That, and strong is the money at Harvard. Even stronger, the privilege of those who attend. They have all the resources to take the RIAA's campaign down. No wonder why they avoid them. Explain, then, why the RIAA is not similarly afraid of the other 7 Ivy schools!
Is the money and privilege less strong at Yale and Princeton than at Harvard? Has not a single one of the RIAA's Winged Monkey Corps graduated from the highly-ranked law schools at Columbia and Pennsylvania? Of course you are right, and those who are guessing it is because of wealth or power are dead wrong. All 8 of the schools have wealth and power. The reason is that law school professors at Harvard have indicated an intention of fighting back if the RIAA comes knocking.
It's a smart move not to sue someone who is willing to fight back when you have little to no case. Yes of course it's a smart move. The RIAA has never sued ANY college or university, because they know if they did they would have a fight on their hands.
The majority of the cases result in uncollectible default judgments. In roughly 20 to 25% of the cases, the defendant has paid the RIAA's extortionate settlement demand. In probably less than 5% of the cases, the people are fighting back.
Keep on being well informed abut the important issues, and you'll be making an important contribution.
Re:An Open Letter to Dorks and Losers
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RIAA Afraid of Harvard
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· Score: 3, Interesting
I enjoyed your most persuasively written post, although perhaps not as much as the RIAA's lawyers did. However, I can assure you that my rules regarding bullies are not "myths" but rules drawn from intensive personal experience on the streets of South Ozone Park, Queens.
I am sure even you will agree that
1. Appeasement would never deter a bully. 2. A 'dork' or 'loser', or apparent dork or loser, standing up to a bully, enjoys the element of surprise. 3. Courage is a measure of internal fortitude and heart, not a measure of physical prowess. 4. Throughout history, there have been many instances in which courage carried the day against physically superior force.
As to any suggestion that the RIAA lawyers, who likely occupy leadership positions within your organization, will prevail... we shall see, we shall see.
With all due respect to the fine work carried on by your organization, I must reiterate; all bullies are cowards. I call upon your members to follow the lead of Darth Vader, and abandon the ways of the Dark Side.
Surely there is something in the system that attempts to limit repeated abuse/harassment? Some kind of provision for those who cry wolf and tie the courts up. If not there sure ought to be. There is.
The strategy of the scavenger, the coward and the bully. The only effective response is to make sure there are no easy targets, even if that means representing the most vulnerable pro bono or establishing some kind of legal defense fund. Agreed. Here are 3 recommended places: Expert Witness Defense Fund (For technical expert witnesses, technical consultants, and computer forensic examiners); Marie Lindor Legal Defense Fund (For defense of UMG v. Lindor); Jammie Thomas Legal Defense Fund (For defense of Capitol v. Thomas).
Re:Actually, they're suing 7/8 of the Ivy League.
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RIAA Afraid of Harvard
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· Score: 3, Interesting
It's not like they're only suing a bunch of 2-year community colleges. They've never sued any university or college.
If they sued a university or college, they'd have a fight on their hand... which is what the RIAA assiduously avoids.
I dare not pretend that I understand all the ins and outs of colleges and law but it would appear to me that more then just Harvard can get away from being targetted. If all colleges and universities were to stand united, perhaps law schools providing the legal front, against the RIAA and develope a system or group that is designed to protect students from this type of thing then maybe all these cases would drop. I'm just a junior in High School, when I go to college I dont want to have these types of issues to deal with. Instead of the universities giving in they should stand together and provide eachother with support. Surely there is strength in numbers. JaQuinton, you may be a junior in high school, but the colleges to which you're applying could learn a thing or two from you.
This article is incorrect. Only 6 out of 8 Ivy League schools were targeted. The author seems to have mistaken Duke for Cornell. You are absolutely right, I stand corrected. Duke was incorrectly included. The Ivy League schools targeted in this round were Brown, Columbia, Dartmouth, Princeton, Penn, and Yale. Cornell was targeted in September.
the RIAA, MPAA, and MAFIAA can basically sue you on the sole premise that the files are available on your computer, meaning your IP address, which would be most easily accessible by the tracker. Not legally they can't.
From what I have seen, more than 50% of the defendants are people who did not do the allegedly infringing filesharing. I have one client who has never even used a computer. And many who have never even heard of, let alone engaged in, filesharing.
Yes but in my life experience I have not found a correlation, but rather an inverse relationship, between "intestinal fortitude" and "capacity for cruelty". And I think this story supports my theory: All bullies are cowards.
If you're aware of their doctored non-evidence, their misstatements of fact, their misstatements of law, their abuse of the federal judicial system, and their inappropriate tactics Sorry, I honestly was not aware that they doctored evidence and lied in court. Do you have any relevant links that give examples of their treachery? Sounds like a good Sunday afternoon read to me;-)
However, I still stand by my statement that calling the RIAA a coward for not suing Harvard is like calling me a coward because I won't pick a fight with Bas Ruten. I could spend the next 2 days giving you examples; my blog is replete with examples. Here are just a few.
Here they were caught in a lie to the Judge; here the Judge figured out that they were lying about an "emergency" need to file their cases WITHOUT NOTICE to the other side; here we discuss the fact that even though their expert witness has admitted that their investigator did not "detect" an individual, the RIAA's lawyers continue to sign false court papers stating to the Court that their investigator "detected an individual"; here's a recent pack of those lies which they submitted, in an undefended case, where the Judge realized that their first presentation of evidence didn't point to an infringement by the defendant; here's that Judge, and here's the State Attorney General of Oregon, catching them in those lies; and here's the junk science put forth by their 'expert', whose real 'expertise' is getting LAN operators to fork over $76,000 at a time in protection money in order to make the RIAA and him go away.
