Posted on 07/04/2006 7:00:49 AM PDT by Fawn
Louise: "No these are not my songs." They are however downloaded right onto her computer.
Louise:"I was embarrassed when they gave me a print out of these songs."
She got this printout because of lawyers. She also got this letter telling her she was being sued for copyright infringement.
Parents, there are other popular file sharing programs you need to know about:
Morpheus: morpheus.com
Kazaa: www.kazaa.com
Bearshare: www.bearshare.com
Limewire: www.limewire.com
Louise: "I was in shock..I was stunned."
The letter is part of a music industry crackdown.Singers, songwriters and music companies tired of people downloading and burning copies of music without paying.
The letter to Louise says: "Copyright theft is not a victimless crime. Not just recording artists and songwriters but session players, sound engineers, cd plant workers, wharehouse personnel, record store clerks...that depend on sale of recordings to earn a living."
Louise: "I didn't intentionally try to take money from these people...I didn't know what was going on!"
Louise says it was her 16 year old doing the downloading. But that doesn't matter--these lawyers are offering to settle for a price.
Louise: "3700....I dont have 3700."
But Louise has to pay even though she had no idea, this music has been hanging around on her harddrive. Louise says her son didn't know that downloading the songs was illegal either but because she didn't take the music industry's first settlement offer the price has now gone up: 4500 or they will take her to court.
Interestingly enough, during our investigating today, we found the country of Austrailia has banned the use of Kazaa. And guess where Kazaa's parent company is located?
You guessed it! Sydney, Australia.
If the quality is so bad, why is the RIAA suing their customers over it?
Only if they are from 80s hair bands.
My advice is deed your house to the wife, sole. Divorce her so as to protect her welfare, title over everything of value you own to your family and friends and charity. Then turn yourself in, you felon! You can look forward to three basic meals a day and a nice little room with steel bars for decor.
One Word: Usenet
No need to bother with downloads. I just walk down to the corner store and get all the albums I want for 80 cents each. Box sets cost a about $3.00.
...and when that extension if about to expire, they'll "extend" it another 20. Isn't that the way it's been working? If not, give me the names of some copyrighted works that have passed into the public domain recently because the copyright expired.
Another one word: usenet
Simple, get some cables from Radio shack.. (or Wally World)... RCA plugs will do... if your sound card on your computer has an input (most do nowdays)... Now most these inputs are single jack, so you will have to have a adaptor for the RCA cable to a STERIO input for your sound card... Radio Shack...
Then get a program like PolderbitS (http://www.polderbits.com) and record away... I used this method to record all my records and cassettes to mp3 format too. Lots of fun... be sure to record all your stuff to a DVD every so often so you don't lose it with a computer crash...
I talked with these guys about a plan to help end file sharing. I can tell you that they are not interested in ending file sharing at all. What they have done is create a permanent legal battle. I predicted this many moons ago. The legal team by now is huge and soon I am sure several law firms will be built and many fortunes made by this approach.
How many times do I need to buy it before I own it.
haha! you guys are quick! absolutely right!
The music industry has made themselves a bit of a paradox on this issue. Half the time they're saying you don't own the physical media but have bought a license to use the content under terms they control. But if the media croaks, suddenly it's the media you own with no guarantee of usability, as you would expect if you had in fact purchased a license. I believe they've won in court on each of these positions (in different cases of course).
First, you need to scan the folders for viruses... then if the files are clean you need to sample a few of them for whether there is any 80's new wave dance songs. If so, you need to copy them upon a DVD disk in the original format they were in.. Then you need to place this disk in a nice jewel case, place this into a padded Priority Mail envelope and attach postage ($4.05) and address this to me so I can futher make sure this is safe stuff for you. FRmail me for my P.O. Box number... Drop in nearest mail box..
BE safe... I will help you fellow FReeper...
P.S. if these music files turn out to be Rap or Hard Rock, please incinerate your computer immediately... it has been infected beyond repair....
I was thinking of buying one to try out.
Well, stuff like John Doe warrants to look at ISP's customer's bandwidth usage for one. Then a warrant to you to make available your computer for their detailed inspection. Probable cause for the warrant is the assumption that bandwidth useage equals music theft.
Your bandwidth useage (the amount, I mean) is none of their business. What happens is that you, the accused, must prove your innocence. IOW, bare your private information to demonstrate that you are not taking music. You are given the option of doing that via thousands of dollars of legal fees, or paying a "negotiated settlement" which is less than the cost of defending yourself.
Now, if you have not been pirating music, it is still cheaper to pay them off than defend your self. They know this. It is a policy of intimidation and extortion.
An imperfect, but adequate, analogy might be the purchase of large amounts of printing paper at Staples. The book publisher goes to Staples and demands records of customers that buy large quantities. Then comes to you and demands that *you prove* you are not making copies of novels they publish.
The RIAA's copyright rights do not (at least should not) infringe on your Constitutional protection of presumption of innocence.
Your a killjoy aren't ya.. LOL... see my post above this one..
Theft is theft people.
I am amazed by the number of folks justifying their own actions because of their views on the recording industry.
Again as I noted, when I download stuff, it's on a linux system with gtk-gnutella and it's 90% music which is a hundred years or more old, nonetheless something like that would give you a shot at the other 10% of it which the RIAA couldn't touch.
Keep music files on a usb drive.....
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