The RIAA: family devastation specialists
p2pnet news view RIAA | P2P:- On the right is Brittany Kruger.
She says she’s a junior at Northern
Michigan University in Marquette.
But she’s not, says the RIAA.
She’s a hard-core criminal and a thief, a massive online distributor of copyrighted music who steals from the mullti-billion-dollar corporate record industry.
Vivendi Universal (France), Sony BMG (Japan and Germany), EMI (Britain), and Warner Music (US) say they’re decent and hard-pressed companies struggling desperately against the “devastation” caused by criminals and thieves who steal music online.
Thieves like Britanny.
They say they’re “forced” to “educate” kids as young as 10 about the evils of copyright infringement, all the while threatening them with court cases as they extort cash payments through specious “settlement centres”.
However, the only people to be devastated are the families who are pilloried, humiliated, victimised, by the corporate music industry and their various ‘trade’ organisations such as the RIAA, run by ex-politico Mitch Bainwol and corporate lawyer Cary Sherman.
Terrorised by the labels
Randy Kruger and his family are victims of Vivendi Universal, EMI, Warner Music and Sony BMG’s RIAA (Recording Industry Association of America).
Britanny, 18, is not a fake RIAA statistic. She’s a real person, a student, but instead of being allowed to study and enjoy her young life, she’s being terrorised by the labels.
In a letter to her mother and father, “Hello parentals,” she writes, continuing »»»
Thank you for covering for me. I’m sorry I ask if the money all the time. I’m sorry that I got you and me into all this trouble with the RIAA. If I could do this all over again I would be a lot smarter about it. I feel like I’ ve let you all down. I let myself down. All this stuff makes me feel like an idiot. I feel like all this crap is taking away from your lives and the rest of the family. I’m sorry. I love you, and I’m glad that you have supported me and basically taken care of all this crap for me.
I love you.
But she’s not alone in this.
Her parents and younger brother are also under attack.
Britanny’s father, Randy, says, “I’ve heard that if you put a frog into a pan of boiling water, it will jump out immediately, but if you put the frog in and turn up the heat a little at a time, the frog will cook.
“I guess our politicians must like frog soup, because we are being served up (30,000 + servings at last count, and counting).
“Big Brother now has a role model.”
Here, Randy Kruger tells it like it is, unedited »»»
My name is Randy Kruger and yesterday, I’m told, was “the day the music died”.
Buddy Holly, Richie Valens and the Big Bopper died 50 years ago. I’m not so sure if that was the day the music died or just another day where corporate greed tried to choke another nickel from music fans. The Recording Industry is still collecting on the misfortune of Mr. Holly and his associates.
February 3, 2009, is the ultimatum day; the day the RIAA’s extortionate demand to settle a file-sharing threat for $7500.00+ or be sued in Federal Court in the Western District of Michigan will expire.
My daughter is the target of this particular attack.
Morgan Swartzlander is the person who makes to calls for the RIAA collection agency. She claims to be the “Lead Settlement Representative” for the RIAA.
She works from some secrete location, leaving only an untraceable phone number, or sending vague emails, providing no assurances, and introducing us to Donald J. Kelso of the Lawfirm, Holme, Roberts & Owen LLP.
Donald is the guy who sends all the nasty mails. And yesterday’s call left my daughter in tears again. I’m told that Ms Swartzlander is very pleasant when she leaves a message, but is not very pleasant when talked to in person.
We pray for her and Donald. I guess someone out there in this economy still has a job.
How did my Brittany ever get into this mess? She’s only 5′2 and yet she was a skilled volleyball player in high school. She holds records at Coldwater High school for all time serving percentage, and holds two of the top five single season records serving percentage records. She was on a high school team that finished its season as the in 4th place team in the state, in its division. She was the shortest player on the team and in the tourneyment.
Brittany is also a music fan. She belonged to a CD club. To her music holds an escape, a way to be identified, and a way to relate to her peers. She’s just like any other kid. When she was 13 years old, we bought her one of the first MP3 players on the market. It was an “RCA Lyra” and it had a 32mg CF card in it. The memory was tiny by comparison to today’s iPods. The “Lyra” came with Real Player-Music Match software and the offer of free downloads from the Internet.
The city of Coldwater, Michigan was one of the first cities in the nation to have high-speed internet access, and we were subscribers to the service, and she was introduced to downloading music.
Brittany was barely out of high school, and still a teenager when she went to Northern Michigan University. She wanted to be an RN (registered nurse).
Northern Michigan University lured its students with the promise of a laptop computer to every student, and was recognized as one of the nation’s innovators with its wireless and wired campus.
Brittany changed her major to Athletic Training after her first year in college, and developed a love for the Upper Peninsula of Michigan, hockey, and Marquette in general.
