405 more RIAA blackmail letters
p2pnet.net news:- The Big 4 music cartel’s RIAA (Recording Industry Association of America) says it’s sent out another 405 blackmail letters to 23 universities across the US.
Calling them “pre-litigation settlement” documents, in its latest “initiative,” it says it contacted:
Boston University (50 pre-litigation settlement letters), Columbia University (20), Dartmouth College (11), DePaul University (18), Drexel University (20), Ferris State University (17), Ithaca College(20), Purdue University (38), University of California – Berkeley (19), University of California – Los Angeles (21), University of California – Santa Cruz (17), University of Maine system (27), University of Nebraska – Lincoln (25), University of Wisconsin system (66, including the following individual campuses: Eau Claire, Madison, Milwaukee, Parkside, Platteville, Stevens Point, Stout, and Whitewater), Vanderbilt University (20), and Virginia Polytechnic Institute & State University (16).
Said RIAA executive VP and general counsel Steven Marks, “Not every student will take advantage of this opportunity, but those that do get the benefit of a discounted settlement and no public mark on their record.”
The sue ‘em all extortion letters, “come in addition to the lawsuits that the RIAA continues to file on a rolling basis against those engaging in music theft via commercial Internet accounts,” says the RIAA.
But at least one American university, “has the courage to stand up for its students, refusing to cave in to blackmail threats being spammed to schools across the US by the Big 4 music cartel’s RIAA” p2pnet posted yesterday.
“The University of Wisconsin says it won’t be a Big 4 copyright cop, or act as their runner in extorting ’settlement’ money from students.”
And in another story:
The RIAA (Recording Industry Association of America) would love to sue 36 University of Nebraska-Lincoln students. If only it could find them.
Because there’s, “One small problem,” says the Omaha World-Herald, namely, “the computer network was unintentionally designed to protect such music pirates.”
Huh? Yup. It, “automatically changes a campus computer’s Internet protocol address each time that computer is turned on”.
This is reminiscent of the days when the RIAA sent out almost monthly lists of 700 or so men, women and children it was accusing of being file sharing “criminals and thieves”.
Meanwhile, don’t work for the labels, advises the Recording Industry vs The People’s Ray Beckerman in an open letter.
“Please be sure to pass this along to anyone who works in the administration or counsel’s office of a college or university whose students have been targeted by the RIAA,” he says, continuing:
>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>
Once the RIAA has obtained whatever “settlement” money it can squeeze from students and parents willing and able to pay the money, it will bring a “John Doe” proceeding. Contrary to the spirit of the Federal Rules of Civil Procedure, it will do everything it possibly can ex parte. It will file the complaint without notice to anyone, and submit the ex parte discovery order application without notice to anyone. Then, once it’s gotten an ex parte order signed by the judge, it will give minimal notice to you with minimal notice to your students.
Typically, “John Doe” will receive only a copy of a subpoena and a copy of the order with a letter from you, and will have just a few days, or at most a couple of weeks, to respond before his or her personal confidential information will be divulged. Meanwhile, if the student were to confer with a lawyer the lawyer doesn’t know what to say, because he or she has no copy of the underlying summons and complaint, no copy of the papers upon which the ex parte order is based, and no copy of the judge’s rules, all of which a defendant normally does receive in any normal litigation.
What you should, at a minimum, do for your students.
What you can do is insist that the RIAA stipulate with you that (a) any motion for an order granting discovery of the students’ identities will be on notice, both to you and the students, rather than ex parte, (b) that the RIAA must furnish to you, for each “John Doe”, a copy of the summons and complaint and exhibits, a full set of the motion papers, and a full set of all other court documents which are required to be served on the defendant when an action is initiated… for you to distribute to the affected students.
If the RIAA refuses to so stipulate, you should go to Court yourself and get an order requiring them to comply with these fundamentals which are required by due process.
What you should also do.
The courts have held that in order for a claimant to get an order for discovery of confidential names and addresses of a John Doe in a copyright infringement case, it must make a prima facie evidentiary showing that it has a case for copyright infringement against each “John Doe”.
http://www.ilrweb.com/viewILRPDF.asp?filename=warner_does1-149_memooflaw*
http://www.ilrweb.com/viewILRPDF.asp?filename=warner_does1-149_replymemo*
Since the RIAA has been proceeding ex parte, however, and since they weren’t challenged by the ISP’s, judges have signed off on the orders even though supported by mere conclusory hearsay of suspect reliability. (Compare the courts of the Netherlands and Canada, where the ISP’s challenged the application for “John Doe” information, and the Courts refused to grant the discovery orders, due to the unreliability of the RIAA’s investigative “method”).
http://recordingindustryvspeople.blogspot.com/#Foundation_v_UPC_Nederland*
http://recordingindustryvspeople.blogspot.com/#BMG_v_Doe(Canada)*
The lack of reliability of the RIAA’s “investigatory” technique is becoming more and more well documented. See, eg. the February 23, 2007, deposition of the RIAA’s expert.
http://www.ilrweb.com/viewILRPDF.asp?filename=umg_lindor_070223JacobsonDepositionTranscript*
See also expert witness statement of Prof. Pouwelse and Dr. Sips:
http://www.ilrweb.com/viewILRPDF.asp?filename=foundation_upcnederland_witnessdeclaration*
and amicus curiae brief of the ACLU, Public Citizen, Electronic Frontier Foundation, American Association of Law Libraries, and ACLU Foundation of Oklahoma, in Capitol v. Foster decrying the RIAA’s “driftnet” litigation strategy:
http://www.ilrweb.com/viewILRPDF.asp?filename=capitol_foster_amicus
Accordingly, we believe you should oppose the RIAA’s application for an order of discovery.
Likewise, if you learn of the RIAA obtaining such an order ex parte, you should move to vacate the order ex parte.
Sincerely yours,
Ray Beckerman
Stay tuned.
Also See:
RIAA – Recording Industry Sends New Round Of 405 Pre-Litigation Settlement Letters to Universities, March 21, 2007
p2pnet – University ignores RIAA blackmail, March 20, 2007
another story – RIAA student attack foiled, March 20, 2007
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Tired of being treated like a criminal? They depend on you, not the other way around. Don’t buy their ‘product’. Do bug your local politicians. Use emails, snail-mail, phone calls, faxes, IM, stop them in the street, blog. And if you’re into organizing, organize petitions, organize demonstrations and then turn up on your local political rep’s doorstep, making sure you’ve contacted your local tv/radio station/newspaper in advance. Don’t just complain. Do something!
March 21st, 2007 at 5:44 pm
“Virginia Polytechnic Institute & State University (16)”
Sigh. That’s my college. I don’t take part in file sharing, but I know many who do, and it pains me to see this name on the list.
Exactly to whom is this open letter to be sent? There is more than one type of administrative office, after all.
March 21st, 2007 at 9:52 pm
realy, no text!
July 12th, 2007 at 7:52 am
[...] The antics of RIAA (Recording Industry Association of America) are well known. The organization has filed or threatened to file hundreds of lawsuits against individuals sharing copyrighted music online. People of all ages from pre-adolescents to grannies are targets. Some have called the tactic “blackmail.” [...]