I've been having a discussion about music downloading with a couple of friends and was hoping I can get some clarification from the Clutchfans oracle. My friend claim that the RIAA have *only* gone after people who not only download music P2P, but have also acted as nodes to upload music as well. "As long as you don't upload you're ok," my friend claims. First, is this true? Is the RIAA only going after uploaders? Second, if if this were true, there is really nothing preventing the RIAA from going after the downloaders after they squeeze the uploaders dry right? I mean, your ISP probably will keep your internet usage records for a couple of years and I don't know what the statute of limitations is on this kind of stuff. My friend's final rebuttal is that if music downloading is so risky, how come millions of people are still using limewire and bearsahre....
I'm not sure it thats entirely true...but I think I heard the same. They mainly go after the uploaders aka the people who share the music. In regards to the millions still downloading, its because people simply dont care. People will take the risk, I read somewhere that cd sales overall have continuely dropped over the past 5 yrs, and downloading has gone up. The RIAA are fighting a lost cause imo. I don't ever see file sharing going away
It is 100% correct that the RIAA (can) only sue people who upload music. My brother was sued for $10,000 by the RIAA for the exact thing. While talking with their legal department he asked if downloading or uploading was the punishable offense. They relayed clearly that uploading is the only punishable act by law.
I am no expert but who is? Anyways I think its legal to download music or games or text that you already have purchased. So if you buy a CD you can download those songs legally. Logically you could get served for downloading songs then go out and buy those CDs at Best Buy, a pawn shop, or if you are really trying to cover your tracks get someone else to buy it and sell you the CDs under the table. When you get to court you could claim you owned the songs already. So its almost impossible to prosecute. Ah I dont know. But it sounds cool doesnt it!
How did he get caught? I'd heard it would have to be a great volume to catch their attention. Regardless, if all the people stop uploading the whole file sharing scene collapses anyway.
It's easier for them to fry the big sharers and make examples out of them. They could just pick a random movie and start suing the hell out of everyone on the seeder's IP log. Technically, a downloader is an uploader, but no one is going to have 10k downloads on their queue at one time.
Unless you're seeding (100% uploading), other downloaders are getting bits of information from your incomplete file while you're getting bits from them. It spreads the load of sharing the file.
Yes, he and his wife did. In fact, the person whose name was on the actual lawsuit was his wife, because the cable bill was in her name. But they were both liable.
They begged and pleaded with them for a long time while making steady payments and got them down to $7500. Still not chump change. Saddest part? My brother is the biggest music lover I know. He has a billion cds.. goes to tons of concerts.. so sad.. he said he's never buying another cd or going to a major concert again.. rightly so
The RIAA noticed the activity coming from his IP, and requested his personal info from the cable internet company he was using (time warner). He had his entire music collection on his computer (which was tons of cds he had purchased), installed kazaa to look for some live bootlegs/special hard to ind stuff, and kazaa automatically made his music library sharable. He never thought twice about it.
Has anyone been sued by the RIAA for uploading or downloading using bittorrent yet? I know some sites have been shut down, but I really haven't heard about the individual user being attacked by the terrible RIAA. Just in case someone is interested, some guys who support the Pirate Bay website are trying to lobby here in the US. They are calling themselves the Pirate Party or something along those lines. They want to get rid of patents, and make everything accessible to everyone. Of course, nothing will really come to it. The entertainment industry has way to much money to be brought down by a couple of guys.
This is why i never use Kazaa or any of those other programs. They automatically share EVERYTHING and if you turn it off, it tries to trick you into turning it back on.... and RIAA knows this. Its pretty sad they went through with this.
personally i never keep the files on my computer...i usually just delete them(use window washer...that way if they ever want evidence...it's all gone)
