RIAA Files Over 500 New Lawsuits

[Bombardier]

The recording industry's website may have been knocked offline, but that's not stopping the RIAA from delivering 532 more "John Doe" lawsuits to alleged illegal music file swappers.

The RIAA announced the suits Tuesday morning, pointing out that 89 of the suits are reserved for people who spent their time distributing music through university networks.

Meanwhile, the RIAA's website remains unavailable, reportedly because of the MyDoom.F virus, which has apparently triggered a denial-of-service attack on the site.

Tonight on "Tech Live," we'll break down the latest RIAA suits and explain the RIAA's "John Doe" legal strategy. In a statement announcing the new suits, RIAA President Cary Sherman says, "There is an exciting array of legal music services where fans can get high-quality online music."

Also on tonight's show, we'll be taking a look at one of those new services, Wal-Mart's music service, where music fans can buy individual tracks for 88 cents.

'John Doe' strategy gets court approval

The new RIAA suits come on the heels of suits filed in January and February, bringing the total number of suits filed to more than 1,500. Under the RIAA's new legal strategy, the recording industry is bypassing its former subpoena process and suing in an effort to obtain the personal information of alleged file swappers instead.

The recording industry has hoped the lawsuits would lead to settlements in the cases rather than lengthy and expensive legal proceedings. In its statement released today, the RIAA says it has succeeded in four courts, granting the record companies requests to issue subpoenas to ISPs and obtain subscribers' personal information. The RIAA didn't say how many of the suits have been settled to date.

The RIAA began its new approach after a court ruled in January that the RIAA's former subpoena process -- going directly to ISPs demanding subscriber information without court order -- was unconstitutional.

"Lawsuits are an important part of the larger strategy to educate file sharers about the law, protect the rights of copyright owners, and encourage music fans to turn to those legitimate services," says Sherman in the RIAA's statement.

Colleges fingered again

The recording industry says that its legal strategy is working. It points to a recent survey conducted by Peter D. Hart Research Associates that says 63 percent of those surveyed believe it's illegal to "make music from the computer available for others to download for free over the Internet."

Still, colleges appear to remain be a big target of the RIAA. Even though the bulk of the new suits aren't targeted at university network users, the RIAA's statement called attention to the 89 that are reserved for college peer-to-peer networks.

In recent months, universities such as Penn State have launched their own music subscription services. According to the Hart survey, 28 percent of students surveyed think sharing music online is still legal.

"The expansion of legal online music services to college campuses is an extraordinary and exciting development," said Sherman. He also said that nobody is immune from prosecution when sharing music online.

According to the RIAA, peer-to-peer network users at the University of Arizona, U.C. Berkeley, University of Michigan, Georgetown University, Stanford University, and others are included in the suits.

http://www.techtv.com/news/culture/story/0...3650274,00.html

[jipper]

hmm..and will any of those peeps who have been sued be able to pay those fines.......nope!

[Lord_of_the_Dense]

There are other ways..

http://www.webexpo.org/users/ambrose/impoor.html

[jipper]

shit..

"They will thoughtfully send out the sheriff to seize your computer (instrumental in your infringement) and your software (ditto) and sell it at auction."

well i hope they will be able to get a decent price with all the downloaed music and software

[Bombardier]

There are other ways..

http://www.webexpo.org/users/ambrose/impoor.html

That is scary. I'm sure glad I'm not someone who is being sued. I tend to stay away from P2P for the most part these days (and I sure don't share on Kazaa ;) )

I may not agree with it and I'll boycott the RIAA forever, but getting sued would just suck. I don't have a lot of money and even a settlement would be too expensive for me.

I don't buy my CDs retail and never again will until the price drops down to a level that I deem as reasonable. There are a lot of used CDs out there that are just as good as brand new, but for a fraction of the cost.

In my parting words from this post, I'd like to say this:

GO TO HELL RIAA!!!

[slum_goddess]

:angry: :angry: :angry: :angry: :angry: :angry: :angry: :angry: :angry: