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RIAA Legal Ruling Could Shut Down All File-Sharing on the Internet

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T

TheIkariWarrior

Member
:(

http://p2pnet.net/story/9409

http://prisonplanet.com/articles/november2006/291106shutdown.htm

291106riaa.jpg


RIAA Legal Ruling Could Shut Down The Internet
U.S. government supports legal case that would criminalize making any files available on the world wide web

Paul Joseph Watson
Prison Planet
Wednesday, November 29, 2006

A landmark legal case on behalf of the Recording Industry Association of America and other global trade organizations seeks to criminalize all Internet file sharing of any kind as copyright infringement, effectively shutting down the world wide web - and their argument is supported by the U.S. government.

Ray Beckerman, a lawyer representing clients in cases against the RIAA, recently took part in a conference call organized by DefectiveByDesign.org, an organization which opposes DRM Technology, content restricting programs embedded into software that blocks users access to music, movies, software and other forms of digital data.

Beckerman describes how Internet users are randomly targeted by the RIAA for simply having a folder of music on their computer, kept in the dark about legal details and intimidated into paying thousands of dollars immediately or facing a federal lawsuit. The RIAA doesn't even attempt to prove copyright infringement with specific examples, dates or times - it simply coerces and threatens the victim until they relent into paying out huge settlement fees.

"They have an investigator pretend to be a user of KAZAA or one of the other similar file-sharing networks. He finds a shared files folder that has a goodly number of copyrighted songs in it. He has no idea whether those song files were obtained legally, whether though payed downloads, or through making personal copies from one's own CD for backup purposes, or whether anything illegal was ever done with those files, whether anyone ever copied one. And what he does: he takes a screen shot of this shared files folders (He of course does not see the folders, he merely sees the text in the metadata) and decides that this is a big shared file folder."
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291106riaa2.jpg


"Then through some secret process which he will not share with us and has tried to conceal from the courts, he then associates it with a dynamic ip address. And then, after he has what he believes is the correct dynamic ip address, for the date and time at which he made that screen shot, he then brings a proceeding to get the name and address of the subscriber who paid for the internet access, which of course would tell us nothing. But once he gets that information he then sues the person."

In one case, UMG vs. Lindor, a cleaner who has never used or owned a computer but simply dusted near one was sued as an online distributor in peer to peer file sharing.

Accusing the RIAA of "conducting a reign of terror" by bringing lawsuits against defenseless people, Beckerman warned that one case in particular, Elektra vs. Barker, has the potential to shut down the Internet completely.

RIAA's argument is that Miss Barker, a poor nursing student who lives in housing projects, should be prosecuted on the basis that "merely making files available on the internet is in and of itself a copyright infringement."

Beckerman calls the complaint "a shocking argument because if it were accepted it would probably shut down the entire internet."

The U.S. government has also filed legal briefs supporting the RIAA's argument.

Deep sixing the entire Internet seems a highly unlikely move in that it would probably derail the world economy and put thousands of huge transnational corporations out of business. An outcome more likely to happen if this ruling is accepted is that it would further pave the way for government regulation and tracking of the Internet, namely "Internet 2," a completely controlled, surveilled and autocratic cyber police state similar to the Chinese model, whereby website owners have to obtain government permission to run a blog, be approved by a biometric thumb scan just to turn their computer on, and immediately get their Internet access shut off if they misbehave.

This case is another attack arm of forces in government and the corporate structure that seek to suffocate the last outpost of true freedom of speech and dissent and it must be countered at all costs.
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E

Ecrofirt

Member
I want the RIAA to sue me.

Those fat ****s wouldn't intimidate me into paying thousands just to settle out of court with them. **** 'em. **** 'em hard, and **** 'em fast.
 
D

Diablos

Member
Ecrofirt said:
Those fat ****s wouldn't intimidate me into paying thousands just to settle out of court with them. **** 'em. **** 'em hard, and **** 'em fast.
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This is really surprising coming from Mr. "OMG don't talk about leaked albums".
 
D

demon

I don't mean to alarm you but you have dogs on your face
why does the government gotta try and f*ck everything up for everyone?
 
E

Ecrofirt

Member
Diablos said:
This is really surprising coming from Mr. "OMG don't talk about leaked albums".
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I download shit all the ****ing time. It's clearly against GAF TOS though, and it's ****ed that talking about game piracy is like insta-ban, while nothing really happens with music piracy threads.
 
D

Diablos

Member
Ecrofirt said:
I download shit all the ****ing time. It's clearly against GAF TOS though, and it's ****ed that talking about game piracy is like insta-ban, while nothing really happens with music piracy threads.
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Did you hear about the girl who went to some really nice University who got caught downloading?

The RIAA and/or MPAA contacted her and made it personal. She asked them (not exact quotes as I was skimming through the article in a store), "I am a college student who can barely afford to be here, how will I now?" And they said something like "well, you'll have to drop out, go to community college instead, and maybe get another job." The RIAA apologized and said they are not permitted to make it personal like that.

It is AMAZING how many times these goons have crossed the line this decade. I'm disgusted.
 
