The short answer is "no." If unlicensed uploads or downloads can be plausibly traced to your account that is pretty much The End in a civil action.
And other than the obvious "don't share or copy music" what can we do lessen the risk of having a lawsuit filed against us if we do decide to take part in p2p file sharing? Are there certain 'activities' that are more 'dangerous' than others?
Don't upload anything you don't have a license to re-distribute. It is efficient and economical to target the uploader.
If you can't resist the temptation, lower your profile, try not to be greedy.
You don't have to be the one caught with a screener of Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince.
With 300 GB of mp3 and DiVX rips you are cruising for a bruising. In a recent case in Oregon 400 C&W downloaded tracks=$4500 in settlement costs. Twenty-five years of a premium rental service like Rhapsody.
You still want to be a distributer? Find a legitimate outlet. Shoutcast. Live365. Let someone else worry about who is recording your streams.
Out of curiosity, if I was sued by the RIAA (falsely or not), how much would it end up costing me to defend myself?
You won't understand procedure. You won't understand the law.
You must get all the paperwork correct and submitted on time. No exceptions, no excuses. You must make your scheduled appearances in court, The case will dominate your life for the next three to five years.
You will enter the arena with no experience in jury selection. Obtaining witnessess. How to present evidence, build a defense. No experience in the art of examination and cross-examination. Argument before a judge and jury.
You will look the perfect fool, waste everyone's time, and that won't be forgotten or forgiven.
If it got that bad, I'd probably stop working and play stay-at-home dad. They'd be getting no blood from this turnip. Until they reinstituted debtor prisons, they couldn't touch me so long as I wasn't married. In Ohio we have a very strict definition of marriage, so the RIAA couldn't try to get money from my girlfriend
Your girl friend may want to talk to a lawyer about her exposure under federal civil and criminal law. Living arrangements that appear to have been constructed to avoid a legal judgement can get you into no end of trouble.
The judegement isn't going away. Negotiate a realistic payment schedule and get on with your life,
Could an album of multiple songs be considered a single work? Thereby, even if 10 songs are infringed, as long as the album is reproduced completely, one is liable for a single infringement (not 10).
Are you assuming that the rights to each track are owned by a single entity? Performance by X. Lyrics by Y. Music by Z.
The reality is that you will probably have uploaded or downloaded the files as individual tracks. You are not likely to get far arguing in court that they can be reassembled into a facsimile of a particular alblum.
As others have said, Chapter 7 bankruptcy is a sure thing.
"All debts are wiped out in Chapter 7 bankruptcy."
You wish. Certain types of debts cannot be discharged (erased). They include child support, alimony, government-issued or government-guaranteed student loans, and debts incurred as the result of fraud. It's also very unlikely that a judge will discharge legal settlements you've been assessed, such as money you've been ordered to pay to someone who sued you.12 myths about bankruptcy
If Wikipedia is right and by the end of 2006 only ten percent of American's TVs are expected to be HDTVs, wouldn't it be wiser to switch those numbers around
The HD market is big and getting bigger:
The transition from analog to digital broadcasting has triggered a surge in demand for TVs capable of providing the highest-quality picture. Sales of HDTV sets are expected to reach $37 billion in 2010, up from an estimated $24 billion this year, according to DisplaySearch, an industry research firm based in Texas.Maker of HDTVs Aims for Big Time
In June, an NPD survey of major retailers found that 41 percent of all TVs sold in the United States were HDTVs, compared with 25 percent a year ago. (NPD, a research firm that tracks sales of technology products, owns DisplaySearch, a research company specializing in all aspects of the display industry.) The HDTV Juggernaut Gathers Steam
I find myself just wanting to ignore the whole thing.
TIME magazine estimated that HD is in 20% of American households.
Color tv had its American debut in 1954. It took more than ten years for color to become mass market. HD made it in five.
But HD is more than video. It is wide screen projection, large screen projection, multichannel digital sound, new display technologies, etc. Not to mention the next-gen console, the HD-PVR.
this thing about 32bit vista not being able to produce true HD resolution with movies.... is that some kind of joke?
32 bit Vista will handle HD just fine. But the action will be in third party players, at least until the studios get their act together.
For gods sake.. can't I just use bluray to back-up my files? I don't care about movies.
Sure you can. If you can take the sticker-shock when you see the pricve tag. You want cheap back up? Buy another HDD.
