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Massive Increase in RIAA Copyright Notices
Posted by
Soulskill
on Fri May 02, 2008 07:18 AM
from the harnessing-the-power-of-spam dept.
from the harnessing-the-power-of-spam dept.
According to Wired, universities in the US are experiencing a "20-fold increase" in the number of takedown notices from the RIAA in the last ten days. Indiana University reports 80 notices a day, but they say their traffic hasn't increased significantly over the same time period. It will be interesting to see if the affected schools join the legal battle against the RIAA, or cave under the increased pressure.
"University of California at Berkeley's chief information officer Shel Waggener confirmed he'd heard of the spikes and suggested there was a political purpose driving them. 'Public universities are in a unique position since the industry puts pressure on us through state legislatures to try to impose what are widely considered to be draconian content monitoring measures and turn us into tech police forces in support of a specific industry,' Waggener said. The RIAA is also backing legislation in states such as Illinois and Tennessee that would require schools that get a certain number of notices to begin installing deep packet monitoring equipment on their internet and intranets, according to Luker."
Related Stories
[+]
Entertainment: University of Ohio Abandons Students Attacked by RIAA 242 comments
newtley writes "The University of Ohio was putting a brave face on being #1 on the RIAA hit list, but it now appears they have caved in to RIAA intimidation. Now, 'It appears that many institutions are simply prepared to wash their hands, refusing even to question the tactics of the industry,' let alone giving students meaningful legal assistance, says Ohio lawyer Joe Hazelbaker. He's written to OU associate director of legal affairs Barbara Nalazek saying, 'Ohio University has an obligation to protect the privacy of its students and their records, which includes directory information.' The Recording Industry vs. The People blog is hosting a letter universities whose students being attacked might want to consider."
[+]
News: University of San Francisco Law Clinic Joins Fight Against RIAA 106 comments
NewYorkCountryLawyer writes "The RIAA's litigation campaign has met resistance from the academic community before, but now it's been taken to a whole new level: the defense of RIAA victims who are not part of the college community. First the University of Oregon lashed out on behalf of its students, then it was the University of Maine's Cumberland Legal Aid Clinic on behalf of its undergrads. Now, the University of San Francisco School of Law has taken the fight a giant step further. Its Intellectual Property Law Clinic's attorneys-in-training, working under the supervision of law professors, are going to bat against the RIAA by helping outside lawyers to defend their clients, pro bono. They reached out 3000 miles to get involved in Elektra v. Torres and Maverick v. Chowdhury, two cases going on in Brooklyn, NY, against non-college defendants. Two of the law students in the USF's legal program assisted in the research and preparation of briefs in these cases, opposing the RIAA's motion to dismiss the defendants' counterclaims. Thousands of honor students throughout United States law schools, most of them digital natives who actually understand the legal fallacies and technological missteps the RIAA is taking, and who can't wait to expose them, make a pretty good resource for the poor and middle class people trying to defend these cases."
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It seems to me... (Score:5, Insightful)
I do hope they call the RIAA's bluff. What's happening now is modern-day extortion!
Re:It seems to me... (Score:5, Interesting)
If I were them I would be promoting sub-$10 DVDs and sub-$6 CDs and items that add value to movie packages--pictures, 2nd disks packed with extras, subscriptions, etc. In fact they should be sending free promos to the young people who are prominent bloggers and promoters of the music.
Surely they realize that most college students aren't about to spend $18-$25 on new DVD movies, so why not cater to this market with a reduced cost product rather than sue the hell out of them for sharing media?
When I was in college it was all about sharing music--our roommates had a record we liked, so we taped it--we didn't run out to the store and spend $8 that I didn't have in order to possess a legal copy. We taped albums off the radio, too. I don't think for a minute that this hurt the music industry; it spread the music around and generated more enthusiasm for the artists. We went to the concerts and we got excited when new records came out. The music was being played, people were singing it, what more could they ask?
These days it's like this dark, evil robotic machine floating overhead, waiting to zap anyone who gets out of line. So foolish. I miss the old days.
Parent
Re: (Score:2)
"stealing labor without payment" is far more effective. Like the phrase "breaking-into stores and stealing".
Re: (Score:3, Insightful)
1.) To take (the property of another) without right or permission.
2.) To present or use (someone else's words or ideas) as one's own.
3.) To get or take secretly or artfully: steal a look at a diary; steal the puck from an opponent.
4.) To give or enjoy (a kiss) that is unexpected or unnoticed.