P

Peru

Member
RIAA can **** off into ****ing space those dirty ****ing scoundrels. **** off you axis of ****ing big brother fascism evil asshole capitalist scoundrels. Let's see you big brother this ****ing post you **** **** ********************ers shit asshole licking enemies of free speech and democracy. There'll be a ****ing revolution if these ****ards go any further and gain any more control on the ****ing internet, they'll ****ing bring it upon themselves and then they'll die a dirty ****ing death.
 
D

Diablos

Member
Peru said:
RIAA can **** off into ****ing space those dirty ****ing scoundrels. **** off you axis of ****ing big brother fascism evil asshole capitalist scoundrels. Let's see you big brother this ****ing post you **** **** ********************ers shit asshole licking enemies of free speech and democracy. There'll be a ****ing revolution if these ****ards go any further and gain any more control on the ****ing internet, they'll ****ing bring it upon themselves and then they'll die a dirty ****ing death.
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Beautiful. :lol
 
D

demon

I don't mean to alarm you but you have dogs on your face
Peru said:
RIAA can **** off into ****ing space those dirty ****ing scoundrels. **** off you axis of ****ing big brother fascism evil asshole capitalist scoundrels. Let's see you big brother this ****ing post you **** **** ********************ers shit asshole licking enemies of free speech and democracy. There'll be a ****ing revolution if these ****ards go any further and gain any more control on the ****ing internet, they'll ****ing bring it upon themselves and then they'll die a dirty ****ing death.
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takei.jpg

Oh my.
 
P

Peru

Member
I'm sure that put the fear in those darned bigwigs, because I don't have any other means to confront them!
 
B

BocoDragon

or, How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Realize This Assgrab is Delicious
So... would the US economy suffer more if the RIAA disppeared tomorrow, or the internet?

:lol
 
B

Brobzoid

how do I slip unnoticed out of a gloryhole booth?
that sailor moon clip seriously looks like a low-budget porno. I mean, low budget for a porno.


And I'm already a pirate, and the government here doesn't seem to care about anyone except the big hitters, so I'm content with my position.
 
E

echoshifting

Banned
Tamanon said:
Um, what? What's the actual case? It says a case has been filed, yes?

Just another alarmist article.
Click to expand...

qft, smells like alarmist bullshit

I'm looking at the site that posted this article, Prison Planet, and I gotta say....:lol at anyone who buys into this.
 
S

Souldriver

Member
Peru said:
RIAA can **** off into ****ing space those dirty ****ing scoundrels. **** off you axis of ****ing big brother fascism evil asshole capitalist scoundrels. Let's see you big brother this ****ing post you **** **** ********************ers shit asshole licking enemies of free speech and democracy. There'll be a ****ing revolution if these ****ards go any further and gain any more control on the ****ing internet, they'll ****ing bring it upon themselves and then they'll die a dirty ****ing death.
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I laughed out loud with that. *oops*
 
S

SteveMeister

Hang out with Steve.
I wonder what the actual percentage is of legally transferrable content on all the file sharing networks and systems.

I'm guessing it's significantly less than 1%, maybe 1 in 1,000 files. Maybe even less than that.

Whether this ruling is true, legal, constitutional, ethical or not, I'd be shocked if legal file transfers made up even a small portion of all the file sharing that actually takes place.
 
V

Vieo

Member
If they win and get any/all p2p sharing outlawed, I say we institute a total boycott of the movie and music industry. Then we should become hippies and have mass gatherings where we get together and talk about stuff and beat drums.
 
R

RedDwarf

Smegging smeg of a smeg!
I can't even tell what the RIAA actually wants. If they lose the easy cash they get from scaring people into settling then where will their money come from? People will still just buy online as they do now, it's not like CD sales will suddenly start booming again. They'll just be losing a main source of revenue.
 
dark_chris

dark_chris

Member
1163514450942.jpg

To this whole topic. If the RIAA did that, people would rebel, and send them threats like all hell. The RIAA is like Jack Thompson on steriods.
 
DCharlie

DCharlie

And even i am moderately surprised
Beckerman describes how Internet users are randomly targeted by the RIAA for simply having a folder of music on their computer, kept in the dark about legal details and intimidated into paying thousands of dollars immediately or facing a federal lawsuit. The RIAA doesn't even attempt to prove copyright infringement with specific examples, dates or times - it simply coerces and threatens the victim until they relent into paying out huge settlement fees.
Click to expand...

you know what - i'd like the RIAA to show me where the money that they receive went to. After working in the same industry for 4 years+ , i'm going to have a wild stab in the dark and say that they simply don't distribute to the artists that are in the list - they'll use a model (which will basically see all the cash going to McCartney, etc IF it even gets out of the RIAAs grubby little hands)

what if the person who they target has simply a set of Kazaa bombs on htere? i guess the RIAA would get confused and call the FEDs in to arrest the terrorist before he destroys New York!
 
M

MegaTen

Banned
Sure, the programs like Kazaa or what have you could be removed easily, but I definitely don't see anything happening with usenet... unless all binary newsgroups are deleted.
 
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