People downloading music think agian
 

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20090731/ap_on_bi_ge/us_tec_music_downloading

For those people who download music via torrents, p2p networks let this be a warning to you :)

ok buddy when you ar in court for copyright infringement then maybe you will understand. Yes its the only the 2nd case ever to go to court but the bottom line here is that violating copyright laws will not be tolerated. Just like the Bernie madoff case its to send a clear and strong message.

I was somewhat erroneous. You can apparently still get sued even after the RIAA made the announcement they were going to stop suing. However there isn't a thing you can do going forward (although this is the one case since announcement) because they sued for a case opened in 2007. SO....technically they are not OPENING any cases, but they are still tracking them. Regardless, they just can't seem to do anything right...

http://arstechnica.com/tech-policy/news/2009/03/hypocrisy-or-necessity-riaa-continues-filing-lawsuits.ars

I wasn't stupid about my downloading. I was able to slip under the RIAA radar for years during the Napster boom and never got a warning. I download everything legally now, or purchase albums (I am a vinyl freak) and rip them to my own personal computer (which, apparently is illegal too because you share them with yourself). The article I posted maintains a "watch" is placed on an account. They dropped opening cases in 2008. So if you got a watch or warning letter before summer 2008 you should be careful.

Edit: Sorry for editing some of my posts and sort of making a mess of this thread, I want to make sure that you don't target me as an illegal downloader, nor do I want to disillusion people (Yes, I admit the first sentence in my original post was wrong) but just tell people what the RIAA has announced. :beerchug:

A quick trip to Chapter 7 will take care of that judgment.

Btw I have zero remorse for the RIAA, copyright infringement or not they handled it wrong and lost billions over the years because of it. They only realized it after a decade, rejecting analysis and opinions from consultants, media, politicians, and MOST importantly the musicians themselves (btw I'm a musician as well) because they were determined this was the best way to go about things.

FWIW I own almost all of my music legally, spent thousands on it over the years. Also, this "end of lawsuits" commentary doesn't apply to the MPAA.


Edit: sorry for all the posts, different things coming to mind. I'll edit my first since it is technically erroneous.

You think you're a unique case? Most people never even get a warning.. only a select unlucky few get sued, and only as a way for the RIAA to make an example of them, which doesn't seem to work.

You think you're a unique case? Most people never get a warning.. only a select unlucky few get sued, and only as a way for the RIAA to make an example of them, which doesn't seem to work.

So how do they set these hilarious fines? It's not as if you can tell your insurance company to give you 500,000 dollars because your 5000 dollar car got stolen.

A lot of times the ISP will give the user a cease and desist notice, and if that doesn't stop it that they will move forward. True, some get caught out of the blue. Colleges (where I've solely downloaded for the last 5 years - make that LEGALLY seeing as Amazon and iTunes came out) give students a cease and desist warning. I know several who have gotten in trouble for downloading stuff and stopped after the C&D.

I'm not urging anyone to download illegally, do so at your own risk and obviously legally is preferred. But I think the facts should be known - the RIAA DID announce they were stopping the lawsuits (remember reading it on Yahoo and Ars technica) but apparently that didn't really do much. What a swell group!

Once again, my disclaimer: I DO own most of my music, any that "technically" I don't own is "technically" owned by my college radio station which has purchased the albums. I don't distribute anything (they are DRMed anyway), nor do I download illegally ripped albums.

This is one of the major problems in the digitial age and its time that the MPAA and RIAA create technology that prevents copyright infringement. However whenever a copyright protection comes out someone always figures out how to get around it. ISP providers needs to work together with the MPAA and RIAA and figure something out.

Most of the lawsuits that go to court are legit. Most of the lawsuits are targeted at torrent sites owners and operators and people like in this case. Whenever you do something like run a torrent site and create torrents from the orginals then you are painting a bullseye right on you.

The people who created things that many people enjoy should have the feeling that their creation will be protected and they recieve their rewards.

its an issue thats complicated and also delicate too

Statutes set the fines. Simple math.

Shoplifting is a crime; taking shellfish from another fisherman's traps is a crime; even borrowing my bicycle without permission is a crime . . . but everything on the internet should be free.

Yeah, tons of issues to walk around, but if the RIAA/MPAA had handled it correctly from the beginning, they would be fine. Why didn't they set up SnoCap, iTunes, or another CHEAPER yet still profitable alternative? They wouldn't have to print the CDs, which does factor into the cost. Just one suggestion. If you talk to many artists and bands, they support distributing music on their own. Many of the bands I played with and me included (back when I was playing shows) preferred to fund our own recording, printing, etc. and distribute at our shows - everyone wins. Fans get a cheaper CD and the band gets a bigger cut. The people who do typically get sued are the ones who distribute wildly...one of the guys I mentioned who got a C&D was using up nearly 1 terabyte of bandwidth a day whcih equaled nearly 50% of his building's total bandwidth at any point in time.

Btw, I didn't mean to last out at you or your post, I apologize if it came across that way.

How does Youtube get to post all those videos? Actually probably works out good for the industry because after hearing some long forgotten tunes on Youtube I bought some songs from different sites that I wouldn't have if it wasn't for Youtube.
Someone told me that if your town plays a song during a parade they pay, so I can't figure how Youtube gets around the copyright issue.

they get around the issue by deleting videos that violate copyright laws. Im sure you got a few favorite videos on you tube and then one day you find it gone. Youtube actually polices their website during maintaince perods