I need to see a 35 year old movie in high def because....?
John Ford's The Searchers (1958) is in HD-DVD release. $20 at Amazon.com. This is as close as you ever likely to get to seeing this magnificient film in pristine theatrical-quality projection.
While I hate thieves more than most, it is quite maddening and ironic that we put software pirates away for longer than we do child rapists. The courts tend to favor the rights and property of corporations over that of human lives. It's deplorable.
Rape is almost never prosecuted in the federal courts.
Economic crimes that impact interstate commerce are prosecuted frequently in the federal courts. The Feds have never taken economic crimes lightly.
However, the chances are excellent that when on the rare - very rare - occassions when a rapist enters the federak system he is going to do some very hard time.
You want equity? Talk to your state assemblyman, senator or governor.
Isn't 7 years a bit long in comparison to more serious crimes of violence and fraud? Perhaps 7 years is average for a fraud conviction, but I don't understand why rapists [in Canada at least] get about 5 year sentences, mercy killers [Robert Latimer] 10 years, and serial killers [Karla Holmolka] gets 9 years. Where is the equity?
In the American system crimes of violence are almost always prosecuted at the state and local level. Prisons are crowded, courts are stressed, and there is pressure to cut a deal. When the Feds do claim jurisdiction the gloves come off.
I agree, its one thing to steal a copy of windows(or whatever frequently pirated program you desire) for your own use(and half of your neighborhood as well), but a completely different thing to sell it to other people.
Let's just say you are the guy I don't want to see drooling over my newly restored '56 Chevy.
This argument makes me laugh particularly when it comes to so-called 'next gen' games - PC's have run at alot higher resolutions than the supposed 'HD' formats allow. Yet, the marketing machine continues to push the fact that supposedly these 'hd' consoles will give us a better gaming experience. No thanx.
Console gaming is all about the social gaming experience. You aren't hunched over a monitor. You are on the couch with your buddies showing off that 60" plasma TV. That is what sells HD to the gamer.
What I don't understand is why they didn't use a more industry developed and supported codec like one of the MPEG-4 ones, ie H.264. Isn't it known to be better than VC-1?
"The main goal of VC-1 development and standardization is to support the compression of interlaced content without first converting it to progressive, making it more attractive to broadcast and video industry professionals.VC-1
Your 1080i master for broadcast is your 1080i master for the HD-DVD.
Gaming is the last area of computing where Microsoft enjoys total dominance. Removing this advantage will help level the playing field considerably for Linux.
Gaming is the perfect example of Microsoft's advantage as the prime mover.
There is a twenty-five year backlist of MSDOS and Windows titles. With a little patience you can build a fine collection at bargain bin prices. There are games like Starcraft which never go out of print.
You can also hold out for the ultimate Vista rig with next-gen DX10 video and audio. Widows continues to drive hardware development for the gamer and Linux plays catch-up.
For the developer there is the added incentive of placement in big box retail, Microsoft's big bucks advertising campaign to promote Windows gaming, a common SDK for Windowes and the X-Box, etc., etc.
This paper has already been demonstrated as false. Just look at the marketshare of Windows webservers vs. Linux. Guess who started out first? Guess who's second now?
It is has become easy and economical to move from Unix to Linux in what has always been a Unix environment. But what about the markets which emerged after the PC came to dominate the desktop?
However while there is OSS software that's trying to make money, a lot of it does not. Even in the darkest post-OS/2 days when Windows was completely dominating Linux evolved in a market that was essentially dead. That kind of development can't be stopped.
How much time, money, and talent has Sun poured into OpenOffice.org?
When Big Daddy quits the game, what then? How many of FOSS's marquee projects depend on deep-pocket corporate funding? How many live from day-to-day?
Then the kids start getting used to it (from home, school and most important, friends) and the adoption to linux REALLY hits, because no household will pay $$$ for an operating system if they know one that's usable for free. Not to mention the applications.
Home users are not system builders. OEM Windows adds nothing significant to the price of a mass-market PC.
Linux programs are routinely ported to Windows or begin as native Windows apps, and, to be blunt, there is little that is unique, compelling or essential to the home or SOHO user.
The PC market is middle-class.
Free-as-in-Beer is simply not that big a draw when a mature app like Paint Shop Pro lists for $90 and is frequently discounted.
