‘I ain’t no copyright cop,’ ISP tells RIAA
p2pnet news view | RIAA News:- “We doan wan’ no steenkin’ corporate copyright cop bodge,” says Jerry Scroggin, owner-operator of Bayou Internet and Communications, in effect.
“Unless you pay us, that is.”
Vivendi Universal, EMI, Warner Music and Sony BMG and their RIAA have, seemingly, finally abandoned five years of trying to sue their own customers into becoming servile consumers of corporate cookie-cutter crap.
Now they’ve come out with another equally worthless scheme. This time around, they’re demanding ISPs act as unpaid corporate copyright cops.
But Scroggin wants the music and film industries to know he’s not a cop and doesn’t work for free, says CNet News, going on »»»
Scroggin, who sells Internet access to between 10,000 and 12,000 customers in Louisiana, heard the news on Friday that the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA) has opted out of suing individuals for pirating music. Instead, the group representing the four largest music labels is forging partnerships with Internet service providers and asking them to crack down on suspected file sharers.
According to Scroggin, if RIAA representatives ask the help of his ISP, they had better bring their checkbook–and leave the legal threats at home. (CNET News obtained a copy of the RIAA’s new notice to ISPs here). Scroggin said that he receives several notices each month with requests that he remove suspected file sharers from his network. Each time, he gets such a notice from an entertainment company, he sends the same reply.
“I ask for their billing address,” Scroggin said. “Usually, I never hear back.”
“They have the right to protect their songs or music or pictures,” the story has Scroggin stating.
“But they don’t have the right to tell me I have to be the one protecting it. I don’t want anyone doing anything illegal on my network, but we don’t work for free.”
The RIAA and other Big $ front organisations such as the BPI (British Phonographic Industry) and IFPI (International Federation of Phonographic Industry) have been ‘negotiating’ with ISPs around the world for years, claiming it’s up to them to police their networks on behalf of the corporate music industry.
“UK ISPs have agreed to become hard-core corporate copyright cops to help Vivendi Universal (France), Sony BMG (Japan and Germany), EMI (Britain), and Warner Music (US) make sure music lovers toe the corporate line,” said a p2pnet story this summer, going on:
“BT, Virgin, Orange, Tiscali, BSkyB and Carphone Warehouse have all signed up for a deal negotiated by the government to spam hundreds of thousands of people on behalf of the Big 4.
“Net users, ’suspected of illegally sharing music’ will get letters and some file-sharers, ‘could see their broadband connections slowed’.”
Critics, “say the legal offensive ultimately did little to stem the tide of illegally downloaded music,” says the Wall Street Journal, continuing, “And it created a public-relations disaster for the industry, whose lawsuits targeted, among others, several single mothers, a dead person and a 13-year-old girl.
“Instead, the Recording Industry Association of America said it plans to try an approach that relies on the cooperation of Internet-service providers. The trade group said it has hashed out preliminary agreements with major ISPs under which it will send an email to the provider when it finds a provider’s customers making music available online for others to take.
“Depending on the agreement, the ISP will either forward the note to customers, or alert customers that they appear to be uploading music illegally, and ask them to stop. If the customers continue the file-sharing, they will get one or two more emails, perhaps accompanied by slower service from the provider. Finally, the ISP may cut off their access altogether.
Meanwhile, the RIAA is, “reserving the right to sue people who are particularly heavy file sharers, or who ignore repeated warnings” and, “expects its lawsuits to decline to a trickle,” says the WSJ.
Reached late last night, an RIAA spokesman declined to comment on Scroggin’s observations, says CNet.
CNet News – One ISP says RIAA must pay for piracy protection, December 22, 2008
unpaid corporate copyright cops - Big 4’s RIAA to drop mass lawsuits, December 19, 2008
Wall Street Journal – Music Industry to Abandon Mass Suits, December 19, 2008
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December 22nd, 2008 at 12:23 pm
There was an article in La Presse (French Montreal newspaper) last week about Videotron starting to forward letter from RIAA to their customer. Videotron is the cable company that has most of the Montreal island and it’s surrending area. They are own by Quebecor, big media company with TV station and newspaper like Journal de Montreal.
Videotron was specifying in their letter that they were not planning on doing more than forward the warning.
December 22nd, 2008 at 2:27 pm
Will from now every company/person/other who thinks his work or property copyrights infringed can send letter to ISP asking to disconnect particular IP address assignee from internet? – There will be no internet if this happened!! I don’t think riaa and big recording labels only companies involved in creating arts, music and other entertainment content.
December 22nd, 2008 at 5:08 pm
I wish the UK’s ISP companies would develop a spine and tell RIAA to f**k o*f.
December 22nd, 2008 at 5:38 pm
i loooove Jerry Scroggin idea … wish more would do same
Charge the suckers $1,000 per instance and $1,000 per hour and see how they respond, if at all
Bell still keeps calling about once a month. As soon as i say i’m the admin for this account they say they will call later and hang up LOL … and they still refuse to give me their actual # where they calling from
All isp’s stopped forwarding letters to me as i sent them notice. Most were not happy at all.
That’s teaching them not to wrongfully charge ppl.
December 22nd, 2008 at 5:58 pm
The RIAA are fucking persistent yah know!? : (
December 22nd, 2008 at 9:14 pm
So let’s see, the RIAA’s “making available” bullshit is being discredited as a legally enforceable point in nearly all cases – they have to prove that actual file sharing has taken place, which they can’t do of course. This is now wrecking the foundation of their whole lawsuit extortion campaign; Jamme Thomas being a prime example, as a retrial is scheduled because of this very point.
Therefore, they try to quietly get around this problem by getting the ISPs to do their dirty work on the flimsy, discredited and most importantly, *illegal* “making available” claim. You know, when they succeed in getting the ISPs to do this for them (which I think unfortunately they probably will) they will sooner or later attack a rich lawyer – and he or she will have the means to take these bastards to the cleaners and stop them in their tracks.
That will be a good day for all of us that aren’t the RIAA or other Big Media crony.
December 23rd, 2008 at 12:03 am
If I receive a letter they can kiss goodbye to my custom. I will not be accused of something without due process; I am innocent until proven guilty, not the other way around. Uk ISPs need to very careful, as they risk incurring the wrath of their users; we don’t like to be threatened or intimidated.
December 23rd, 2008 at 12:31 am
‘I ain’t no copyright cop,’ ISP tells RIAA is a double negative which means the ISP is a copyright cop.
Too bad the big music corperations don’t just start buying up the big ISP providers and make arrangements with themselves.
December 23rd, 2008 at 7:12 am
Request that they send proof of guilt with the letter. Since that is impossible they will be f*’ed. If the send you something just tell them that your IP adress has been spoofed. Should shut em right up.