The submitter of the story is Charles Nesson, who is Professor of Law at Harvard Law School. See also Wikipedia. I'm not sure if you're confused or just being a karma whore with the links, but no, the submitter of the story is not Charles Nesson. It would appear to be Ray Beckerman. Or better still, Ray Beckerman. Guilty as charged.
Well you're challenging the entire premise of my story, and I heartily disagree with you. These guys pick on defenseless people. That doesn't take anything except cowardice.
f you're a laywer for the RIAA, you are not paid to be brave. You are paid to further the agenda of the recording industry. If they believe suing Harvard students would hinder rather than help their cause, well is that really being "cowardly" or is it being smart? Would suing Harvard be "brave" or would it be counterproductive to their goals?
I'm as disgusted with the RIAA's tactics as anyone, but this childish name calling is getting old. It seems like every day on the front page of Slashdot is some article title with an overblown ad hominem attack against persons, groups or companies that rub us the wrong way. C'mon, people. We're smart, educated and savvy, do we really need to stoop to this? If you'd spent as much time as I have interacting with the people who are the victims of this litigation madness, I think you'd have a different take on it. This is really a very nasty campaign being run by some very nasty people. And the vast majority of its victims are defenseless people who don't deserve the anguish they are being put through.
And the tactics the RIAA lawyers use are inexcusable.
I've been in the litigation field for 34 years, and I've never seen anything like them.
Question. You say "I'm as disgusted with the RIAA's tactics as anyone". If you're aware of their doctored non-evidence, their misstatements of fact, their misstatements of law, their abuse of the federal judicial system, and their inappropriate tactics... are you suggesting something like that is not "stuff that matters" or "news for nerds"?
Slashdot Mirror
The majority of the cases result in uncollectible default judgments. In roughly 20 to 25% of the cases, the defendant has paid the RIAA's extortionate settlement demand. In probably less than 5% of the cases, the people are fighting back.
Keep on being well informed abut the important issues, and you'll be making an important contribution.
I enjoyed your most persuasively written post, although perhaps not as much as the RIAA's lawyers did. However, I can assure you that my rules regarding bullies are not "myths" but rules drawn from intensive personal experience on the streets of South Ozone Park, Queens.
I am sure even you will agree that
1. Appeasement would never deter a bully.
2. A 'dork' or 'loser', or apparent dork or loser, standing up to a bully, enjoys the element of surprise.
3. Courage is a measure of internal fortitude and heart, not a measure of physical prowess.
4. Throughout history, there have been many instances in which courage carried the day against physically superior force.
As to any suggestion that the RIAA lawyers, who likely occupy leadership positions within your organization, will prevail... we shall see, we shall see.
With all due respect to the fine work carried on by your organization, I must reiterate; all bullies are cowards. I call upon your members to follow the lead of Darth Vader, and abandon the ways of the Dark Side.
Out of about 30,000 cases, one has gone to trial. And you're drawing a generalization from that single verdict?
PS That case isn't over yet.
Expert Witness Defense Fund (For technical expert witnesses, technical consultants, and computer forensic examiners);
Marie Lindor Legal Defense Fund (For defense of UMG v. Lindor);
Jammie Thomas Legal Defense Fund (For defense of Capitol v. Thomas).
If they sued a university or college, they'd have a fight on their hand... which is what the RIAA assiduously avoids.
From what I have seen, more than 50% of the defendants are people who did not do the allegedly infringing filesharing. I have one client who has never even used a computer. And many who have never even heard of, let alone engaged in, filesharing.
They may be 'stupid', 'insensitive', 'mean', 'cruel'. That is not 'ballsy'. Ballsy is those few people who have stood up these ghouls.
Yes but in my life experience I have not found a correlation, but rather an inverse relationship, between "intestinal fortitude" and "capacity for cruelty". And I think this story supports my theory: All bullies are cowards.
Here they were caught in a lie to the Judge; here the Judge figured out that they were lying about an "emergency" need to file their cases WITHOUT NOTICE to the other side; here we discuss the fact that even though their expert witness has admitted that their investigator did not "detect" an individual, the RIAA's lawyers continue to sign false court papers stating to the Court that their investigator "detected an individual"; here's a recent pack of those lies which they submitted, in an undefended case, where the Judge realized that their first presentation of evidence didn't point to an infringement by the defendant; here's that Judge, and here's the State Attorney General of Oregon, catching them in those lies; and here's the junk science put forth by their 'expert', whose real 'expertise' is getting LAN operators to fork over $76,000 at a time in protection money in order to make the RIAA and him go away.
Well you're challenging the entire premise of my story, and I heartily disagree with you. These guys pick on defenseless people. That doesn't take anything except cowardice.
No, the "epitome of bravery" is being an Anonymous Coward who snipes at people with lies and inane comments.
And the tactics the RIAA lawyers use are inexcusable.
I've been in the litigation field for 34 years, and I've never seen anything like them.
Question. You say "I'm as disgusted with the RIAA's tactics as anyone". If you're aware of their doctored non-evidence, their misstatements of fact, their misstatements of law, their abuse of the federal judicial system, and their inappropriate tactics... are you suggesting something like that is not "stuff that matters" or "news for nerds"?
of sources for non-RIAA music here in the sidebar of my blog, under the heading "Liberated Music".