What is it about Windows that makes people dumber? That makes them PAY for the "user experience" of viruses, computers that get so loaded-down with spyware adware viruses trojans antivirus scanners anti-spam etc? Oh, right... its the "a fool and his money are soon parted" meme.
Hi, fool.
It is a twenty-five year dominance in markets that put the MSDOS and Windows PC on hundreds of millions of home and office desktops and shoved the *nix based server into a back-office closet.
Slashdot Mirror
Jury Nullification is a refusal to convict in a criminal case which is clearly against the evidence and the law.
It has no relevance to a civil case. Verdicts can be set asside. Double Jeopardy does not apply.
- Dunno that one... Obviously if you have like 5000 mp3's, they might ask that you prove you had the finacial means to buy that many CD's
The RIAA tracks the movement of files on and off the P2P nets. You'll be nailed when the traffic reaches a critical mass. They won't know and they won't care if you have been looking for a free replacement file after a fire.
Your legal recovery is through your insurance.
Performance rights agencies like ASCAP and BMI have been around since the nickelodeon days. The identification of copyright infringement with piracy was current when the Black Flsg was still flying across the Carribbean.
There is nothing new ain any of this except the fact that the necessary technology and skills have become accessible to individuals with moderate incomes and flexible ethics.
Sigh.
Differences between Civil and Criminal Law in the USA
Does the word "disbarment" ring a bell?
But let's be honest here. It would be a damn short list. To be a significant uploader or downloader you will have a midline PC or better and broadband service. You will be middle class. You just might be among the technocratic elite posting to Slashdot.
The truth, of course, is that cases aren't won, they are settled.
You can probably find among the thousands of pending cases and settlements another poster child for the EFF. But these can quickly wrung out of the system when they become an incovenience.
Innocent or guilty has no meaning in a civil case. There is simply a finding of fact for the plaintiff or defendent. You don't have to be certain, you only have to be reasonable.
This is where the Slashdot defense of "plausible deniability" will let you down. On deep instinct, a judge and jury will trust the simpler explanation.
Occam's Razor.
Of course you can ask a judge to throw out a case, but an ordinary civil action is simply an assessment of financial responsibility under a particular set of circumstances.
You win some, you lose some. You almost never get the opportunity to make new law.
I mean, who is going to chase after these lawsuits and counter sue?
The federal courts deal only with "cases and controversies."
Meaning, simply, that they are fundamentally hostile to ambulance chasers, to lawsuits that are purpose-built to reshape constitutional law, the rules of evidence, and so on.
Issues are framed as narrowly as possible. Decisions are made as narrowly is possible.
Could there be an epic counter suit that would make the RIAA stop with law suits?
The short answer is "no." If unlicensed uploads or downloads can be plausibly traced to your account that is pretty much The End in a civil action.
Don't upload anything you don't have a license to re-distribute. It is efficient and economical to target the uploader.
If you can't resist the temptation, lower your profile, try not to be greedy.
You don't have to be the one caught with a screener of Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince.
With 300 GB of mp3 and DiVX rips you are cruising for a bruising. In a recent case in Oregon 400 C&W downloaded tracks=$4500 in settlement costs. Twenty-five years of a premium rental service like Rhapsody.
You still want to be a distributer? Find a legitimate outlet. Shoutcast. Live365. Let someone else worry about who is recording your streams.
You won't understand procedure. You won't understand the law.
You must get all the paperwork correct and submitted on time. No exceptions, no excuses. You must make your scheduled appearances in court, The case will dominate your life for the next three to five years.
You will enter the arena with no experience in jury selection. Obtaining witnessess. How to present evidence, build a defense. No experience in the art of examination and cross-examination. Argument before a judge and jury.
You will look the perfect fool, waste everyone's time, and that won't be forgotten or forgiven.
Your girl friend may want to talk to a lawyer about her exposure under federal civil and criminal law. Living arrangements that appear to have been constructed to avoid a legal judgement can get you into no end of trouble.
The judegement isn't going away. Negotiate a realistic payment schedule and get on with your life,
Are you assuming that the rights to each track are owned by a single entity? Performance by X. Lyrics by Y. Music by Z.
The reality is that you will probably have uploaded or downloaded the files as individual tracks. You are not likely to get far arguing in court that they can be reassembled into a facsimile of a particular alblum.
"All debts are wiped out in Chapter 7 bankruptcy."
