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RIAA = Music Police
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BadKosh
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Dec 31, 2007, 11:28 AM
 
washingtonpost.com - nation, world, technology and Washington area news and headlines

Despite more than 20,000 lawsuits filed against music fans in the years since they started finding free tunes online rather than buying CDs from record companies, the recording industry has utterly failed to halt the decline of the record album or the rise of digital music sharing.

Still, hardly a month goes by without a news release from the industry's lobby, the Recording Industry Association of America, touting a new wave of letters to college students and others demanding a settlement payment and threatening a legal battle.

Now, in an unusual case in which an Arizona recipient of an RIAA letter has fought back in court rather than write a check to avoid hefty legal fees, the industry is taking its argument against music sharing one step further: In legal documents in its federal case against Jeffrey Howell, a Scottsdale, Ariz., man who kept a collection of about 2,000 music recordings on his personal computer, the industry maintains that it is illegal for someone who has legally purchased a CD to transfer that music into his computer.

The industry's lawyer in the case, Ira Schwartz, argues in a brief filed earlier this month that the MP3 files Howell made on his computer from legally bought CDs are "unauthorized copies" of copyrighted recordings.

"I couldn't believe it when I read that," says Ray Beckerman, a New York lawyer who represents six clients who have been sued by the RIAA. "The basic principle in the law is that you have to distribute actual physical copies to be guilty of violating copyright. But recently, the industry has been going around saying that even a personal copy on your computer is a violation."

RIAA's hard-line position seems clear. Its Web site says: "If you make unauthorized copies of copyrighted music recordings, you're stealing. You're breaking the law and you could be held legally liable for thousands of dollars in damages."
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They're not kidding. In October, after a trial in Minnesota -- the first time the industry has made its case before a federal jury -- Jammie Thomas was ordered to pay $220,000 to the big record companies. That's $9,250 for each of 24 songs she was accused of sharing online.

Whether customers may copy their CDs onto their computers -- an act at the very heart of the digital revolution -- has a murky legal foundation, the RIAA argues. The industry's own Web site says that making a personal copy of a CD that you bought legitimately may not be a legal right, but it "won't usually raise concerns," as long as you don't give away the music or lend it to anyone.

Of course, that's exactly what millions of people do every day. In a Los Angeles Times poll, 69 percent of teenagers surveyed said they thought it was legal to copy a CD they own and give it to a friend. The RIAA cites a study that found that more than half of current college students download music and movies illegally.

The Howell case was not the first time the industry has argued that making a personal copy from a legally purchased CD is illegal. At the Thomas trial in Minnesota, Sony BMG's chief of litigation, Jennifer Pariser, testified that "when an individual makes a copy of a song for himself, I suppose we can say he stole a song." Copying a song you bought is "a nice way of saying 'steals just one copy,' " she said.

But lawyers for consumers point to a series of court rulings over the last few decades that found no violation of copyright law in the use of VCRs and other devices to time-shift TV programs; that is, to make personal copies for the purpose of making portable a legally obtained recording.

As technologies evolve, old media companies tend not to be the source of the innovation that allows them to survive. Even so, new technologies don't usually kill off old media: That's the good news for the recording industry, as for the TV, movie, newspaper and magazine businesses. But for those old media to survive, they must adapt, finding new business models and new, compelling content to offer.
washingtonpost.com - nation, world, technology and Washington area news and headlines


The RIAA's legal crusade against its customers is a classic example of an old media company clinging to a business model that has collapsed. Four years of a failed strategy has only "created a whole market of people who specifically look to buy independent goods so as not to deal with the big record companies," Beckerman says. "Every problem they're trying to solve is worse now than when they started."

The industry "will continue to bring lawsuits" against those who "ignore years of warnings," RIAA spokesman Jonathan Lamy said in a statement. "It's not our first choice, but it's a necessary part of the equation. There are consequences for breaking the law." And, perhaps, for firing up your computer.

Yhey have a new story every day as to why we must pay over and over for THEM to get paid for harassing us.
     
chris v
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Dec 31, 2007, 01:00 PM
 
So, are they going to sue every single person who has ever downloaded any software capable of ripping an MP3 from a CD? What complete and utter morans. They're just digging the hole deeper and deeper...

BOYCOTT!

When a true genius appears in the world you may know him by this sign, that the dunces are all in confederacy against him. -- Jonathan Swift.
     
Uncle Skeleton
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Dec 31, 2007, 01:22 PM
 
Crazy like a fox. If they win, they'll own everyone! Can't blame them for swinging for the fences...
     
Buckaroo
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Dec 31, 2007, 02:17 PM
 
     
Dork.
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Dec 31, 2007, 02:45 PM
 
Ray Beckerman is also all over slashdot whenever an RIAA issue comes up, and even submits most of them. He is a troll, even though he fights on the side of all that is good in the world.
     
Snow-i
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Jan 3, 2008, 04:12 AM
 
this is the result of bad reporting.

As much as I hate the RIAA the lawsuit was filed for ripping the songs to the dude's computer AND placing them in his kazaa shared folder. Do a quick google search on this case and you'll see.

This is nothing new for the RIAA as nefarious as they are already, its just a case of piss poor reporting.
     
Chuckit
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Jan 3, 2008, 04:15 AM
 
Yes, they're suing him for sharing on Kazaa, but it still sounds like they're trying to claim that ripping the music was illegal in and of itself.
Chuck
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Snow-i
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Jan 3, 2008, 04:42 AM
 
of course they'll say that.

Report it when they sue someone for it...
     
C.A.T.S. CEO
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Jan 3, 2008, 05:01 AM
 
I thought the RIAA were the music nazis, not police.
Signature depreciated.
     
stevesnj
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Jan 3, 2008, 07:44 AM
 
why is this in the political lounge? the RIAA is not a government organization is it?
MacBook Pro 15" i7 ~ Snow Leopard ~ iPhone 4 - 16Gb
     
Buckaroo
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Jan 3, 2008, 11:28 AM
 
It's not. The original thread is here:

http://forums.macnn.com/89/macnn-lou...ransfer-music/

Someone started this second thread.
     
Dakar the Fourth
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Jan 3, 2008, 11:32 AM
 
Originally Posted by stevesnj View Post
why is this in the political lounge? the RIAA is not a government organization is it?
Things don't have to be political to be in the PL.
     
Buckaroo
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Jan 3, 2008, 11:38 AM
 
Originally Posted by Dakar the Fourth View Post
Things don't have to be political to be in the PL.
Maybe so, but I don't believe we are suppose to create multiple threads on the same subject.
     
Dakar the Fourth
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Jan 3, 2008, 11:41 AM
 
Oh the horror. People make mistkes.
     
chris v
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Jan 3, 2008, 12:58 PM
 
but ... it's a WAR! The RIAA against the rest of the whole world.

When a true genius appears in the world you may know him by this sign, that the dunces are all in confederacy against him. -- Jonathan Swift.
     
Wiskedjak
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Jan 7, 2008, 09:49 AM
 
Originally Posted by Chuckit View Post
Yes, they're suing him for sharing on Kazaa, but it still sounds like they're trying to claim that ripping the music was illegal in and of itself.
They probably wanted to try and sneak the wording through, just in case they can establish an ambiguous precedent.
     
   
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