How the RIAA Targets Campus Copyright Violators

jyosim writes "The Chronicle of Higher Ed got a briefing at RIAA headquarters on how the group catches pirates. They just use LimeWire and other software that pirates use, except that they've set up scripts to search for songs, grab IP numbers, and send out notices to college officials. They claim they don't target specific colleges, though many feel that they do."

Re:Sue LimeWire ...

[Anonymous Coward]

It's peer to peer. How else is your client going to know what machine to communicate with?

Re:RIAA "making available"

[Danse]

Sounds like entrapment to me, like the mafRIAA is "making avaible" the same mp3s they are accusing people of downloading... bastards.

You can't entrap someone unless you're a government agent. They aren't suing people for downloading anyway, they're suing them for uploading.

Chicago ordinance will put an end to independents

[VampireByte]

Small music venues are being targeted [suntimes.com] in Chicago; it appears that the city wants to make sure the only live music shows are in large arenas. Who benefits? Let's see. No more opportunities for independent artists to perform. Hmmm, guess the only way to hear live music is to go to a huge arena to see some crappy pop act produced by riaa minions. So are laws like this being proposed in other cities? Is Chicago just the start? Is this the next step in music industry dominance?

Re:RIAA "making available"

[TheRealMindChild]

That isn't how the whole music industry works. When any random band signs a typical contract with the "Big Nasty", they essentially own your soul. They own the music, possibly the band name, and likely the logo and art that go along with it... and they have the right to do pretty much anything they want with it. They are a predatory bunch. Imagine all of this, and THEN finding out that YOUR on the hook for production costs of your albums too. It should be a crime. Unfortunately, they have more money than God.

Re:Not exactly targeting...

[Lord Byron II]

Where do they get off saying that they don't have the technical means to target? If they can tell what IPs belong to which schools then they absolutely have the means with which to target.

Re:RIAA "making available"

[Shagg]

You're correct, but they're not suing people for downloading from the RIAA. It's the unauthorized people who are uploading that are illegally distributing the files.

Re:Make your own song

[Shagg]

It's not copyright infringement if you're distributing your own material.

Re:Could they not do the same with torrents?

[number11]

Azerus has a section where you can see who is seeding and leaching. It shows IP info if I'm not mistaken. Can they not do this with Torrents?

Easily.

How does that differ from Limewire?

With a torrent there isn't any way to "see all of the songs that a given file sharer is offering to others", just that one. And in fact, most people only do a few torrents at a time, so even if the RIAA could detect them, it wouldn't sound very impressive. They'd prefer to be able to go into court and say, "Look at this list! This criminal mastermind was distributing 2000 files! But we're only asking money for the five that we actually downloaded."

Re:If you P2P then use protection.

[number11]

Peerguardian

Peerguardian is better than nothing. But not by a lot. It maybe keeps the MafIAA from spotting you from their own IP address, but sometimes they neglect to inform PG when the IP numbers change. The MafIAA is perfectly capable of getting online via their local cable system (or one in Russia, for that matter, the tubes go everywhere), or registering a domain under an assumed name, or doing it from their mom's basement.

Re:Maybe capitalism really does promote darwanism

[Anonymous Coward]

The poster meant the settlements the RIAA gets which do not have dubious legality. They are of course taxable [irs.gov] and the poster is an idiot but that's another matter.

Re:Harvard anyone?

[SlickNic]

Harvard has yet to see a single take down notice or legal action seeking the identity of someone on the Harvard network as of 5-02-2008. http://blog.wired.com/27bstroke6/2008/05/riaa-says-harva.html [wired.com]

Re:Maybe capitalism really does promote darwanism

[reebmmm]

Good thing that you're not my accountant. That's just bad legal and tax advice.

As far as I know, taxation of civil judgments is common. Certain awards are probably excluded from income, but not to the extent you seem to think so.

A quick google search has at least one law firm saying exactly this: Taxation of Legal Damages [hapmaylaw.com]:

Damage awards are generally taxable if they were intended to compensate the taxpayer as follows: compensation for lost wages or profits; punitive damages, even if they relate to a physical injury or sickness; amounts received in settlement of pension rights when the taxpayer did not contribute to the plan; interest on any award; damages for patent or copyright infringement, breach of contract, or interference with business operations; and back pay and damages for emotional distress received under Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964.

The 3 key points in the article

[NewYorkCountryLawyer]

To my mind the key points in the article [blogspot.com] are:

1. MediaSentry is a customer of Audible Magic software, the software in which Dr. Jacobson has an indirect financial interest, and uses Audible Magic software as part of its investigation. So when Dr. Jacobson testifies about how reliable MediaSentry is, he's talking about his customer, and when he testified that he doesn't know what their procedures are, he was lying.

2. The software process used by MediaSentry differs markedly from the way Richard Gabriel has sought to describe it in his representations to various courts.

3. Cara Duckworth, the RIAA's spokesperson, admits that

the RIAA can tell only when a song is being offered for users to illegally download; investigators have no way of knowing when someone else is actually downloading the song.

Re:RIAA "making available"

[MiKM]

Programs like PeerGuardian already block IPs belonging to RIAA and friends.