RIAA default win in Atlantic v Howel?
p2pnet news view | RIAA News:- “A judge ruled Monday that a defendant had willfully and intentionally destroyed evidence of his P2P activities after being notified of pending legal action by the RIAA,” says Ars Technica, going on.
“Furthermore, since it was done in bad faith, it ‘therefore warrants appropriate sanctions’.”
The case centres on Jeffrey Howell, who kept a collection of about 2,000 music recordings on his personal computer.
That got him into trouble with Vivendi Universal, EMI, Warner Music and Sony BMG’s RIAA which maintained that it’s illegal for someone who’s legally purchased a CD to transfer that music to his computer.
But, the story goes on, “Judge Neil V. Wake denied the RIAA’s motion for summary judgment, ruling that ‘a distribution must involve a “sale or other transfer of ownership” or a “rental, lease, or lending” of a copy of the work. The recording companies have not proved an actual distribution of 42 of the copyrighted sound recordings at issue, so their motion for summary judgement fails as to those recordings.”
“After that ruling, it appeared as though Atlantic v. Howell was headed for a bench trial this fall …….”
But, “According to the RIAA’s brief, Howell destroyed evidence on four separate occasions after first receiving the prelitigation settlement letter and later being served with the lawsuit,” says Ars Techinca
The RIAA’s forensics experts found that Howell uninstalled KaZaA and deleted everything in the shared folder, reformatted his hard drive, downloaded and used a file-wiping program, and then nuked all the KaZaA logs on his PC.
Wake will tell Howell, who represented himself, what’s in store for him and, “presumably the amount of damages he’ll have to pay,” in a written order, it says.
Meanwhile, “Come to think of it, Jammie Thomas, the first defendant to go to trial in the RIAA’s campaign against file sharers, was also accused of destroying evidence, says Jon Healey in the Los Angeles Times, adding »»»
Thomas had her computer’s hard drive replaced after the alleged infringements were detected but before she was sued. What is it with all these unreliable hard drives?!?
Should file sharers be bringing a class action? But I digress. The EFF’s Fred von Lohmann said in an e-mail that Howell’s experience highlights “how difficult it is to defend these cases without a lawyer.” The RIAA had lawyers and experts arguing that evidence was destroyed in bad faith, Von Lohmann wrote, while Howell was on his own — and “he clearly wasn’t able to adequately articulate his side of the story.”
On the other hand, if you’re going to admit to using Kazaa, as Howell did, it’s probably a good idea not to mess with your hard drive, even if it goes bad. Howell claimed he downloaded only porn, but hey, the porn guys sue too.
Stay tuned.
2,000 music recordings – Rip your legal CD? You’re a thief: RIAA, December 31, 2007
Ars Technica – RIAA wins P2P case after defendant reformats hard drive, August 26, 2008
Los Angeles Times – RIAA nears win (by default) in Atlantic vs. Howell, August 27, 2008
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August 28th, 2008 at 12:41 am
I don’t know the details of what happened (probably nobody except the tech experts do), but I’d like to make a guess;
He uninstalled Kazaa, but didn’t clean the registry so there were still traces of it. Also, if it’s like most Windows software, it probably left directories and files all over the place. Any reformat he did was probably a “quick” format that simply wipes the FAT and directory info, but leaves all the data. If he had zero-filled the drive, the data would have been *GONE*, and it would have a hugely expensive piece of equipment and the complete disassembly of his drive to get anything back. Downloading a file shredding program and nuking the logs wouldn’t be necessary after a true format of the drive, which is pretty much proof that he didn’t know what he was doing. Even if the order is listed wrong, he probably had no real idea how to remove all traces of something from his system, which is probably why he got caught.
Windows is notorious for leaving scraps of information all over the place. It’s almost like a scavenger hunt to try and find every location that Windows has squirrelled away information on what the computer has been doing.
August 28th, 2008 at 9:19 am
Ya. the RIAA parasite win.
They win the right to be eradicated.
Congratulation parasites!
August 28th, 2008 at 9:36 am
“The RIAAâs forensics experts found that Howell uninstalled KaZaA and deleted everything in the shared folder, reformatted his hard drive, downloaded and used a file-wiping program, and then nuked all the KaZaA logs on his PC.”
First he would have probably use a file wiping program first them reformat the HD not th eother way arround.
Second if he really has done all of these they would be absolutly no evidence left at all. This is fishy.
If you just reformat the hard drive with a quick format yes some data will be left but if you do an hard reformating everything is gone. If you use one of this file wiping program and wipe out the entire HD everything will be gone too even without reformating..
Like any RIAA “”"evidences”"” this is BS and only a stupid and technologicaly challenged judge fall for that.
Appeal Please!
In any case it is not going to make us go and by music from these tugs and criminals so they are wasting their time and money, diging their hole deeper.
Once it is deep enough we will fill the hole and we can forget about them.
August 28th, 2008 at 9:59 am
“Wake will tell Howell, who represented himself, whatâs in store for him and, âpresumably the amount of damages heâll have to pay,â in a written order, it says.”
I can tell him what he will have to pay: $0.00000. No need for judge “Wake down”.
This is what you do:
1) Wait until all the dust settle long enought until all the RIAA claim is on the table judgment court fee attorney fees and so on.
2) Get a good BK attorney and pay him/her with a credit card.
3) BK Chapter 7 including all your credit cards and unsecure debt in the battle as well as the RIAA judgment court and RIAA attorney fee together. THE RIAA IS SCREWED! THEY HAVE TO PAY THE ATTORNEY FEE!
If you have no asset at all your are unsolvable (Most student are) and you can be even more brutal: Just never pay.
There is nothing they can do exept wast more money trying to collect in vain.
4) Advertise loud and clear that you never paid the RIAA and that they will never be pay.
IF YOU FELL BAD ABOUT THIS I HAVE TO TELL YOU THAT IT IS YOUR PATRIOTIC DUTTY TO PROTECT YOUR COUNTRY BY NOT PAYING THESE TUGS!