The Music Industry Abandons Lawsuits and gets Ready to Boot Offenders off the Net
The Music Industry Abandons Lawsuits and gets Ready to Boot Offenders off the Net
Posted 12/21/2008 at 4:32pm
| by Justin Kerr
13
Comments
Print
About a month ago we took a look at a disturbing new trend that was emerging in Australia involving the movie industry’s new approach to copyright enforcement. It now appears as though this heavy handed approach has indeed crossed the ocean and the RIAA is preparing to switch gears. Over the past 6 years the music industry has initiated lawsuits against over 35,000 people. Seniors, minors, or the deceased, nobody was safe from the wrath of the recording industry. This public relations nightmare was bound to end sooner or later, but their new approach could see tens of thousands of internet users booted off the web.
The Wall Street Journal has uncovered agreements made between several unnamed ISP’s and the RIAA which will make it possible for them to force internet service providers to disconnect user’s who refuse to cease and desist music sharing after being issued a written warning. Warnings will likely start with an emailed notice of violation which can then lead to restricted bandwidth, or in worst case scenarios as we mentioned before, the disconnection of internet service. Under the newly proposed system, the RIAA would forward a notice to the ISP of an offending IP address, and would leave it up to the provider to contact the individual customer. The positive change here would be that your privacy would not be compromised, and the RIAA would not require disclosure of the customer’s name.
The RIAA believes this new approach will “reach more people” and that it cannot afford to ignore piracy. The group cites NPD figures which show that the growth of illegally downloaded content has stalled in the wake of the uncertainty surrounding the lawsuits. Their new approach would be much more covert, and would likely attract less media attention.
So would you rather be sued or booted off the net? I think I’ll pay the 99 cents a track thank you very much.
More like this
habuza
December 22, 2008 at 2:28pm
FTW. If you can't DL stuff w/o getting caught. Don't do it.
As long as there is DRM there will be pirates. And pirates can grow / expand / crack stuff faster than the idiot software commies and RIAA can't block them.
Oh, and philly, tongue shovel my stink ditch. Hater.
bloodgain
December 22, 2008 at 9:01am
This isn't going to stop anybody but the technically challenged, many of whom probably aren't even doing anything wrong. Anybody who even knows anybody who uses BitTorrent and its associated download programs knows how to block "spy" IP addresses from the RIAA, MPAA, and other general snoopers. If you meet someone with any technical skill who admits to downloading copyrighted works, you can't help but ask "aren't you afraid you'll get in trouble," to which the answer will probably be "no - I use PeerGuardian". PeerGuardian is nice even if you just want to supplement your firewall with one of many blacklists of IP addresses for internet nasties. I would even consider using a good blacklist like this to protect my server from known bad IPs -- something supported in several good firewalls.
If the RIAA really wants to reduce piracy, save money, and make money, they should work out a deal allowing songs to be sold for $0.25 per track, DRM free, in high quality and any format. Save the CD artwork and touchy-feelies for the people that want them, and charge a few bucks more. Russian music sites make a killing from US customers using a similar model, which is likely legal by some gray-area legalities and would be solidified by Russia's WTO membership. The RIAA just needs to let US companies compete to get their hands in that money pot. Until reality is a little closer to this, I'll just do without or wait for $5 album downloads, thanks. At least we're reaching the DRM-free mark, now just to get the track prices to a more reasonable level.
Then again, maybe artists and studios will see the light and separate themselves from the RIAA. We can dream. End artist slavery!
dazza145
December 22, 2008 at 2:33am
i live in Australia and this isn’t goingto stop me i have received an e-mail from my isp (we believe you aredownloading illegal games blah blah blah) i sent them a message back explainingthat i would never do such a thing i wouldn’t even know how to (lol) so theysent me an e-mail back saying sorry.
they are all such pushovers
KaylaKaze
December 22, 2008 at 12:00am
This isn't a new idea: the ISDA's been doing it for years. Many years ago, I got a letter from Time-Warner Cable that included a letter from the ISDA claiming I had upload a piece of pirated software. TWC killed my connection for 24 hours. *shrug*
How big exactly does a number have to be before it can be copyrighted?
Fleshynuts
December 21, 2008 at 9:14pm
I've already gotten one of those cease and desist letters, only it was for a movie. People using utorrent and on Charter Communications should watch out. I don't blame utorrent so much, but the fact that charter not only knew I had downloaded the movie but sent me the syntax printout for the download is a little worrisome.
Sovereign
December 21, 2008 at 6:51pm
I fail to see how this will be any different than what the RIAA did before. Piracy can't be stomped out like this; the only weapon that is guaranteed to work is the market (witness the meteoric rise of iTunes). Threats and bullying only make the RIAA look bad. People feel like they are "sticking it to the man" so it actually encourages piracy.
Further, I foresee the same ham-handed, mistake-prone process being employed again, except the consequence is loss of internet rather than a fine. This isn't going to work out well either.
notailmouse2
December 21, 2008 at 6:37pm
1st Amendment
Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or
prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of
speech, or of the press; or the right of the people peaceably to
assemble, and to petition the Government for a redress of grievances.the internet is a major form of communication and is one of the best ways to express our ideas and feeelings and disconnectiong me, i believe, is what is called a "abridging the freedom of
speech" abriging, look it up in the dictionaryjust an opinion
fitzy
December 21, 2008 at 6:14pm
Why Don't they just put this much effort into getting child pornography sharers prosecuted.
dazza145
December 22, 2008 at 2:34am
ha ha ha that is a joke right!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
b_boy_69_00
December 21, 2008 at 5:02pm
Lets see this work on a college campus. You can't pinpoint anybody on a campus just by their IP. Most are hooking wireless routers up in their dorm rooms so there could be several hundred people that could be at fault. I didn't think it could get much more rediculous than them sueing people, but I think they just one-upped themselves.
PS: The smart people will always find a way around the RIAA. All they will get are the stupid people.
BaggerX
December 23, 2008 at 12:59pm
Less stupid people on the Internet sounds fantastic to me... I'm actually kinda torn on this issue now.
Connect with MaximumPC
Featured Content
We introduce Intel's latest class of tablet killers and review 4 of the first Ultra...
Where have all the memorable videogame enemies gone?
This month's issue
Feature
11 Hardware Hacks
Feature
Overclock Your CPU
How-To
Supercharge Your Smartphone
Build It
A Powerful $830 Rig
Most Commented Articles
Latest Max PC Tweets
- maximumpc: Analysts: 9-Inch Kindle Fire This Summer http://t.co/QDYApwCZ1 hour 43 min ago
- maximumpc: Micron: DRAM Prices Likely as Low as They're Going to Get http://t.co/fFUWuFOm4 hours 40 min ago
- maximumpc: Yar, Mateys! All Of Pirate Bay Made Available As A Single 90MB Zip File http://t.co/j5LHlXEZ5 hours 54 min ago
