MAFIAA at it again

[Neato Torpedo]

Redistribute the wealth, redistribute the Screeching Weasel records. That's my motto.

[Tavish]

I find this akin to asking car manufacturers to send out warnings to drivers if they get a speeding ticket.

Internet connections conduct all sorts of illegal activity, but beyond cooperating with investigations, they are under no obligation to police that connection themselves, imo.

You are sooooo living in 2000.
Welcome to the post-9/11 internet where anonymity is a threat to national security and corporate profits. While I don't trust any ISP an inch, this is still better than the government trying take full control of the industry and creating their own form of policy regulation. This is a smart move on the RIAA's part. They pushed the lawsuits for downloaders as far as they could by any means necessary until they started pushing back. Now that the gig is up on that front they need to move on to the next plan of action and start the whole process over. They have said they will still seek lawsuits against the major uploaders but rely on the ISP's to control the more casual downloaders.

[jfg]

I don't have as big of a problem with the RIAA as most, they've allowed subscription plans to succeed and have probably lost quite a bit of money with the new model of cherry picking singles. I don't feel sorry for them at all because they still make a ton of profit and did the wrong thing by suing individuals. But, there are way too many people out there that think that media should all of the sudden be free.

I don't know how I feel about this new turn though. I know suing individuals was the worst thing they could have done. It seems like the only thing they can do is go to ISPs or just let it happen. The only other option I can think of would be to introduce advertising into the equation. I don't buy that if labels start offering DRM free, lossless mp3s and don't take any other action that people will magically stop downloading illegally.

[StlSluggers]

I knew there was a good reason to not like Obama.

Obama Sides With RIAA, Supports $150,000 Fine per Music Track

[Tavish]

I knew there was a good reason to not like Obama.

Obama Sides With RIAA, Supports $150,000 Fine per Music Track

Not too surprising. The Obama DoJ department is crawling with former RIAA lawyers and Biden has been a pro-RIAA guy for quite awhile (at least pro-RIAA lobbyist money). The beauty of the American legal system shines through again, they are using a case from 1919 to ask the judge to greenlight the RIAA's attempt to collect 400,000 times the damage in compensation.

Meet your new politics, same as the old politics.

[Madison]

I knew there was a good reason to not like Obama.

Obama Sides With RIAA, Supports $150,000 Fine per Music Track

Not too surprising. The Obama DoJ department is crawling with former RIAA lawyers and Biden has been a pro-RIAA guy for quite awhile (at least pro-RIAA lobbyist money). The beauty of the American legal system shines through again, they are using a case from 1919 to ask the judge to greenlight the RIAA's attempt to collect 400,000 times the damage in compensation.

Meet your new politics, same as the old politics.

From the article:

The government said the damages range of $750 to $150,000 per violation of the Copyright Act was warranted.

Looks to me like the $150,000 is just so that there is a maximum in place and it's high enough that it gives the law some teeth.

[jfg]

750 is still too high unless they are only going after uploaders. What is the fine for lifting a cd out of Best Buy?

[ayebatter]

750 is still too high unless they are only going after uploaders. What is the fine for lifting a cd out of Best Buy?

Are you talking about walk-in traffic or employees.

[Tavish]

From the article:

The government said the damages range of $750 to $150,000 per violation of the Copyright Act was warranted.

Looks to me like the $150,000 is just so that there is a maximum in place and it's high enough that it gives the law some teeth.

$150,000 fine for something that retails for $0.99 is a little more than giving the law teeth. Even the minimum is excessive IMO.

[Metroid]

Here's an idea: Don't steal something that you can purchase for the change you find between your sofa cushions and you won't have to worry about how much the fine is.




BTW I'm mostly just being a wise ass.