vpoko
Premium
join:2003-07-03
Jamaica Plain, MA
| reply to rstrandb
Re: Wow
said by rstrandb  :You act like they have no choice. If they are innocent then they can fight the lawsuit. The RIAA has proof that these people did wrong. It is up to these people to fight the lawsuit, it's not my problem. They're setting up a clearinghouse for settlements. I guarantee you, if you send out 1,000 bogus demands for payment and include some legal threats, some people will pay you to avoid going to trial even though they don't owe you. I have no problem with RIAA's tactics against the guilty if there are real consequences when they threaten the wrong person. |
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Jason Levine
Premium
join:2001-07-13
USA
| reply to rstrandb
said by rstrandb :You act like they have no choice. If they are innocent then they can fight the lawsuit. The RIAA has proof that these people did wrong. It is up to these people to fight the lawsuit, it's not my problem. Like I said in another post of mine, let's say that the RIAA comes by accusing me of copyright infringement. Now I know that I am innocent, but they're convinced that I'm guilty. No amount of proof that I offer to the contrary seems to satisfy them. (For example, the grandmother who was accused of sharing hip hop songs on Kazaa who owned a Mac... when Macs didn't run Kazaa.) Therefore, my only options are to either 1) take their settlement offer or 2) go forward with the lawsuit.
Going forward with a lawsuit isn't a trivial matter. It's not like I take one afternoon off, tell a judge "I didn't do it" and walk out a free man. It's a long, drawn out process involving a large commitment of time and money. Most ordinary people don't enough free time or money to fight a drawn out lawsuit. Especially when your opponent is the lawyer-rich RIAA.
So an ordinary person will be tempted to take the $2-3K settlement versus dealing with a lawsuit that could possibly bankrupt them even if they win. (Yes, they can counter-sue for legal fees, but that's another time/money commitment.)
The RIAA is actually quite shrewd about this. They know that most people will simple want the lawsuit to just go away (irrespective of innocence). They've priced their settlement offer to be more attractive than sinking time and money into a fight for your reputation. They know that guilty and innocent people alike will take the RIAA up on the offer. But they don't care. They only care about the number of "pirates" that they've gotten to settle so they can send out press releases proclaiming how they are taking "pirates" offline.
I don't deny that the RIAA should pursue pirates, but they should do all they can to minimize collateral damage. As it stands now, collateral damage means nothing to them. |
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loincloth
join:2001-03-29
Danville, CA
| reply to Qumahlin
said by Qumahlin :If you cut my hand off I don't get to cut your hand off, it doesn't work that way. Hence "two wrongs don't make a right"...in some countries the statement is untrue because they actually do see two wrongs being fair...you cut off my hand, I cut off your hand and everyone in happy. If a left-handed person cuts off the left hand of another left-handed person (wrong #1), and the victim reciprocates (wrong #2), then two wrongs makes two righties! |
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BIGPZ
@verio.net
| said by loincloth :If a left-handed person cuts off the left hand of another left-handed person (wrong #1), and the victim reciprocates (wrong #2), then two wrongs makes two righties! LOL. I would say that Right or Wrong acts have there own merit. But you have to ask yourself, do you want to reward wrong with wrong and potentially make things worse? |
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calvoiper
join:2003-03-31
Belvedere Tiburon, CA
| reply to Jason Levine
said by Jason Levine :...let's say that the RIAA comes by accusing me of copyright infringement. Now I know that I am innocent, but they're convinced that I'm guilty. No amount of proof that I offer to the contrary seems to satisfy them. ... Jason, my investigations have provided information that you are in debt to me for $1,000,000 for illegally profiting from my postings here on BBR. No amount of proof that you offer to the contrary will seem to satisfy me.
Please let me know immediately the exact steps I must take to "convince" you that you owe me $1,000,000 so that I can entice you to accept my settlement offer of only $50,000.
