RIAA Now Targeting Retailers 490
merodach writes "According to this story on Headlinenews.com the RIAA is now targeting retailers in it's 'war on piracy.' I think everyone will agree this is something that should be done if the retailer is deliberately pirating. The thing I wonder about in hearing this news is how many of the retailers include used copy stores. With the way the RIAA and some artists *cough*Garth Brooks*cough* have labeled these stores as pirates and theives in the past it seems likely they would be the biggest targets. Have any in the /. crowd actually seen one of the letters sent or know how many of the targeted businesses are used stores? Further - how would the RIAA know how much to demand in 'settlement fees' and is it possible these are being used to shut down the mom-and-pop outfits that trade in used CDs?"
Used CD/DVD stores in Chicago (Score:5, Informative)
Anyone have details about this? I can't find anything on google. Who is the "they?" Is this Illinois law, or Chicago or Cook County? Is this even true that I would have to have my photo and SSN taken when I buy a used DVD? Are the RIAA and MPAA behind this? What the hell is going on?
Re:WalMart (Score:2, Informative)
Declining sales ? (Score:4, Informative)
of course their declining record sales have nothing to do with the public is now fed up of mass marketed pop music where record contracts are won not by original musical talent and song writing , but by nieve and desperate [will-youngonline.com] individuals in f***ing competitions [popidolusa.com] while real talent falls into the gutter, leaving a trail of destruction [sky.com] in its path while the instigators [ananova.com] get rich.
The only thing killing music [bbc.co.uk] is not kids downloading mp3's or pirating dvds at market stalls
why is it that so many companies have so much contempt for their customers and choose to be greedy instead of actually concentrating on superior products ?
Re:I used to buy cd's (Score:3, Informative)
However, be aware that it's not totally unlimited now. There are a number of posts on CNET from customers who have had their accounts terminated after downloading too much in too short a time, and when I asked (quite politely) their customer service department about this, I got a response back that started:
"Although EMusic is an 'unlimited' service, there have to be some restrictions on this policy. EMusic is similar to a buffet advertised as 'all you can eat.' For the restaurant to be successful, it has to have reasonable limitations that apply to people that stay too long, eat more than their fair share -- or waste food."
So their definition of unlimited means unlimited up until a limit. They claim in their e-mail that it's "more than 2,000 tracks in a 30-day period", I haven't personally tested this myself.
At least in the time since I got their e-mail (November 23rd), they've changed the "Unlimited" on their webpage to say "Unlimited*".
Re:WalMart (Score:4, Informative)
There is a lot of hype that gets thrown our way to purchase particular music and software titles. The marketing drones try everything to convince us that something is great and that we must buy it. I say then that they should stand behind their product and offer a refund if it truly doesn't live up to your expectation. Would this get abused by some? Sure. Do I care? Not really. If they want my money then they can earn it.
Re:Don't forget duplicity! (Score:5, Informative)
CNN reported that there were 421 burners involved. CNN was wrong. There were 156.
The RIAA's press release used "new accounting math" to turn the 156 actual units into the equal of 421 units of "normal speed" drives, whatever speed the RIAA felt like was normal. CNN took the funny number and reported it with standard units, therefore making the public thinking the operation was close to triple the size it really was.
Re:Used CD/DVD stores in Chicago (Score:3, Informative)
The short answer to the part about the SSN is probably not. As this site [cpsr.org] points out, there are specific restrictions on the use of the Social Security Number, and you generally don't need to give it. From the site:
"In addition, that section makes it illegal for Federal, state, and local government agencies to deny any rights, privileges or benefits to individuals who refuse to provide their SSNs unless the disclosure is required by Federal statute, or the disclosure is to an agency for use in a record system which required the SSN before 1975. ( 5 USC 552a note)."
More than likely, when they're talking about "personally identifiable information", they're talking about simple things like name, address, telephone number. Basically, they want to be able to find the person should there be a problem with the sale at a later date. I personally don't see where they have any right to require this, but unless you have the funds to fight it in court, chances are you have little choice.
Welcome to the land of the free, now please step this way so we can get your name, address, telephone number, date of birth, social security number, current occupation, annual income, political allegiances, place of origin, ethnicity, financial history, medical history, criminal history, political beliefs, religious beliefs, shopping habits, list of friends and aquantences, sexual preferences, and a list of books you like to read. In addition, we would also ask that you be fingerprinted, submit to a retinal scan and a polygraph, give a blood sample, hair sample, handwriting sample, urine sample, and wear this GPS-enabled chip under the skin of your left arm after we stamp your barcode there.
Re:Used CD/DVD stores in Chicago (Score:4, Informative)
So I'm guessing that the law in Chicago (if there really is such a law) has more to do with burglary than with IP violations. Aren't Pawn shops required to keep similar logs?
