RIAA on the slippery slope
p2pnet news | RIAA News:- It’s just ‘tough love‘.
That’s how Warner Music, EMI, Vivendi Universal and Sony BMG characterise the absurd campaign they’ve launched against their own customers, even very young children, calling them criminals and thieves.
With every new case, their already tattered credibility frays even further and finally, the mainstream media, which used to be solidly on the side of the labels, repeating their every utterance as though it was gospel, are starting to come around to the idea there are two sides to this story, just like any other.
Motley Fool is one of the Net’s most senior sites writing principally about investment and personal finances. But even it has picked the story up not merely once, but several times.
Somebody may have done something, somewhere
The two most significant recent stories so far are to do with a Minnesota mother and an Oregon school.
In the first, Jammie Thomas became the first person to actually appear in court, despite the fact that, thanks to a brilliant PR flim-flam on the part of the Big 4’s RIAA (Recording Industry Association of America), the impression has been given that thousands of people have been successfully prosecuted the non-existent crime, file sharing.
And in the second, the University of Oregon, represented by the state attorney general, no less, became the first US school to actively stand up for its students, loudly telling the RIAA No!
It’s the RIAA practise to say it believes somebody may have done something, somewhere, and then demand the schools hand over information on those students so they can prove it.
Now, says Alyce Lomax on The Motley Fool, the RIAA, “may feel a bit cocky after its recent ‘victory’ [over Jammie Thomas] in a high-profile file-sharing case, but not everyone’s willing to cave to its pressures. The University of Oregon and Oregon’s state attorney general are pushing back on the RIAA’s attempt to pursue 17 University of Oregon students for file-sharing.”
She goes on:
According to PC-enthusiast website Ars Technica, the university’s stance is a response to the onerous nature of the demands. Although the university can track the activity to IP addresses and usernames, it’s difficult to ascertain exactly who committed the acts. For example, dorm rooms are often shared by several students, who often have numerous guests. And wireless networks are even more iffy.
Should universities have to undertake in-depth, even forensic, investigations to get a positive ID on P2P perps? The University of Oregon argues that the RIAA is putting “undue burden” on it. Meanwhile, it seems that the RIAA has been bypassing the Digital Millennium Copyright Act (DMCA) — which shields ISPs from liability for what their users do on their networks — in favor of a 1984 law that applies to cable providers.
Now, wait — wasn’t the Internet not even mainstream until Netscape and AOL rose up in the mid-’90s? Maybe the RIAA should have done its homework. Ars Technica reported that this approach, using the cable law, led to a dead end at the College of William & Mary after a judge said that colleges were not cable operators. (Not to mention that the 1984 cable law gives government entities — not the RIAA — the right to obtain personal information.)
How long can the RIAA — which consists of recording-industry heavyweights such as Sony and Bertelsmann’s Sony BMG, Warner Music Group, and Vivendi’s (OTC BB: VIVEF.PK) Universal Music — keep this up? One industry lawyer recently admitted that the industry is losing millions on anti-piracy efforts as it is. I’d guess the industry would love to get colleges and universities to help.
Last winter, I found it ironic that the RIAA would go after students in the first place – these are the budding consumers who love music the most, and who represent the future of commerce. After all, according to legend, game-changer Napster was born in a college dorm room. Meanwhile, what of this attempt to bully higher education into being some sort of policing agency for the industry? As has long been the case, the RIAA continues to try forcing old-school ways on consumers while avoiding anything close to innovation. And that’s not an industry I’d put my hard-earned investing dollars into.
She’s not alone.
New York analyst Richard Greenfield recently recommended ’sell’ for Warner Music.
The ‘tough love’ statement came from the lips of RIAA president Cary Sherman, who’s also lamented the fact that for some strange reason, students don’t seem to be falling over themselves to buy Big 4 ‘product’.
Having written off a off a generation of college music fans, “We simply cannot afford to write off a generation of college music fans,” he said, going on to admit, “we know that some audiences – particularly campus music downloaders – can sometimes be impervious to even the most compelling educational messages [threats] or legal alternatives [other threats].”
Not only but also, he once said, “Years ago, college students were our best customers. Now they’re among our worst customers.”
Could it be, Cary, that suing your customers isn’t the best way to woo them?
Jon Newton – p2pnet
Also See:
tough love – RIAA lawsuits are ‘tough love, October 18, 2007
Minnesota mother – Jammie Thomas: her story in her own words, November 2, 2007
loudly telling the RIAA No! – Oregon AG backs university in RIAA case, November 1, 2007
The Motley Fool – Piracy 101: A Lesson in Suboptimal Lawsuits, November 6, 2007
’sell’ for Warner Music – Message to Big Music: Music is free!, November 2, 2007
among our worst customers – The RIAA university lament, April 19, 2007
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November 7th, 2007 at 3:11 am
“RIAA on the slippery slope” to death. Good ridance!