Posted on 04/28/2004 2:15:50 PM PDT by El Conservador
WASHINGTON - The recording industry sued 477 more computer users Wednesday, including dozens of college students at schools in 11 states, accusing them of illegally sharing music across the Internet.
The Recording Industry Association of America (news - web sites), the trade group for the largest labels, praised efforts by colleges and universities to use technology and school policies to crack down on music piracy on their computer own networks. But it said the most egregious offenders on campus deserved to be sued.
"There is also a complementary need for enforcement by copyright owners against the serious offenders to remind people that this activity is illegal," said the group's president, Cary Sherman.
The recording industry filed its latest complaints against "John Doe" defendants, identifying them only by their numeric Internet protocol addresses. It said lawyers will work through the courts to request subpoenas against the universities and some commercial Internet providers to learn the defendants' names.
Campus officials at Mansfield University in Pennsylvania warned students months ago about requests from the recording industry to crack down on copyright infringement on its computer networks.
It threatened to unplug the Internet connection for each student identified by the recording industry as illegally sharing music, until the student removed all software used to distribute songs online.
"Not everyone agrees that downloading and file-sharing is copyright infringement," wrote the school's technology director, Connie L. Beckman. "While this may be debatable, Mansfield University is required to comply with the law."
The latest filings brings the number of lawsuits filed by the recording industry to 2,454 since last summer. None of the cases has yet gone to trial, and 437 people so far have agreed to pay financial penalties of about $3,000 as settlements.
The trade group said the newest lawsuits targeted students at Mansfield; Brown University in Providence, Rhode Island; Emory University in Atlanta; Georgia Institute of Technology; Gonzaga University of Spokane, Wash.; Michigan State University; Princeton University in New Jersey; Sacred Heart University of Fairfield, Conn.; Texas A&M University; Trinity College of Hartford, Conn.; Trinity University of San Antonio; the University of Kansas; University of Minnesota and Virginia Polytechnic Institute.
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Recording Industry Association of America: www.riaa.com
And they can kiss my big, fat, light brown ass!!!
OTOH, it's nice to see them self-destroying.
And they can kiss my big, fat, light brown ass!!!
For upholding their copyrights?
Okay, just save the lawyers the trouble and mail the RIAA a check for whatever you were putting aside to send your kids to college. That's the "settlement" they're trying to extort in each of these cases.
I mention all this because there is an alternative to the crap that the record industry is putting out and trying to gouge us on.
Try this next time (substitute <'s & >'s for the ['s & ]'s)
[A HREF="http://www.the-url.com"] [IMG SRC="http://www.your-image-source.com"] [/A]
If artists knowingly allow their work product to be broadcast on a public airway then their work product becomes part of the public domain.
Screw RIAA. They are picking on college students because most students have very little knowledge and less money to defend themselves properly.
CD Baby is a little online record store that sells CDs by independent musicians.
[In•de•pen•dent: (adj.) Not having sold one's life, career, and creative works over to a corporation.]
Current Numbers: 61,293 artists sell their CD at CD Baby. 936,047 CDs sold online to customers. $7,460,216.03 paid to artists.
And if you like bass and drums try these via CD Baby: http://www.clatter.com/pages/about.html
The only people being taken are the tax payers when the songwriters and performers are allowed to use the public airways to promote their work product for their own personal gain.
Let them use the public airway AND retain their work product protection but charge them a user fee for the service.
Say $100,000.00 for every performance ported over broadcast televising and $5.00 for for every instance their music is ported over broadcast radio.
If an industry wants to use taxpayer supported infrastructure to personally enrich themselves let them pay for it.
Until they are willing to pay for the use of a public supported infrastructure then their work product is in the public domain and it's not for profit use is at the sole discretion of the public.
On the other hand, who do you think builds the towers, the buildings, buys the equipment, pays the personnel to produce the programs, and the royalties to the artists they play? Here's a clue: It ain't the taxpayers.
Correct.
...and it's high time that others who profit from the public goodwill and still claim the status of an injured party pay their share as well.
They can't have it both ways. Government support of their livelihood and protection when the rest of the public enjoys those same benefits.
The issue at hand is use of a publicly licensed communication medium, not theft of work product. If it were a simple case of theft of work product, we would have all been sued years ago for giving Christmas presents to our children.
As I said in my original reply: Screw RIAA!
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