RIAA sues 4 file-sharing students

[RonOnGuitar]

The RIAA keepin' busy....

Ron

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Record Industry Sues 4 Students Running File-Sharing Networks



By Frank Ahrens

Washington Post Staff Writer

Thursday, April 3, 2003; 5:58 PM





In its ongoing, aggressive effort to stem Internet music piracy, the record industry filed suit today against four college students who run Napster-like file-sharing computer networks at three universities, including Princeton University.



The suits-filed by the Recording Industry Association of America, the music industry lobby-ask three U.S. District Courts for injunctions to shut down the file-sharing systems that live inside the computer networks at Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute in Troy, N.Y., Michigan Technological University in Houghton, Mich., and the Ivy League school.



The four defendants were chosen because the RIAA found them to be among the most active, enabling thousands of songs to be freely shared, the industry group said. The music industry considers such file-sharing to be in violation of copyright and fair use laws.



The RIAA suits allege that these four students offered between 27,000 and 1 million songs for free trading. The Washington Post is seeking to reach the students for comment.



"This is a particularly flagrant way to illegally distribute millions of copyrighted works over the Internet," said RIAA President Cary Sherman, who has taken over the powerful lobbying group since past president Hilary Rosen announced her resignation earlier this year. "The people who run these Napster networks know full well what they are doing-operating a sophisticated network designed to enable widespread music thievery. The lawsuits we've filed represent an appropriate step given the seriousness of the offense."



The RIAA did not send cease-and-desist letters to the defendants before filing the suits. In addition to the injunctions, the RIAA may seek damages.



The RIAA employs software that scours the Internet looking for what it believes are illegally traded songs. But the networks named in the lawsuits are internal college networks, known as "local area networks" or LANS, and are not seen by the RIAA software.



Instead, the RIAA discovered them by reading college newspapers, in which the LANS are discussed. Several Princeton sites were listed in a November article in the Daily Princetonian, which also included a statement from the school's information technology department saying that it is against university regulations to use the Internet to violate copyright laws.



The music industry has blamed free peer-to-peer music file sharing for its current depression, as sales of compact discs have dropped dramatically over the past few years. Advocates of file-sharing say the music industry caused the creation of systems such as Napster-which was shut down in 2001 following legal action by the RIAA-by pricing some CDs near $20. Further, the music industry has been slow to adapt to the changing patterns of music consumers, many of whom want their music on an a la carte, or song-by-song basis, as opposed to buying an entire CD.



The music industry has fought back against file-sharing through the courts and by creating its own online music services, such as MusicNet and Pressplay, through which consumers can buy or rent music through their computers, some of which they can download and copy onto CDs.



The movie industry has employed similarly aggressive tactics to combat illegal copying and distribution of digitized movies over the Internet. The Motion Picture Association of America, the movie industry lobby, uses similar Internet software to find movie-sharing sites and sends hundreds of cease-and-desist letters a year. Further, the MPAA has sought injunctions against Web sites both in the U.S. and overseas.



www.washingtonpost.com/wp...3Apr3.html

[bbchris]

Really the RIAA are so over the top. Have they actually interviewed students to ask them if they buy albums? It may be 'cool' to download songs - (usually BEFORE they are release or AFTER they are banned) however it's COOLER to own the CD.



Constantly stating that 'file-sharing has caused a slump in album sales' doesn't make it true. The music industry has been slow working with the Internet. Ask people what music they buy on the Internet and *shock-horror* some have even purchased 'unsigned' artists based on what they've heard of them online.



Also we have to consider there's been a general recession in the world and people are looking for more value in what they buy. e.g. Although I LOVE Linkin Park, I was a bit disappointed that their new album is only 36 minutes long. And I have been telling everyone that.

|Blah Blah|Talk Soup|Thinking Out Loud|thewireweb|

[NRKofOver]

Quote:

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1 million songs for free trading

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Not only do college kids have too much time on their hands, they have entirely too much money if they can afford to host 1 millions songs. What kind of server do you have to own, let's see, I'll do some math. 1 song, average 4 megs. 250 songs, a gig, 25,000 songs, 100 gig, 250,000 songs, 1 terabyte, so 1 million songs would require a 4 terabyte server. And a quick search showed I could get an 800 meg server for a mere $10,000. But, then again, if you're gonna sue someone, pick the person who has $50,000 in computer gear, they probably have some spare change for a lawsuit, !

Read all about ME!

[LarreeMP3]

The RIAA suits allege that these four students offered between 27,000 and 1 million songs for free trading.

If this is true I hope they get the maximum fine and a prison sentence for their crimes.

Sorry, but I am behind the RIAA 100% on this one. 1,000,000 songs? Thieves are thieves no matter what they steal. It is one thing to share a song with a friend. But these guys are pirates.

[Jorn Lavoll]

yeah.. 1 million songs is a little much if it is true. thats organized crime. but the riaa is still from the dark side of the force.

[RonOnGuitar]

Yeah, I believe the idea for the RIAA antics is they hope put the fear of God - well, fear of expensive litigation, really - into everyone by making an "example of" a few kids.





<<their new album is only 36 minutes long>>



Wow, that's barely an EP single! Before FM and long tracks the labels would try to keep releases to about 3 min so they'd get Top 40 play. The stations would claim to play "more hits" -because the songs were so short! I think the original "The Letter" by the Box Tops was closer to 2 minutes!



=Ron=