Interview With A Music Pirate...
Nemesis_Zero
Old European Join Date: 2002-01-25 Member: 75Members, Retired Developer, NS1 Playtester, Constellation
Old European Join Date: 2002-01-25 Member: 75Members, Retired Developer, NS1 Playtester, Constellation
<div class="IPBDescription">Courtesy of MonsEs boring job.</div> <a href='http://grep.law.harvard.edu/article.pl?sid=03/08/26/1956206&mode=nested' target='_blank'>Interview with the lawyer of a P2P user questioning the constitutionality of the RIAAs 'strong arm tactics'.</a>
He raises some interesting points:
<!--QuoteBegin--></span><table border='0' align='center' width='95%' cellpadding='3' cellspacing='1'><tr><td><b>QUOTE</b> </td></tr><tr><td id='QUOTE'><!--QuoteEBegin-->Arguably the most dangerous consequence, the subpoena power can be put in the hands of anyone willing to pretend to have a copyright claim. Without a judge's review, these fraudulent requests are easily passed of as legitimate ones, passing under only the minimum, ministerial scrutiny of a court clerk with a rubber stamp. The potential abuser categories are limitless, and include everything from annoying marketers to swindlers, child abductors, blackmailers, and terrorists.<!--QuoteEnd--></td></tr></table><span class='postcolor'><!--QuoteEEnd-->
Discuss.
He raises some interesting points:
<!--QuoteBegin--></span><table border='0' align='center' width='95%' cellpadding='3' cellspacing='1'><tr><td><b>QUOTE</b> </td></tr><tr><td id='QUOTE'><!--QuoteEBegin-->Arguably the most dangerous consequence, the subpoena power can be put in the hands of anyone willing to pretend to have a copyright claim. Without a judge's review, these fraudulent requests are easily passed of as legitimate ones, passing under only the minimum, ministerial scrutiny of a court clerk with a rubber stamp. The potential abuser categories are limitless, and include everything from annoying marketers to swindlers, child abductors, blackmailers, and terrorists.<!--QuoteEnd--></td></tr></table><span class='postcolor'><!--QuoteEEnd-->
Discuss.
Comments
Does he mean that it's easy for the RIAA to make false arrests to reach a 'quota'?
<!--QuoteBegin--></span><table border='0' align='center' width='95%' cellpadding='3' cellspacing='1'><tr><td><b>QUOTE</b> </td></tr><tr><td id='QUOTE'><!--QuoteEBegin-->The scenario Jane Doe is fighting is the one where you don’t know about the subpoena until the RIAA shows up at your door with a summons and a lawsuit. <!--QuoteEnd--></td></tr></table><span class='postcolor'><!--QuoteEEnd-->
and the excessive penalties:
<!--QuoteBegin--></span><table border='0' align='center' width='95%' cellpadding='3' cellspacing='1'><tr><td><b>QUOTE</b> </td></tr><tr><td id='QUOTE'><!--QuoteEBegin-->What penalties do you think file swappers could expect to suffer? We’ve all heard numbers like $750 to $150,000 per violation. And if a bill proposed by Representatives John Conyers and Howard Berman is passed, the penalty could jump to as much as $250,000. What does this mean? Say someone has shared a gigabyte’s worth of music—about 200 songs; $750 times 200 equals $150,000, and $150,000 times 200 equals $30,000,000. What is actually reasonable? How should courts calculate actual damages in file sharing cases? And what constitutes a “violation”? This all sounds frighteningly close to Dr. Evil’s request for “one billion dollars” in Austin Powers.<!--QuoteEnd--></td></tr></table><span class='postcolor'><!--QuoteEEnd-->
The record company has pointed to diminishing sales of CD in recent times. I read an article that claims that this drop off is due to people no longer trying to "repurchase" all their music, to get all their records on CD. Despite the high cost of records, it does not mean that record companies deserve to lose the money they deserve. If not for the record company's advertising, recording facilities, distribution, and CD pressing abilities, many bands would never get heard.
Of course, now that the RIAA are being jackholes about the whole thing and trying to ruin people's lives with ridiculous fines, I'm sorely tempted to cease rewarding them for it and bear the inconvenience of burning my own copies rather than paying them $20 for it. It's not like the artists get a significant portion of that cash anyway. <!--emo&???--><img src='http://www.unknownworlds.com/forums/html/emoticons/confused.gif' border='0' style='vertical-align:middle' alt='confused.gif'><!--endemo-->
Actually, recent legislation has made it so that even if you already own it, it is still illegal to download it from someone else. I'm currently ripping my CDs to my computer, and some of the tracks are damaged, but it is illegal for me to download those tracks from someone else.