C'mon. Let's get real here. To be frank, I worry more about TV ads targeting senior citizens with claims they must "act immediately" to "preserve" their Social Security, Medicare, etc.
calvoiper
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VoIP--the death knell of remaining voice monopolies! |
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ooarashi
@ameritech.net | reply to Asmodeus
You watch too much Law & Order. |
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Jason Levine
Premium
join:2001-07-13
USA
| reply to calvoiper
said by calvoiper :Jason, my investigations have provided information that you are in debt to me for $1,000,000 for illegally profiting from my postings here on BBR. No amount of proof that you offer to the contrary will seem to satisfy me. Please let me know immediately the exact steps I must take to "convince" you that you owe me $1,000,000 so that I can entice you to accept my settlement offer of only $50,000. Well, the first thing you'll need to do is form a huge national organization backed by multinational organizations who collude to monopolize an entire industry. Next, you'll need to hire about 50 lawyers to form your own full-time lawyer army. Then we can talk. 
said by calvoiper :C'mon. Let's get real here. To be frank, I worry more about TV ads targeting senior citizens with claims they must "act immediately" to "preserve" their Social Security, Medicare, etc. Illegal scams targeting senior citizens are bad also. The RIAA doesn't conduct illegal scams. They stay just within the line of legality with their "Settlement Center Agreement Machination." |
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batterup
I Can Not Tell A Lie.
Premium
join:2003-02-06
Netcong, NJ
clubs:
 ·Verizon Online DSL
| said by Jason Levine :Illegal scams targeting senior citizens are bad also. The RIAA doesn't conduct illegal scams. They stay just within the line of legality with their "Settlement Center Agreement Machination." Well the RIAA, through their bought and paid for political hacks make the law.
If the Telephone were treated like a song no one could use or make a telephone with out paying Bell or his descendants until August 3, 1997. |
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Carson
@charter.com | reply to Asmodeus
Wow!! Well said |
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samrocks
Premium
join:2003-07-30
| reply to vpoko
University Email sent out to students
This is the email I got from my University.
I took out names of the people that sent it for privacy.
Students,
This important letter from Chief Information Officer.
applies to all students. I encourage you to read it carefully.
Thanks,
Director of ITSS
---
Dear student,
The Recording Industry of America (RIAA), an organization that
represents music copyright owners, is targeting students at
universities that it believes are illegally using peer-to-peer software
to share music files.
The RIAA has filed hundreds of lawsuits nationally against students the
past few years. Prior to filing a lawsuit, a subpoena is typically
presented to the owner of the network seeking the identity of a
specific network user. You should be aware that as the owner of the
University of Minnesota network, the University will comply with any
lawful subpoena and will provide the user's identity and any other
information sought.
In a Feb 28 press release, the RIAA has announced the launch of "a new
and strengthened campus anti-piracy initiative" and "a new process that
gives students the opportunity to avoid a formal lawsuit by settling
prior to a litigation being filed." The RIAA also announced that an
initial batch of 400 such letters were sent to students at universities
around the country. Although University of Minnesota students were not
among those listed in the initial group, the RIAA has stated its intent
to send several hundred such letters monthly. The University will
forward any such letters to the student the University believes to be
the user, based upon the information provided by the RIAA.
Illegal peer-to-peer file sharing of copyrighted works is a violation
of the University's Acceptable Use of Information Technology Resources
Policy. If you have downloaded file-sharing software from the Internet
to your computer for illegal peer-to-peer file sharing, please remove
it from your computer immediately. Please visit the links below to read
the RIAA press release, learn how to disable peer-to-peer filesharing
programs, and familiarize yourself with the University's Acceptable Use
of Technology Resources Policy.
Links:
RIAA press release: »www.riaa.com/news/newsletter/022807.asp
How to disable various peer-to-peer filesharing programs:
»security.uchicago.edu/guidelines···to-peer/
U of M Acceptable Use Policy:
»www.policy.umn.edu/groups/ppd/do···_Use.cfm
UMD ResNet Terms and Conditions
»www.d.umn.edu/itss/resnet/terms.html |
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