Brittany has always wanted to help people, and that dream is still alive in her. The change in her academic major will cost her a 5th year in college, but will still give her training in an area she likes.
Brittany was also Doe # 5 in a lawsuit filed by the Recording Industry called “LaFace v. Does 1-5″.
This “Doe” lawsuit was filed in the Western District of Michigan, Northern Division, but somehow ended up in Kalamazoo, Michigan in the Southern Division.
On a January day in 2007, MediaSentry, an investigative company hired by the RIAA, showed up online, pretending to be another kid looking to share some music.
MediaSentry used its its secretive investigative skills to gather information on millions of people nation wide to turn over to the RIAA.
During the Doe Lawsuit, Brittany made motions in court against the subpoena and made reference to the unlicensed electronic voyeurism that the recording industry’s investigators had participated in.
The Recording Industry counsel tried to invent reasons to evade the issue.
MediaSentry basically scanned the hard drive of the computers they accessed to gather information about the kids. These investigations have came into question in several recent suits. The story changes from court to court when the issue is presented. When the issue has been brought up in various court cases, the counsel for the recording industry has claimed that MediaSentry has connected with computers to search their hard drives, while in other courts cases, they claimed that the information they gathered came from cyberspace.
The RIAA also claimed to have listened to the music files that they had gathered, prior to filing suit. Leaving the question of tampered evidence unchallenged. A law firm then notifies the Universities and Internet Service Providers of their suspicions, that their plaintiff’s copyright has been violated.
In my daughter’s case, Northern Michigan University notified her and at least 19 other students that they had been suspected of copyright infringement because they had been accused of used a file-sharing program. The University then cut off the students’ Internet access without any notice.
Brittany was told that she would have to come into the Dean of Students office and was told that she could not have her computer access turned back on until she had signed a document provided by the university saying that she would not download any music.
This kid had never rode in a police car, or set foot in the principal’s office.
She was sick with fear, upset and scared.
It was Mid-Tern exam time, and her computer access was shut-off.
About a month later, she would receive a letter forwarded to her by the universities counsel telling her that she could settle with the recording industry before they filed suit against her seeking her name. Shortly there after, a lawsuit was filed, and she went thought the fear and rejection process again.
Two years later, it is still going on.
Brittany asked us what to do, and we had no answers. NMU’s counsel was equally clueless, and has been.
As a Father, when your child calls you from 500 miles away and is crying on the phone and upset, your blood boils.
When I heard why and who, it really boiled. When I started to look around at this whole process, it made me sick. To think that any company or group of companies could have the kind of power granted to them by congress, to stalk and invade personal computers under the guise of file-sharing and then to use that information to prove a point is not acceptable.
My Father freed concentration camps in the Second World War. He taught us about tyranny and oppression, but never would I’ve imagined that our government and our Federal Court system would act as if they are oblivious to this kind of intimidation.
On the flip side of the coin, I’ve worked in the criminal justice field for almost 30 years, and have met the kind of people who think window peeping and bullying kids is a sport. The kinds of people who make sport of Identify Theft and laugh at breaking the law. When I found out that the majority of these cases had been settled out of court simply because of the economic and political pressure that the Recording Industry cartel has at its disposal I was shocked and even more angered. I thought this was the “Land of the Free and the Home of the Brave”.
I guess I was wrong. I must have been living in a cave, because when I found web pages that showed RIAA enforcement agents going on raids with FBI agents, State Police, SWAT teams, I was horrified. I thought, “why would these people have this kind of power?”
Now I guess I know. I’ve heard that if you put a frog into a pan of boiling water, it will jump out immediately, but if you put the frog in and turn up the heat a little at a time, the frog will cook.
I guess our politicians must like frog soup, because we are being served up (30,000 + servings at last count, and counting).
Big Brother now has a role model.
I wonder if I’m to blame for some of the cooperate greed that these thugs wield.
I drive a 1986 rust bucked and I love my kids. I also have a vote, and I’ve legislators who should hear what I’ve to say. What I don’t have is a magic pocked book that will match that of the music industry.
The “Prince of the Power of the Air” would have you believe that I’ve wasted my time raising “pirates”, while they shoveling cash to the wide-open hands of my elected officials.
I’ve three kids in three different universities, and one son in the 11 grade. I make it work every day, and my wife of 25 years makes it to work every day.
We try to pay our bills and we struggle.
Education is not cheap.
As a citizen, I wonder what has happened to our society in the past 50 years. I don’t think I’ve wasted my time. I’ve good kids, future leaders, yet my kids are not unique. Their peers are the sons and daughters of parents who have been subjected to the fraud. Most have paid up, and a courageous few have fought the fight.
