Thing is, no matter how they want to act like it, the RIAA is NOT a governmental agency, so they are not subject to the same rules as entrapment and so on, especially in a civil case. However, (and they seem to forget this) they are not given the same powers as a police agency. The RIAA are still civilians, though they think they are royalty.
unfortunately, the problem is that mp3s are not 'corporeal' so to speak...
If you leave a cd sitting in your car and someone comes by and takes it, that is theft. That is the fundamental differenece between music sharing and theft. With sharing, there is no physical media exchange. While on one side this really punches holes in the RIAA's arguments about sharing being shoplifting, it also allows different rules to be applied. If you have a file available for mass download on your computer, and you do not have it secured in some way, then they can nail you.
If you own the cd this might be beatable in court, but no-one has actually gone to court over this. Everyone has settled because no one can afford to have their entire lives ruined over this (as if the fines don't screw their lives up enough).
Sux when laws about technology are made by people that know jack about tech.
Actually, they are not going after the downloaders...
They are going after the people who are sharing, those who are actually broadcasting their list of files to others and allowing them to download. All the RIAA would have to do is begin to download a file, and follow the trail back to the offending PC. That is why they are going after the sharers... to go after the downloaders would require much more digging, and would probably violate some laws pertaining to wiretapping and trespassing (since wiretapping applies to government agencies, but trespassing applies to private citizens).
The RIAA announced today that it would settle out of court with little Brianna for the sum total of all her barbie dolls and accessories. Brianna is barred in the future of buying any music other than bubblegum pop (Backstreet Boys, N'SYNC, Brtiney, etc..) and at full MSRP.
'A spokesperson said: Children need to learn at a young age to capitulate to the corporation. This prevents future independent thought or action.'
I know that this has been said several times before me, but...
I would just like to say that I am quite impressed with the response drafted to this open letter. It is quite well written, with very little inflammatory language (which is often difficult to avoid), well thought out, and definitely well received.
My $.02
All this cryptography sounds cool and all, but will we even get to play with it? I mean, at first good ole Uncle Sammy had fits about the common man having high encryption, and it is still illegal to export it. With encryption as good as this quantum, would Uncle Sam even let us use it? I mean, if it really were unbreakable, then the UnPatriot act would be kinda limp...
I suppose that you have never used a Dell or a Compaq. Look at all the installed programs that come standard... 15 Dell****.exe programs and 26 Compaq/HP****.exe stuff. And they have autoupdaters...
Preinstalled spyware is alive and well and playing lichen on mass-built machines.
Welcome to the revolution.
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Thing is, no matter how they want to act like it, the RIAA is NOT a governmental agency, so they are not subject to the same rules as entrapment and so on, especially in a civil case. However, (and they seem to forget this) they are not given the same powers as a police agency. The RIAA are still civilians, though they think they are royalty.
More like robber barons.
unfortunately, the problem is that mp3s are not 'corporeal' so to speak...
If you leave a cd sitting in your car and someone comes by and takes it, that is theft. That is the fundamental differenece between music sharing and theft. With sharing, there is no physical media exchange. While on one side this really punches holes in the RIAA's arguments about sharing being shoplifting, it also allows different rules to be applied. If you have a file available for mass download on your computer, and you do not have it secured in some way, then they can nail you.
If you own the cd this might be beatable in court, but no-one has actually gone to court over this. Everyone has settled because no one can afford to have their entire lives ruined over this (as if the fines don't screw their lives up enough).
Sux when laws about technology are made by people that know jack about tech.
Actually, they are not going after the downloaders...
They are going after the people who are sharing, those who are actually broadcasting their list of files to others and allowing them to download. All the RIAA would have to do is begin to download a file, and follow the trail back to the offending PC. That is why they are going after the sharers... to go after the downloaders would require much more digging, and would probably violate some laws pertaining to wiretapping and trespassing (since wiretapping applies to government agencies, but trespassing applies to private citizens).
Actually, thanks to the DMCA, extortion IS legal in the US.
...This just in...
The RIAA announced today that it would settle out of court with little Brianna for the sum total of all her barbie dolls and accessories. Brianna is barred in the future of buying any music other than bubblegum pop (Backstreet Boys, N'SYNC, Brtiney, etc..) and at full MSRP.
'A spokesperson said: Children need to learn at a young age to capitulate to the corporation. This prevents future independent thought or action.'
I know that this has been said several times before me, but...
I would just like to say that I am quite impressed with the response drafted to this open letter. It is quite well written, with very little inflammatory language (which is often difficult to avoid), well thought out, and definitely well received.
Thank you for drafting it.
Bravo.
My $.02
All this cryptography sounds cool and all, but will we even get to play with it? I mean, at first good ole Uncle Sammy had fits about the common man having high encryption, and it is still illegal to export it. With encryption as good as this quantum, would Uncle Sam even let us use it? I mean, if it really were unbreakable, then the UnPatriot act would be kinda limp...
I suppose that you have never used a Dell or a Compaq. Look at all the installed programs that come standard... 15 Dell****.exe programs and 26 Compaq/HP****.exe stuff. And they have autoupdaters... Preinstalled spyware is alive and well and playing lichen on mass-built machines. Welcome to the revolution.