The Red and Black

Pirating students notified by RIAA

Abstract:
The University received 26 letters from the Recording Industry of America Association on Friday for students the association suspects of pirating music. It may be the largest batch of letters sent since the association expanded its campaign in February 2007....

Displaying 1 - 5 of 5

CoastalDawg

posted 4/15/08 @ 1:16 PM EST

Some people NEVER learn; if you download music illegally (and as yet no one has had the resources and/or the time to challenge that in court) chances are that you WILL get caught, so if you're willing to risk having to pay $3,000 for some downloaded tunes, keep on going. Just how the recording industry decides that you've "stolen" $3,000 from them is yet to be decided. Does any of that icing on their cake go to the artists who provided the much? Doubtful, but the recording industry has plenty of money to hire attorneys and take those who download music without paying to court and so far they have won. Be smart, don't do it, unless of course you are that person who has the time and money to challenge the way that the recording industry comes to the conclusion that if you download even one song, it has cost them $3,000.

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Joseph Fisher

posted 4/15/08 @ 2:25 PM EST

It's important to note that no one has ever been sued for "downloading" copyrighted music. RIAA and the like have only sued people who upload copyrighted content. This means if you set your file sharing program to simply download and not upload (bandwidth control settings help, as does moving songs out of the default shared folder) you won't face legal action.
Another option is a program called PeerGuardian, which blocks known RIAA/MPAA IP addresses. It's not 100% safe, but then again nothing really is. Of course I am not a lawyer though, so do your own research and download at your own risk. But don't let some big music scare tactics dictate your behavior, either.

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Another Source

posted 4/16/08 @ 9:21 AM EST

I would be careful about making generalizations about what the RIAA is suing for and what is and what is not legal - namely the dichotomy between uploading/downloading. My understanding of the law is that it is still illegal to do both. The climate, however, is such that the RIAA and associated trade organizations are only pursuing people who upload music files at the moment. So, while it's still illegal to download copyrighted material illegally, for the time beings, there are fewer consequences for it.

The best rule for whether or not something is illegal would be this, in my opinion: if it's something you'd have to pay for normally, and you're obtaining it for free, (no ad-supported revenue, etc.), it's probably not legal, or at least you should question its legality. Some methods may just not be traceable at all (ripping streaming audio with programs like Audigy, for example), and the prospect of punishment distant. What it comes down to though, is that trying to obtain copyrighted materials without paying constitutes a risk you'll have to evaluate.

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anon

posted 4/16/08 @ 12:36 AM EST

Be smart and convert youtube music videos into mp3 files. Save it to your itunes instead of the Ruckus alternative.

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LORDLOVER

posted 4/16/08 @ 11:45 AM EST

These students don't know how to acquire music data from sources that the RIAA can't even begin to trace or track. Wise up if you are going to share files and avoid the stupid, typical interfaces.

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