The music died when a plane crashed on a frigid day, 50 years ago today. The music died the day Sony and Universal City Studios clashed in court over the invention of the batamax recorder. The music died when home videotape cassette recorders were deemed a legal technology. The music died the day Jimi Hendrix died, the day Janis Joplin died, the day Cass Elliot died, the day John Lennon was murdered, the day the Challenger exploded, and the day the Twin Towers were destroyed.
One tragic event after another, but kids still love music and they always will. If they can make it, they will. Garage bands and independent bands are everywhere, and some of them are simply amazing, as my youngest daughter says.
If kids cannot make music, they will listen to it. As a music fan from the 70’s I was taught to buy an album and then record it to cassette tape.
No one ever sold any of the music we recorded, maybe we would loan out our album for a party, or give someone a cassette to listen to, but we did it because we loved the music.
When Cassettes replaced 8 tracks, we cheered.
Today’s kids love music too (some of which I would not give two cents for). Kids, college students, single moms and ordinary people are characterized as pirates and thieves. They are not. They are ordinary people. If the music is good, they will buy it. If it sucks, they will let everyone know. If they like it, they will share it, and they will buy it, and they will copy it to their computers to be put on their iPods, and none of them will get rich because of it.
Oh, and by the way, there has never been a recorded case of anyone starving to death because of file sharing music, as the music cartel would have the courts believe.
Kids get their music from an environment that the outdated business model of the Recording Industry cannot fathom.
The Genie is out of the bottle, and no matter how hard you try, scream, kick, shout and sue, it will not go back.
Kids listen to music that is offered freely as promotions, they drink soda, and they download music stored up in points under the bottle caps. They buy a new pair of shoes and they get 100 free songs. They buy potato chips and they get free music.
Sony makes the player, and then sues kids for using the device.
How much sense does that make? (If I buy a new Ford, will I be in fear of being sued by GM, or Toyota for some violation of the copyright act, especially if the Ford is cheaper?) That’s nuts.
Sometimes, kids even listen to music on the “Radio”. Imagine that, kids listening to the FM radio! The thought makes me cringe. A kid with no headphones plugged in. I get the feeling that if the Recording Industry were to get wind of my rendition of Dobie Gray’s Drift Away, while in the shower, they would sue for infringement, and that’s a sick vision.
It all comes down to the bottom line, and if you can squeeze a buck from a college kid so that you can go buy another bag of dope to keep your most current addict singing, do what you have to do.
Who can stand?
For nearly two years I’ve lived with my daughter under the shadow of a lawsuit.
Brittany has been lied to and about in press releases and called self-serving by counsel, and she is scared, but she will step up to the serving line, and she will not go away.
The Recording Industry still racks up over $11 billion per year.
The Recording Industry has spent millions of dollars lobbying our elected officials, and greasing their palms to have laws passed that specifically enhance their position, and as a result of this grant of power, they chose to sue kids.
They have had their fingers in the pie of the Education Budget, and attempt to force Universities to invest in schemes to slow down the process, and it has not worked.
I guess it’s a long way to the top if you want to Rock-n-Roll, but then again, they made my daughter cry.
That’s how Randy sees things.
p2pnet will also be running a post by Brittany on how all of this is affecting her and her life.
Stay tuned.
February , 2009
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February 4th, 2009 at 11:43 am
riaa is acting like a cult aren’t there laws about that
February 4th, 2009 at 11:54 am
@ CHRoNoSS
A cult. I hadn’t seen it like that, but you’re right: a corporate cult where Money is worshipped and people are sacrificed in its name.
And No, there are no laws against it.
Cheers!
February 4th, 2009 at 2:28 pm
Good article and interesting (even though sad at times) read.
Little typos:
Brittany on how asll of thids
I think this just goes to show, humanity has come so far but we have still not totally given up on our evil and destructive ways, we have slime among us holding us back without a conscience or basic decency towards fellow human beings.
I wish I was a reallll religious person, at least then I could feel better by taking comfort in the knowledge that
.
.
.
….these SOBs are going to burn in hell for eternity.
Ryan
http://www.eZee.se
February 4th, 2009 at 2:30 pm
“Brittany on how asll of thids”
Fixed. Thanks.
Cheers!
February 4th, 2009 at 2:48 pm
Ok I guess I am being CENSORED.
WE wouldn’t want dissent.
“If I have to start monitoring everything [read censoring], I might as well give up altogether”
Welcome to the P2P parade of the sycophants.
