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Massive Increase in RIAA Copyright Notices

Posted by Soulskill on Fri May 02, 2008 08:18 AM
from the harnessing-the-power-of-spam dept.
Education Media Music
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."
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Massive Increase in RIAA Copyright Notices 25 Comments More /

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  • It seems to me... (Score:5, Insightful)

    by ta bu shi da yu (687699) on Friday May 02 2008, @08:27AM (#23273046) Homepage
    ... that they are shooting themselves in the foot. The more they annoy the Universities, the more likely they'll believe the effort and cost is too great. Hopefully they will then be forced to defend themselves.

    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)

      by yog (19073) * on Friday May 02 2008, @10:12AM (#23274124) Homepage Journal
      I don't understand why the RIAA is still at it. Their mission should be to increase the market for their members' goods and services, not to litigate against thousands of customers over a period of many years.

      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.

      • Re: (Score:3, Insightful)

        by Anonymous Coward
        Steal:
        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:3, Insightful)

              by Lijemo (740145)

              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

  • Politically motivated? (Score:5, Interesting)

    by AstrumPreliator (708436) on Friday May 02 2008, @08:28AM (#23273052)
    Perhaps because of the recent legal blows they've received in court they're trying to hasten their tactic. Maybe if they make it look like piracy is sky rocketing all of a sudden the legislators will hastily pass some laws to help them out. The courts are onto them, so the legislators might wise up next. If that happens the RIAA may be screwed.

    Or perhaps I'm reading too far into this, meh.
  • 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

    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)

      by Missing_dc (1074809) on Friday May 02 2008, @08:40AM (#23273132)
      So, since they seem to have a plan for pushing their agenda, we should start an anti-MafiAA group, form counter strategies to push our anti-AA agendas like letter campaigns to senators, lawyers and universities. Or we could just fight dirty and hijack their sites, turn their servers into FTP shares of the most popular songs, destroy the officer's credit, burn their houses, rape, pillage.... Oh sorry, getting a little carried away. The above would never happen. Organizing nerds is like trying to herd spastic epileptic cats. Just look at the variety of open source projects and the speed at which things get done there.

  • Desperate Much? (Score:3, Insightful)

    by Aranykai (1053846) <slgonser AT gmail DOT com> on Friday May 02 2008, @08:30AM (#23273058)
    The actions of the RIAA are becoming increasingly desperate in my opinion. Taking a look at the utter failure of suing individuals for infringement, they are turning to these organizations where they can use pressure from the public to get their way.

    Its time for the rest of the universities to step up and put and end to this extortion.
    • 1. I get a huge kick out of this Shel person quote. Since when is plain-speaking rewarded or even sanctioned in big-school politics? Shel must be planning to move onto a much smaller school.

      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

  • Thenk you for the heads up (Score:5, Interesting)

    by sm62704 (957197) on Friday May 02 2008, @08:38AM (#23273116) Journal
    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."

    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
    • Yep SM,

      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.
    • Yes, if anyone had the reference # for the bill that would be awesome. I don't really want to write to my state legislator and be like, "Don't vote for that bill that is nice to the RIAA, you know the one I mean!"

  • Hit the universities in the pocketbook (Score:5, Interesting)

    by glindsey (73730) on Friday May 02 2008, @09:07AM (#23273338)
    Help start up a public service: make sure to spread the word to every high school student you know, telling them exactly which schools are eavesdropping on all of their Internet traffic. Broadcast it via every means possible. Let them know that if they decide to attend that school, every IM conversation, every email, every website they visit while on campus will be scrutinized by the administration for possible "illegal behavior."

    How many prospective college students are going to choose a university that is actively spying on them 24/7?
  • I am suspicious of RIAA, not because of Music, but because the things they are pushing for only tangentially have anything to do with Music.

    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
  • ... well, it sounds like they're going to hurry things up - before the tactics they use are declared illegal.

  • Sovereign immunity (Score:3, Interesting)

    by wytcld (179112) on Friday May 02 2008, @09:43AM (#23273696) Homepage
    Recalling the ruling by the Ninth Circuit recently that states enjoy sovereign immunity from copyright infringement suits, why don't the state colleges and universities extend their umbrella of protection to their students? For instance, what if they hired each student, for $1 a year, to be an "Associate Data Archivist"? Then, in the course of that employment, under the protection of sovereign immunity, each student would be empowered to review and collect any data relevant to his or her broad duties as archivist for the state's premier cultural and educational institutions?

    • These may be what you call "Death Throws?"

      What's death throwing? A dictionary [thefreedictionary.com]?

      • You do a death throw after you've failed your saving throw. Roll 3d6, then look up the number in your rulebook to see how you died. In this case the RIAA has rolled 18, so it's... ah, one moment... ah, here it is.

        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.

    • 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

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