You wish. Certain types of debts cannot be discharged (erased). They include child support, alimony, government-issued or government-guaranteed student loans, and debts incurred as the result of fraud. It's also very unlikely that a judge will discharge legal settlements you've been assessed, such as money you've been ordered to pay to someone who sued you. 12 myths about bankruptcy
Changes in the law have made liquidation under Chapter 7 much more difficult: Bankruptcy filings fall to lowest level in 5 years
The HD market is big and getting bigger:
The transition from analog to digital broadcasting has triggered a surge in demand for TVs capable of providing the highest-quality picture. Sales of HDTV sets are expected to reach $37 billion in 2010, up from an estimated $24 billion this year, according to DisplaySearch, an industry research firm based in Texas. Maker of HDTVs Aims for Big Time
In June, an NPD survey of major retailers found that 41 percent of all TVs sold in the United States were HDTVs, compared with 25 percent a year ago. (NPD, a research firm that tracks sales of technology products, owns DisplaySearch, a research company specializing in all aspects of the display industry.) The HDTV Juggernaut Gathers Steam
TIME magazine estimated that HD is in 20% of American households.
Color tv had its American debut in 1954. It took more than ten years for color to become mass market. HD made it in five.
But HD is more than video. It is wide screen projection, large screen projection, multichannel digital sound, new display technologies, etc. Not to mention the next-gen console, the HD-PVR.
this thing about 32bit vista not being able to produce true HD resolution with movies.... is that some kind of joke?
32 bit Vista will handle HD just fine. But the action will be in third party players, at least until the studios get their act together.
For gods sake.. can't I just use bluray to back-up my files? I don't care about movies.
Sure you can. If you can take the sticker-shock when you see the pricve tag. You want cheap back up? Buy another HDD.
John Ford's The Searchers (1958) is in HD-DVD release. $20 at Amazon.com. This is as close as you ever likely to get to seeing this magnificient film in pristine theatrical-quality projection.
Rape is almost never prosecuted in the federal courts.
Economic crimes that impact interstate commerce are prosecuted frequently in the federal courts. The Feds have never taken economic crimes lightly.
However, the chances are excellent that when on the rare - very rare - occassions when a rapist enters the federak system he is going to do some very hard time.
You want equity? Talk to your state assemblyman, senator or governor.
In the American system crimes of violence are almost always prosecuted at the state and local level. Prisons are crowded, courts are stressed, and there is pressure to cut a deal. When the Feds do claim jurisdiction the gloves come off.
Let's just say you are the guy I don't want to see drooling over my newly restored '56 Chevy.
Console gaming is all about the social gaming experience. You aren't hunched over a monitor. You are on the couch with your buddies showing off that 60" plasma TV. That is what sells HD to the gamer.
"The main goal of VC-1 development and standardization is to support the compression of interlaced content without first converting it to progressive, making it more attractive to broadcast and video industry professionals. VC-1
Your 1080i master for broadcast is your 1080i master for the HD-DVD.
Gaming is the perfect example of Microsoft's advantage as the prime mover.
There is a twenty-five year backlist of MSDOS and Windows titles. With a little patience you can build a fine collection at bargain bin prices. There are games like Starcraft which never go out of print.
You can also hold out for the ultimate Vista rig with next-gen DX10 video and audio. Widows continues to drive hardware development for the gamer and Linux plays catch-up.
For the developer there is the added incentive of placement in big box retail, Microsoft's big bucks advertising campaign to promote Windows gaming, a common SDK for Windowes and the X-Box, etc., etc.
It is has become easy and economical to move from Unix to Linux in what has always been a Unix environment. But what about the markets which emerged after the PC came to dominate the desktop?
How much time, money, and talent has Sun poured into OpenOffice.org?
When Big Daddy quits the game, what then? How many of FOSS's marquee projects depend on deep-pocket corporate funding? How many live from day-to-day?
Home users are not system builders. OEM Windows adds nothing significant to the price of a mass-market PC.
Linux programs are routinely ported to Windows or begin as native Windows apps, and, to be blunt, there is little that is unique, compelling or essential to the home or SOHO user.
The PC market is middle-class.
Free-as-in-Beer is simply not that big a draw when a mature app like Paint Shop Pro lists for $90 and is frequently discounted.
Hi, fool.
It is a twenty-five year dominance in markets that put the MSDOS and Windows PC on hundreds of millions of home and office desktops and shoved the *nix based server into a back-office closet.