Copy:
1.) To make a reproduction or copy of.
2.) To follow as a model or pattern; imitate
Funny how those two words are pretty much nothing alike in real world definitions. I even double checked each word's synonyms
Re: (Score:2)
It's the beginnings of a new way to market and profit from music. As more sites become available to art
Re: (Score:2)
20. to let loose; free from bonds or restraint.
21. to release, as from constraint, obligation, or penalty.
24. to shoot; discharge; let fly: to loose missiles at the invaders.
From http://dictionary.reference.com/search?q=loose&x=0&y=0 [reference.com]
Though I doubt that most people are confusing this form with the adjective form, it bears mentioning if only because the verb forms are fairly similar--in each form, something is lost. Only in one of the forms, it's intentional.
Re: (Score:2)
I was under the impression that, in the form you cited, something was loosed, not lost. ; )
Re: (Score:2)
But that goes to my argument about the loosening of language, in general. When there aren't good synonyms for words with specific meanings, I hate to see those words take on additional (and particularly similar) definitions. Take ironic, for example. Alanis Morisette killed that word. A whole generation of people now think that ironic means an amusing or unfortunate coincidence.
Re: (Score:3, Insightful)
Thank you.
Sounds like that 101 prof has absorbed more cynicism than is healthy. It's an important nutrient in small doses, but toxic at higher levels. Since people in teaching professions who have accumulated dangerous concentrations of the toxin have been known to transmit it to susceptible students via osmosis, he should probably take a break. That's what sabbaticals are for, right?
It's true that you can't teach people who have decided they don't care. But if someone has reached the conclusion that no
Re: (Score:2, Insightful)
Politically motivated? (Score:5, Interesting)
Or perhaps I'm reading too far into this, meh.
Re: (Score:3, Insightful)
Built for fraud by MafiAA (Score:2, Insightful)
Meaning, the RIAA can send a bunch of fraudulent notices, and then have added pressure on the overworked IT guys.
"Nice network youse gots here... pity if something should... HAPPEN... to it..."
MafiAA can rot in hell along with the assholes who put up red-light cameras and then drop the yellow light time below the state safety requirements to
Re:Built for fraud by MafiAA (Score:4, Funny)
Parent
Re: (Score:2)
Interest
Activist
Association
Hm.. Oh yeah, if we actually use that, I want 12% of any profits made. Copyright's a bitch baby:P
Re: (Score:2)
Desperate Much? (Score:3, Insightful)
Its time for the rest of the universities to step up and put and end to this extortion.
Universities To Do What?? (Score:3, Interesting)
2. Shel's got it right in the sense that public-ish universities like Berkeley are the softest target for the RIAA. It's the public money and accompanying political pressure the media conglomerates can easily exert that will win the RIAA another battle.
3. If the RIAA's behavior is so offensive, then what exactly will
Re: (Score:2)
I have a feeling a lot of other people haven't bought movies from them, either...
Re: (Score:2)
Thenk you for the heads up (Score:5, Interesting)
I'll be scribbling a note to my legislators today, and maybe another one to the Illinois Times, too. Oh yeah, the Trib and the St Louis Post Dispatch. Might be nice if someone would post a comprehensive list of states so other slashdotters can slashdot their congresscritters' email servers.
Why is it that we never heard about this crap in the Trib or the Post? Never ascribe to incompetence that which can be explained by malice.
-mcgrew
Re: (Score:2)
I'm in Illinois and I really want to know where this magic legislation is, because I've never heard anything about it either. If you find anything please email me at slashdot.9.antispam1@spamgourmet.com or kick me a blog comment on it.
Re: (Score:2)
Re: (Score:2)
I'll be scribbling a note to my legislators today, and maybe another one to the Illinois Times, too. Oh yeah, the Trib and the St Louis Post Dispatch. Might be nice if someone would post a comprehensive list of states so other slashdotters can slashdot their congresscritters' email servers.
You mean legislators actually care about what their constituents think? When did this start?
Why is it that we never heard about this crap in the Trib or the Post?
Maybe because apart from slahdotters, libertarian
Hit the universities in the pocketbook (Score:5, Interesting)
How many prospective college students are going to choose a university that is actively spying on them 24/7?
Hit collaborators' universities (Score:2)
RIAA - IP Police (Score:2)
RIAA is supposed to be a watchdog for a "for profit" business/industry. OK, but all studies conclude that file sharers buy music more than those who do not. File sharing is the new way for people to discover new music. Its replacing the radio. Nothing RIAA is doing is actually helping the industry for which it is supposed to be working.
