Doesn’t this cut to the heart of the matter, and completely invalidate the RIAA extortion threat?? [i]evidence of reproduction or distribution of a copyrighted work, by itself, shall not be sufficient to establish willful infringement.[/i]

http://www.usdoj.gov/criminal/cybercrime/17-18red.htm

a) Criminal Infringement.–Any person who infringes a copyright willfully either–

1. for purposes of commercial advantage or private financial gain, or

2. by the reproduction or distribution, including by electronic means, during any 180-day period, of 1 or more copies or phonorecords of 1 or more copyrighted works, which have a total retail value of more than $1,000, shall be punished as provided under section 2319 of title 18. For purposes of this subsection, evidence of reproduction or distribution of a copyrighted work, by itself, shall not be sufficient to establish willful infringement.

Cary Sherman –
We are calling upon you to formally issue retractions to these cases.
If you can’t find it in your heart to do it for the innocent people who are suffering, then do it for your shareholders.

* It is NOT illegal to ‘download files’ since there is no law preventing it. I really wish everyone would stop putting the word ‘illegal’ in front of the word ‘downloading’ for goodness sakes! The RIAA hopes that by putting that out in the public and int he media, it will eventually become standard lexicon and people will believe the propaganda. And you know what? Sadly, it’s working.

* show me the law that says ‘making available’ is illegal? NO, you cannot point to some vague text about unauthorized distribution, the words do not say making available is illegal. You have no way of knowing if those files that you put ina ahsraed folder on your drive will be downloaded or even if they were downloaded, except by the very people who say it is illegal to download them. Why aren’t THEY getting sued by the artists themselves? The intent isn’t at question here, the act has to be done and proven before a contract can be broken.

* it was VERY plain and VERY obvious that the RIAA legal assistant/attorney in the Jammie trial knew what she was saying and was very specific about what she said. The recent ’spin’ by the RIAA is just crap and they should be ashamed of themselves! READ the court transcripts. PROVE it to yourself.

I really hope the universities in Oregon and Maine win their students’ cases against the RIAA and that they don’t back down when the going gets rough. They are taking on a mighty powerful cartel that has billions of global dollars available. That kind of money can be used (and I’m sure has been) to bribe lawmakers & judges…& university presidents. This IS the United States, after all. Don’t kid yourself into thinking that there are no payoffs happening in our legal system (I hesitate to say ‘justice’ system for obvious recent reasons).