Re:Used CD/DVD stores in Chicago (Score:2, Informative)
The guy has a big sign (computer type on white paper stuck to red posterboard) on the storefront quoting the first ammendment and talking about this new legislature and asking people to come inside and sign a petition. I don't remember the name of the store. I tried talking to the guy, but it was closing time and it was clear he wanted to get out of there.
I posted anonymously because I don't want anyone to associate my slashdot user with me (I like being anonymous with my slashdot account - allows me to say that such and such product sucks ass without pissing off colleagues, subordinates and bosses - I'm quite civil in Real Life and my slashdot rants aren't quite so civil).
You're probably right that it's not for purchasing, just for selling. That's at least enough for me to move on and forget about it.
Past flying you out to the actual store, I don't know what I can do to prove that I'm not a troll whilst preserving my anonymity. I could perhaps attempt to prove that I'm a University of Chicago person, as this would bring some legitimacy to the proposition. However, I may have already done so, by wasting a half hour writing an anonymous defense against the accusation of trolling - in the process, proving that I'm quite a spaz.
Re:Desparate Measures (Score:3, Informative)
I used to use Gnutella quite heavily, but it just got worse and worse. I stopped using it to try some other networks. After a couple of months, I was getting frustrated with all the alternatives, and tried to go back to Gnutella. Even more flooded with fake files and nonsense searches (my servent had a thing that could show peoples search requests) than before, to the extent that they seemed to make up the majority of what appeared. After about 20 minutes of this, I just gave up and haven't gone back- I've got better things I could be doing with my time.
As it happens, after that, I ended up giving GNUnet [ovmj.org] yet another go, as its promise had seemed so great- the only thing was, I'd not got the damn thing to work before, too buggy and all the configuration for it was too unclear. But LO! With version 0.4.7 (still current), I got it configured correctly and it worked PROPERLY. I managed to download files! Hurrah!
As there wasn't huge amounts of content, I'm trying to collect a load of it to put onto the network, as the more stuff is available, the more people will stick with it! I recommend to anyone reading this (who uses Linux or unix, etc, as GNUnet doesn't work on Windows yet) to have a try with it, but to bear in mind that it's still in development and still needs work, on the GTK GUI for example. To stay vaguely on-topic, kick the RIAA in the nackers by sticking your MP3s and OGGs on the network- they should be unable to know you did it, let alone prove it (anonymity and deniability is the point of GNUnet), so they won't be able to have you sentenced to death or sold into slavery for it. Please remember, if you want to be decent and help the network run better, choose to allow content migration, I do.
That was a GNUnet information broadcast. Thank-you for listening ;)
Oh, and before I go, why would you not want to use, say KaZaA or Fasttrack (or the other one that uses the same system)? Well obviously these aren't really anonymous, exposing people sharing any content to the wrath of organisation FOO, and maybe more to the point, they use partly centralised systems and are run wholly by specific companies whom the RIAA and their ilk can also go after, and possibly put out of business, or force to reveal details of their users. IIRC, court cases along these lines are happening now. Does that sound a safe choice to go with?
Re:There is no mention of 'used' anywhere (Score:3, Informative)
and to answer you question, I've been in used cd shops in every major city in Florida & have never seen non-legit CD for sale.
Jaysyn
Re:There is no mention of 'used' anywhere (Score:3, Informative)
Re:Corner sandwich shop ripping off poor music exe (Score:4, Informative)
To add to this advice: remember that the ASCAP and BMI licenses are in principle for the songwriters, not the performers. You'll have to be very careful not to play anything that's even remotely close to a cover of a copyrighted song.
Help the Navy (Score:1, Informative)
It really bothered me when I read how the RIAA went after people in the Navy for sharing music. When your half way around the world or just a few mile from the good ole USA you don't pick up radio stations too well if at all as in most cases.
I think if
Every ship has a mailing address and they do accept care packages.
The only reason the RIAA went after the military is because it was an easy target which they could control.
Re:Used CD/DVD stores in Chicago (Score:3, Informative)
Re:Used CD/DVD stores in Chicago (Score:3, Informative)
Re:up next - shrink wrap licenses for CD's... (Score:4, Informative)
The courts ruled, to simplify, that the normal terms of copyright were more powerful than the attempted contract. The purchase of a book (or in your example, a CD) is a copyright transactions, and is subject to the rules of copyright.
So does this mean we have nothing to fear? No, here is what they can do instead. They create a CD with some type of limit against reproduction and/or resale (I don't quite know how they would do the last, perhaps burn a computer system ID onto the disc). The protection does not have to be foolproof, just good enough to meet the legal definition of "effective".
Once they have done that, it would be illegal (thanks to the DMCA) for you to circumvent the protection. That is precisely why the companies want to push "copy protected" CDs, because it allows them to use the full force of the DMCA to limit your actions and presumably make them more money (by giving them more power).