RIAA Now Filing Suits Against Consumers Who Rip CDs

[ThePitt]

Despite more than 20,000 lawsuits filed against music fans in the years since they started finding free tunes online rather than buying CDs from record companies, the recording industry has utterly failed to halt the decline of the record album or the rise of digital music sharing.

Still, hardly a month goes by without a news release from the industry's lobby, the Recording Industry Association of America, touting a new wave of letters to college students and others demanding a settlement payment and threatening a legal battle.

Now, in an unusual case in which an Arizona recipient of an RIAA letter has fought back in court rather than write a check to avoid hefty legal fees, the industry is taking its argument against music sharing one step further: In legal documents in its federal case against Jeffrey Howell, a Scottsdale, Ariz., man who kept a collection of about 2,000 music recordings on his personal computer, the industry maintains that it is illegal for someone who has legally purchased a CD to transfer that music into his computer.

The industry's lawyer in the case, Ira Schwartz, argues in a brief filed earlier this month that the MP3 files Howell made on his computer from legally bought CDs are "unauthorized copies" of copyrighted recordings.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/conte...7122800693.html

[Brandon]

How does our government allow this abusive behavior?

Also, why can't terrorists bomb the RIAA headquarters, at least people would be happier then

[sjgore]

If you're not sharing music online, then how do they know that you have an MP3 collection?

[HideAndGoatse]

How does our government allow this abusive behavior?

Also, why can't terrorists bomb the RIAA headquarters, at least people would be happier then

+1

And I still can't see how making a copy is illegal. Like when watching a NFL game, they have that disclaimer that says you need our permission blah blah blah, but where on CDs does it say you can't for YOUR OWN reasons, not to give to other people.

P.S. In the article it says

The RIAA's Web site says: "If you make unauthorized copies of copyrighted music recordings, you're stealing. You're breaking the law and you could be held legally liable for thousands of dollars in damages."

ok...so? Who is the RIAA? They are not the government, they are just a group of people, they don't make laws. If I put on my website "Every time you eat a candy bar, your fingers will fall off" and make that sound professional :rofl: then does that become law? No! Its just some cracked out people with too much money and big heads, they believe that they are the law and no one is going to stop them. We need the real government to get in on this. Edited December 30, 2007 by Bekabam

[OMEGA_RAZER]

Also, why can't terrorists bomb the RIAA headquarters, at least people would be happier then

heh, no doubt eh :p

[Azusa]

well isn't this just the start of the count down?

[betasp]

The suit was filed for sharing, the brief also argued that ripped CDs were also illegal. The headline is inaccurate.

[ATLien_0]

i thought when you buy a cd it is like a contract saying its yours.

the riaa is still stuck in the early 1990s and have they not realized that ripping cds have been going on for years.

the digital age is here and they need to understand this.

this is why bands like radiohead are dropping the label...

[Shof]

Another stupid case by the riaa

[betasp]

i thought when you buy a cd it is like a contract saying its yours.

the riaa is still stuck in the early 1990s and have they not realized that ripping cds have been going on for years.

the digital age is here and they need to understand this.

this is why bands like radiohead are dropping the label...

The physical media is yours, the stuff on it is licensed to you. You don't own it.

[Julius Caro]

In Spain something like that would be completely illegal. In fact, due to their shady and morally unjustifiable taxes on EVERYTHING that allows the storage or copy of copyrighted material, they have kinda gave the consumer enough legal base to demand all kinds of copy protection to be illegal.

While piracy, if it wasn't illegal, was made illegal, the right to make copies for personal use was always there, here in spain. No matter how hard they've tried, they could never make it illegal. Some judges have ruled in favor of the users when it comes to file sharing too, when they aren't getting money. They've gone against webpages that made file sharing easier, even if they didn't host the files themselves, simply because they got insane amounts of money due to web advertising.

The point is, now they have a tax on everything that can store or copy copyrighted material. That is: blank media, hard drives, flash memories, mobile phones, mp3 players, etc.

Their reasoning was that the artists deserved compensation because the consumers were allowed to make a personal copy of their material (after actually purchasing it). That's the reasoning both the government and the SGAE (spanish riaa) gave. In reality, the tax is just a way of getting back what they don't get due to decreased sales and file sharing.

Of course, they can't publicly give those reasons, because saying so would be assuming that everybody who buys blank media is going to use it to store or copy this protected material, as if they were criminals. So in the end, since the right to copy is something ALL consumers are entitled to, that's the only reasoning they could give for the stupid tax.

Now consumers associations are looking forward to make copy protection illegal. Reasoning? "We pay, we copy". They can't charge the consumer for "copying" and making it impossible for the consumer to "copy" at the same time.

Down with those bastards!

[ViperAFK]

I don't mean to defend the RIAA, but the lawsuit is that he ripped the CD and put the files in his Kazaa shared folder.

[bmdixon]

Ok so we're not allowed to rip cd's so why keep buying them....I'll just download them, i'm breaking the law either way... :ninja:

Can save myself lots of money by not buying them to pay for the court if/when i get caught :hmmm:

(Disclaimer (for RIAA purposes :p): Not actually doing this, just thought i'd highlight it.. :ninja:

[mircleman]

The physical media is yours, the stuff on it is licensed to you. You don't own it.

Actually your wrong the moment you buy that cd its yours. That means physically and the music. HOWEVER even though you own the music to do with personnely anything you wish. EXCEPT you may not use it for public means. sharing,making copies to give to friends is not allowed. they are incorrect that you cant put it on your computer. the way the copyright law currently reads you MAY make copies ,put it on a mp3,computer etc. again riaa trying to make their own laws.

[roadgeek9]

Isn't it wonderful how our government treats us?

My answer: :no:

[Ayepecks]

The physical media is yours, the stuff on it is licensed to you. You don't own it.

The Supreme Court disagrees with you.

[+Nik Louch Subscriber²]

I don't mean to defend the RIAA, but the lawsuit is that he ripped the CD and put the files in his Kazaa shared folder.

Exactly. RIAA are ######, but no need to misquote to prove it!

[Tha Bloo Monkee]

The suit was filed for sharing, the brief also argued that ripped CDs were also illegal. The headline is inaccurate.

+1

I think that's ridiculous tho to sue someone who rips CDs. Like others are saying, they can't make their own laws. I really don't think that they would win a case if they tried to sue someone who did not share any music, but ripped CDs he/she owned.

If I buy the CD I'll do whatever I want with it (such as ripping it). I paid for it. Of course we all know you can't make copies for other people tho, that's reasonable.

[roadgeek9]

You know who else is a group of ***holes? The MPAA. Because of them, it took me 4 hours just to get a stupid DVD to play on my linux box.

[Konstanov]

The Supreme Court disagrees with you.

Real Link.

That one was broken.

[tonyjr]

Am I allowed to copy from CD to a tape to play in my old car stereo?

[Tha Bloo Monkee]

^ I don't know about legally (because there's many stupid laws), but if you paid for that CD, why not?

Also depends on where you live.

[roadgeek9]

If the RIAA weren't around, I'd say yes.

[Eric Veteran]

Am I allowed to copy from CD to a tape to play in my old car stereo?

RIAA answer: No. You can't even listen to it since you didn't buy the "listening license" when you bought the disc.

Real answer: Go right ahead. Ignore the RIAA. Their opinion is worthless. ;)

[remix17]

Also, why can't terrorists bomb the RIAA headquarters, at least people would be happier then

(Y)