Recording industry sues hundreds of individuals for illegally sharing music over the Internet

APNewsAlert | September 8, 2003

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NA-FIN--APNewsAlert

LOS ANGELES, Sep 08, 2003 (AP WorldStream via COMTEX) -- Recording industry sues hundreds of individuals for illegally sharing music over the Internet, music industry source says.

Copyright 2003 Associated Press, All rights reserved

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Recording industry sues hundreds of individual music swappers

LOS ANGELES (AP) -- The recording industry filed hundreds of lawsuits Monday against individual music lovers whom music companies accuse of illegally downloading and sharing songs over the Internet, a music industry source said.

The lawsuits were filed in federal courts around the country and had been expected, as the industry has become increasingly aggressive in cracking down on the trading of pirated music files online.

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[kylaka]

I think they missed a few hundred thousand.

[68skylark]

How do I know if I'm on the list?

[chiefqc]

And the rest of the story:

When the innocent victum is sued, found to be totally innocent his recourse is what?

He in turn sues the recording industry, they, along with their overpaid large legal staff, drag it out in court until the victum gives up or dies.

I guess the millions that they make on the overpriced records is not enough, that's why they have to sue the poor indivduals.

[goldstategop]

Like suing your customers will gain the recording industry big wows with the music loving public.

[wimpycat]

If you got your summons, then you're on the list.

[wimpycat]

Like suing your customers will gain the recording industry big wows with the music loving public.

The nature of the lawsuits implies that these people are NOT customers.

Well, the money these people are going to have to shell out in legal fees will probably match or exceed what they would have paid out for the CD's.

(I'm not saying this is a good or bad idea, just pointing out the realities of the situation.)

[Bush2000]

The nature of the lawsuits implies that these people are NOT customers.

They're not going after people who download music. They're going after the people who share it out. And we're not just talking about a few songs here: We're talking about literally gigabytes of songs.

[Bush2000]

Like suing your customers will gain the recording industry big wows with the music loving public.

I wouldn't expect any organization that takes money out of your pocket to be all that popular. When was the last time you felt big wows for your gas station? State income tax agency? IRS? DMV?

[SamAdams76]

I think they missed a few million myself. It appears that they are not going after the casual downloader but those who share out gigabytes worth of songs. So far, this has had minor effect on the songs available. I was on Kazaa last night (doing some, ahem, "research") and noted that the number of available songs have increased, due to the kids being back in school no doubt, but still not up to the pre-June levels. There were about 761,000,000 songs available last night on Kazaa. It was pushing one billion just before the summer began.

[kylaka]

I'm really surprised they have not gone after usenet yet.
I've seen stuff posted there weeks before it's offical release. I've also seen usenet newsgroups shut down with a simple court order, but no music groups yet.

[68skylark]

If you got your summons, then you're on the list.

Yeah, I figured that those involved would get a summons. But if they are only being delivered now then it may take days for someone to find out they are on the list. I figured there would be a website or something with more timely information. (I'm not worried about myself -- just curious.)

[68skylark]

I've got over 13 gigabytes of music on my laptop. So I'm curious if I'm on the lawsuit list. (Abour 98% of mine is copied from CD's I own. And since I only use a dial up connection and I probably don't file-share more than about 1-2 hours a week, maybe I'll escape this round.)

The whole concept of intellectual property is not a natural idea -- it's a recent invention. I'm not saying it's a bad idea or that it should be discarded. But it would seem that some kind of modification of the concept is needed to adapt to the internet era.

[RangerHobbit]

Where is the ACLU's big mouth in all this?

[RangerHobbit]

"So I'm curious if I'm on the lawsuit list."

I can help you with that. You say you've downloaded music files from the web? Just give me your name, social security number, driver's license number, home address, work address, work phone, home phone, and the place where a sheriff’s deputy can most conveniently serve you with a warrant.

Bernie Shylock atty.
Sony Music Corp.

[SamAdams76]

I've spent the past two years digitalizing my music collection and I'm not close to done yet. Between now and Christmas, I'm going to get a 200GB drive and dedicate it to music only because it's getting crowded on my current 80GB drive. With 1,000 CDs and at least that many tapes and records, I'll easily fill it.

I don't share any of it out on the net. These are my personal files that I use for my MP3 player and just for playing when I'm surfing the web. Eventually, I hope to control my home stereo from my PC and then wirelessly send MP3s to my car. Whatever I download off the web I share right out though because the files go to my Shared folder. This cache rarely gets over a couple hundred songs because I'm constantly weeding them out. Either I buy the CD or I delete them from my drive and go looking for new ones. File-sharing is a great way for me to discover new music and also to avoid getting burned buying stuff I don't like. Being able to listen to music before buying it is like test-driving a car in my opinion. The recording industry is underestimating this valuable promotional tool. I'll never go back to buying an album "blind" again.

[68skylark]

Cool -- I'm impressed. (And if you find a good way to get your MP3's into your car, send me some Freepmail.)

[ladyjane]

I don't understand why all the 'kids' don't just boycott the music biz for a week. Buy no CDs, listen to no radio stations, turn off MTV. Just for one week. That would begin to level the playing field a bit.