Legal Issues Not a Concern for File Swappers

[wolfman]

This is a lost cause trying to sue people,especially kids,

[Baddog]

Parents are responsible for there children's actions.

[Dracas]

Thats why I keep saying they should let people under a certain age and tax bracket free access to music while people in a broader age and tax bracket should pay either service fees, or buy CD's.

Gimme a break, kids (like Me) didn't have $20 for a new cd, my parents didn't GIVE me an allowance, so I was SOL.

Maybe I should draft a bill and send it to a local rep

[EvilEdwin]

How can they actually prove if your've swapped music? Say you wipe your hard drive. Do the file sharing programs keep records? Does the industry monitor these programs? Seems to me if you don't have the evidence, you don't have a case.

[Dracas]

Its easy.

You pay for an account through an ISP, through a Carrier, you have an IP address that is logged on a massive routing access table with your ISP.

RIAA has been demanding the names and addresses of people at a given IP address (considering its really easy to get an IP and Host mask off of KaZaa, Morpheus, etc..) from carriers like Cox.net, Roadrunner, Time Warner, etc..

They simply hand over your name, your account as well as port-usage information ,all of which is conveniently kept (sometimes, during a debug run of a server) in a logfile with your ISP.

As a matter of fact, if you knew how to 'pretend' well enough, you could get the home address, telephone numbers, and probably the police record of anyone on the internet.

So much for secure anonymity.

[EvilEdwin]

Another thing, apart from obviously making a statement, why is the music industry going after individuals rather then the developers of the file-sharing software? After all a precedent all ready exists with Napster. If they could shut down these developers then it would solve the problem. I know through Kazaa and such you can get more the just music, but I suspect music is what is downloaded the most.

[Dracas]

Its more profitable for the RIAA right now to go after the mass of individual users.

Literally.

Its all a money game for them, they don't care about music, their overcompensating, while CD sales dwindle with rising prices.

I have no fricken clue whats going through their heads really

[Yoshi]

Kazaa is located outside the US, the RIAA has no jurestiction to go after Kazaa

[CompGeek01]

Kazaa isn't centralized though....the company (or persons) who created Kazaa aren't really liable for what the users do, I don't think..maybe to a certain extent..

-B

[Avor]

Why not go after individuals? They've tried going after the software developers (Napster). When they were shut down, more just sprang up. Who says it's not going to happen again?

It seems to me they got fed up with it, and decided that going after individuals is going to slow down, or stop, file sharing.

Heck, if I were in no danger of getting prosecuted, why should I care if the developers are getting shut down? It doesn't hurt me at all.

The users are being somewhat threatened now - and most "rogues" on the net really don't have the balls to stay around and fight.

If you don't have money to pay for something, it still doesn't make stealing right Go get a job, or go house to house asking for odd jobs. I did that when I was 12, and it worked fine!

[oboeman2002]

so ....since i use winmx..should i delete the whole program..so that i will not be caught?

[Kandar]

Most people who download music would never dream of walking into a shop and stealing a CD off the shelf, yet that is effectively what they are do each time they download a copyrighted piece of material. The internet has made theft an easy, acceptable and faceless past time.

Back in the late 70s and early 80s when home tape recorders were becoming standard equipment in the home, there was a big panic about home recording and how it was killing music.
In those days you either paid for the genuine product or you had to make do with a poor quality reproduction taken from a poor quality analogue source.
Today the level of technology available to Mr average Joe is such that digital media can be digitally reproduced in the home without any degradation of sound quality.
MP3 compression coupled with the mass availability of DSL/ADSL internet connections has transformed the way people think. Almost overnight and before the music business knew what had hit them they found themselves running hard just to stay in the race.
Record companies have been able to overcharge for their products for so long because there was no alternative. But now they are in the middle of a backlash and people are now reluctant to pay for what they can get for free.
You can find and download the tune you want in less time than it takes to put your shoes on.

The cat is out of the bag now and there is no way it is going to go back in. The sooner the music industry realises this and stops wasting its time and money on developing copy protection that is cracked before it's even on the shelves and actually lowers the price of CDs, the better it will be for everyone.
People don't mind paying for a quality product but they don't like being ripped off any more than the music business does.

[Dracas]

Whats funny is that this is like big business.

People were mad at monopolies because it killed the small businesses, so rather than impose liability on the small businesses, they launched an assault on Big Business to prevent them from squelching the little guys.

Now, people are mad at RIAA because its killing and suffocating small home bands, and now that these bands have a free outlet (online, and P2P) of expression, RIAA is losing control of its customers and coincidentally - future artists. But rather than imposing standards on RIAA and making a solution, the governments happy to let them pillage and plunder after years of (pretty much tyrannically hiked) CD sales.

Even established artists have taken advantage of P2P, and MP3.com as well, RIAA's trying desperately now to coat their pockets before the inevitable occurs, and 'too far' really does go too far and there'll be no place left for labels.

Welcome to the Underground. Where freedom of expression is worldwide and loud. Its kind of funny too, being a music artist will inevitably fall back on what it was to begin with, a few random minstrels plucking a lute to amuse a small crowd because they enjoyed the music and the admiration of a few fans, rather than fame and money to go out 'pimpin' with.

Live it up people, make the most of the new, because the old is on its way out no matter what ANYONE does. Even the government, because if they get involved, people will complain they're both violating international jurisdiction treatise, and also trying to massively censure entertainment (heck, they already do).

Anywho, welcome to Sysopt Kandar, if you click the "Forums" link at left, you'll find a whole host of threads and topics about everything from stuff like this to how to fix your computer, enjoy and happy posting

[Seitou]

The part i dont understand is this, the RIAA can get the logfiles off all the isps they want, and that may prove you have been using some p2p software, But that doesnt prove anything other than the fact that you use it. P2p software can be used perfectly legally, There are lots of budding artists out there that just want to be heard, and if i use some p2p software to download their music it seems the RIAA thinks it can take me to court over that too. They cant prove i used my p2p software to do anything illegal from what they get off the ISPs.

As for the person who asked why they are going after the individual user instead of the developers, the very same reason applies, P2p software can be used perfectly legally. You are the one stealing the music... The developer should not be held responsible for what you do. If i make you a baseball bat, and you use it to break someones legs, is it my fault?? (maybe not the best example, but it'll do

[Kandar]

Dead right.

If you get knocked down by a car, you don't go trying to prosecute Ford for making it do you?!