If one were to don their tin-foil
Quick! Before they stop us! (Score:2)
Sovereign immunity (Score:3, Interesting)
Re: (Score:2)
Re: (Score:2)
Good thing that... (Score:2)
Who's still downloading music, anyways? There's been so very little music that's come out in the past 5 years that's actually worth listening to that you have no reason for not being able to afford buying the album. Besides, you would've thought that people have amassed enough music via downloads
I don't understand their goal here (Score:2)
response to the PRO-IP act? (Score:2)
I'm hoping they join the legal battle.... (Score:2)
University of Oregon [blogspot.com],
Marshall University [blogspot.com],
University of Maine Law School [blogspot.com],
University of San Francisco Law School [blogspot.com], and
Harvard University Law School [blogspot.com].
Try my shoes, a private university (Score:2)
However, the increased pressure on me to "do something" about it goes way up when higher ups start seeing 4-5x the amount of notices coming in. They panic because they are a private university and can't stand up to "the man" like these public ones do.
The bigger problem is that student IP's are NAT'ed so I get notices wit
Maybe they're planning to sue colleges and.... (Score:2)
Then again, (Score:2)
collateral damage (Score:2)
anyone caught via ip identification is simply collateral damage that drives the development of the next cycle of cryptic clients. and also drives users to the next software cycle out of fear as well
so thank you riaa, for providing the motivation to develop battle-scarred, robust, secure identity-hiding file sharing
(rolls eyes)
you can't win this game, riaa morons.
Sue the Universities & the RIAA (Score:2, Insightful)
Hear ye! Hear ye! Students reduce your tuition costs to ZERO! Get a free house paid for by your university when you graduate! Sue them for $1
Why bother downloading any more? (Score:2)
imeem.com [imeem.com]
last.fm [last.fm]
spiralfrog.com [spiralfrog.com]
deezer.com [deezer.com]
qtrax.com [qtrax.com]
And that's even before we get to the ones of questionable legality like muxtape and projectplaylist Yet p2p sharing of music is still huge, youtube and its clones seems to have made a big difference in the amount of movie sharing via p2p, why haven't the music sites done the same?
College kids are easy targets (Score:2, Insightful)
The RIAA "knows" that there are thousands of students on the university's networks, and many of them may be sharing files "illegially." So, they say that they see a large amount of illegal traffic from the university's network, and the university then does the work to shut down file sharing. So, the RIAA accomplishes what they set out to do, and they didn't even have to get their hands dirty.
And if that doesn't work, then they subpoena IP addresses and
Re: (Score:3, Funny)
What's death throwing? A dictionary [thefreedictionary.com]?
Re: (Score:3, Funny)
I'll just roll the dice again a few times. Oh no! The RIAA comes back as an army of fifty immortal Zombie Lawyers, each with a +2 damage modifier against Pirates. And they're resistant to damage from illegally copied spells.
Re: (Score:2)
Re: (Score:2)
-k
Re: (Score:2)
Maybe it is being already done, but why not just encrypt the info as it is being sent?
One year later...
RIAA Lobbyist: Mr. Speaker, I stand before you to inform you of the greatest threat to national security in the history of the United States: encryption. Allowing everyday citizens to have access to encryption, and transmit encrypted information over the Internet, will let Al Qaida, Iraq, Iran and North Korea collaborate right under our noses and lead to massive 9/11's throughout the United States! Also, child pornography.
Speaker: Goodness! We must outlaw all encryption in the hands of
Re: (Score:2, Funny)
Re: (Score:2, Informative)
Verified:
Jacobson's Deposition [blogspot.com], Pages 5-7 - It says he sells packet monitoring software to universities, through his company Palisade Systems [palisadesys.com]
.
I just love how obviously un-impartial this guy truly is (not to mention the well established ineptitude of his methodology and statements, which has been discussed on slashdot a number of times before).
Re: (Score:2)
Verified: Jacobson's Deposition [blogspot.com], Pages 5-7 - It says he sells packet monitoring software to universities, through his company Palisade Systems [palisadesys.com] . I just love how obviously un-impartial this guy truly is (not to mention the well established ineptitude of his methodology and statements, which has been discussed on slashdot a number of times before).
Yes, and the letters mysteriously stop [blogspot.com] as soon as the university coughs up $76,000 to buy his software. Definitely something to look into [blogspot.com].