Music industry sues 477 more computer users

[detn8r]

quote:WASHINGTON (AP) -- The recording industry sued 477 more computer users Wednesday, including dozens of college students at schools in 11 states, accusing them of illegally sharing music across the Internet.

The Recording Industry Association of America, the trade group for the largest labels, praised efforts by colleges and universities to use technology and school policies to crack down on music piracy on their own computer networks. But it said the most egregious offenders on campus deserved to be sued.

"There is also a complementary need for enforcement by copyright owners against the serious offenders to remind people that this activity is illegal," said the group's president, Cary Sherman.

The recording industry filed its latest complaints against "John Doe" defendants, identifying them only by their numeric Internet protocol addresses. It said lawyers will work through the courts to request subpoenas against the universities and some commercial Internet providers to learn the defendants' names.

Campus officials at Mansfield University in Pennsylvania warned students months ago about requests from the recording industry to crack down on copyright infringement on its computer networks.

It threatened to unplug the Internet connection for each student identified by the recording industry as illegally sharing music, until the student removed all software used to distribute songs online.

"Not everyone agrees that downloading and file-sharing is copyright infringement," wrote the school's technology director, Connie L. Beckman. "While this may be debatable, Mansfield University is required to comply with the law."

The latest filings brings the number of lawsuits filed by the recording industry to 2,454 since last summer. None of the cases has yet gone to trial, and 437 people so far have agreed to pay financial penalties of about $3,000 as settlements.

The trade group said the newest lawsuits targeted students at Mansfield; Brown University in Providence, Rhode Island; Emory University in Atlanta; Georgia Institute of Technology; Gonzaga University of Spokane, Washington; Michigan State University; Princeton University in New Jersey; Sacred Heart University of Fairfield, Connecticut; Texas A&M University; Trinity College of Hartford, Connecticut; Trinity University of San Antonio; the University of Kansas; University of Minnesota and Virginia Polytechnic Institute.

CNN.com

This is going to be a never ending battle. After reading this article about sharing rising, and not falling, the Recording Industries are either going to become slowly rich, or just continue to piss off artists and fans of artists.

[doc rock]

Thanks for the update. As a big music fan, I am deeply concerned with the direction this is heading. I am probably next on their hitlist!!! I say Power to the People....this is just one more instance where once the door is opened for a victorious suing campaign, there is no end to the madness. Sometimes the system really makes me sick.


Also, here is some food for thought: There may come a time when they try to subpoena user registration files of p2p program users in the future....even though this would be an obvious infringement on our rights to piracy, I mean privacy . As far fetched as it sounds, it seems that nowadays they are able to write their own laws in direct contradiction to the Bill of Rights. As a result, I personally stay away from any program that requires me to register.

[shifter]

Gee, what makes them think Joe user is going to start buying more Major Label music when all it supports is more lawsuits. They'll sue until they finally collapse into the pit of hell they came from, taking down as many victims with them as possible.

It is odd though that so many people still haven't learned not to share there files. It's certainly not worth getting sued over, unless your well endowed enough to fight back. Leave the sharing to the countries that still believe in privacy and user rights.

As a side note, I found an interesting comparison of the number of songs purchased from iTunes compared to amount of iPods sold at http://www.itunesperipod.com. Obviously it's not completely accurate (which they do mention in the statement at the bottom) but it does give you an idea of how many people still refuse to support a corrupt industry. Also worth taking note is the diagram at the bottom about an alternative way to license p2p use.

[Justified]

Well why stop there? I mean why not start fining people for copying pictures of artists or their lyrics or some other rediculous thing.. Obviously for people to share it means someone somewhere had to buy it. And I don't understand them not wanting to share the music.. My thinking is if someone wants to hear a song and they like it most people end up buying the cd after they've heard it. And why aren't they sueing the creaters of programs such as bearshare , netscape and such for creating a program that allows people to share files.. If you are going to get one get them all! ...... don't sue the people for downloading and not sue the company making the downloading possible.

But aren't they breaking privacy laws by installing spiders and such on your computer to tell if you are doing this ?


Maybe I'm wrong but if you they can sue you for copying and sharing music why couldn't you turn around and sue them for invasion of privacy?

[DJHyperbyte]

quote:Originally posted by Justified

And why aren't they sueing the creaters of programs such as bearshare , netscape and such for creating a program that allows people to share files..

Normal connections on the internet go via a server. When you chat to a friend on MSN, the message first goes to the MSN servers and then to your friend.

Now the whole idea behind P2P is that users only use a server to find other users. Once the users have found eachother, all further communication takes place between those users. So the actual file sharing is done by the users. The software and servers that provide this are merely an indexing service.

This is why with P2P the servers and related programs CAN NOT be held responsible for the content that is provided by the users as most of the producers of such programs have no control whatsoever over the content that is provided by the users.

From your theory, you could claim that Google is illegal since I can use it to find MP3 files. Ridiculous, of course.