“If I have to start monitoring everything [read censoring], I might as well give up altogether” – Yes. I said that. I also said, “But I am going to try and keep posts minimally on track … ”
With that in mind, I deleted a couple of posts from this person, who goes under different nicks, because they were designed to cause trouble, not add anything constructive. Cheers! Jon]
February 4th, 2009 at 2:52 pm
Sorry, I’m Always Right, but I have to disagree with you and your assertion that the RIAA is correct in their biased belief that P2P is stealing. If you believe the hype those jokers put out you don’t even own the CD that you bought with your hard earned money, instead according the Really Inept Association of Anal types, you are actually buying a license to listen to that CD or to put it another way you’re renting the bloody thing. The RIAA is getting their heads handed to them everytime they open their big yaps in court. First it was the making available theory and that got shut down, then it was downloading music equals lost sales again it too got shut down by a judge as there is not now or ever has been any proof of such claims, unless you believe the companies such as IPI which is a wholly owned subsidiary company of the RIAA and the BIG FOUR, which is known for distorting the facts to make it look as tho the record companies are indeed losing money at an alarming rate. According to these guys the amount of money lost so far is more than the entire deficit of the U.S.A., which we know to be impossible. The bottom line is this, the record and movie industries are still stuck in the 1950’s where their business models lie and can’t or won’t understand that they need to get in step with the rest of the world. P2P has been shown to actually improve music sales by exposing more people to a greater selection of artists not the other way around. Both industries are slowly tightening the noose around their collective necks by suing their own customers. The other reason for CD sales to be in the dumper is that on most albums there are only one or two good tracks thus forcing people to go to online stores or P2P networks to find their music and make their own albums. Another reason for CD sales being in the toilet tho the RIAA will not mention it is the fact that LP’s are starting to come back again, due to the fact that the sound quality of a vinyl record is better than that of a CD. If you were to play any song that you have now on CD with the same song on LP you’d toss your CD collection in the trash and I’m old enuff to remember 78 RPM, 45 RPM, 331/3 RPM and 16 RPM records. I still have the first 78 RPM record that was played to me as a baby and despite it’s age and being scratched it still plays and still sounds better than the same song on CD.
The RIAA would have you believe that their word is the Gospel Truth, yet they are doing their darnedest to prevent camera’s in the classroom trial saying that they could be tampered with, well, thinking along the same paranoid lines as them they could do the tampering themselves and blame others. Not one of their cases has been shown to have any merits legal or otherwise, and they have to make up statistics, movies, comic books to try and make their point only to show just how much they really do know about what they are talking about.
So don’t sit there and say that they’re right and everyone else is wrong cause I’m used to that attitude as well having a father who used to use that line to me and would claim ” I once thought I was wrong, but I was mistaken.” whenever he was caught in an error.
February 4th, 2009 at 5:30 pm
Finally people who really do deserve to be assassinated but no assassins!
Take out 1 RIAA member the rest will run away.
Somehow I find myself wishing for more crazy people. RIAA making rational people think this way!
Is there any thing more evil?
As the RIAA takes over more and more of the government maybe the terrorists will eventually get them.
February 4th, 2009 at 6:17 pm
The way Randy Kruger wrote this letter was perfect. It sincerely touched my heart. It describes so well what fighting the RIAA feels like including how it affects everyone around them. The RIAA changes your life and makes you live in a constant state of fear, intimidation and feel like your privacy is constantly violated.
I’ve wondered so many times why the powers that can do something, just won’t. It makes me angry. I was shocked (and still am) that our government, etc., is letting this go on in the US.
There are many good people out there who are trying to help. Sites such as P2Pnet are making a huge difference. I remember when I first started my own fight with the RIAA it was a huge relief when I found out there were others who actually knew what I was talking about. (Because at times, it felt like this was some hidden thing that was happening to just me and many people I contacted knew nothing.)
There are still many people though who seem to have no idea what these lawsuits are all about. They don’t and won’t possibly understand what Brittany and her family are going through. It is maddening. These people that work for these companies that pursue the lawsuits, I don’t understand. I guess it’s all about money to them; and they somehow make themselves feel okay about totally destroying another human beings life. That’s how I see it anyway. This is supposed to be one of the funnest times of Brittany’s life and she’s having to deal with this BS.
I can relate with every part of Mr. Kruger’s letter. It was beautifully written. I just want to tell Brittany to hang in there and know that you are not alone. Don’t let these people stop you from going after your dreams in life. They are not worth it. Many times I have had to take this thing day by day–I know it’s really, really hard. Don’t give up.
February 4th, 2009 at 7:16 pm
I had a nicely written (I thought) reply to this post. Tanya Anderson said it far better than anyone could.
I tip my hat.
February 4th, 2009 at 7:21 pm
@ shiftydog
Post it anyway. The more the better.
Cheers! And thanks ….
February 5th, 2009 at 5:28 am
Well, nice read that is, but whats the bottom line here?
Do i get that her father Randy is acknowledging that she indeed downloaded music?
Is that what he wanted to say with his mentioning that she got a 32 MB player in the early days of portable mp3’s?
Then, I do have a problem in understanding his reasoning.
(Now don’t get me wrong, I don’t like in the slightest what evil4 and their lawyers are doing)
He says he worked in the criminal justice field for 30 years. So I guess he is able to understand what is the law and what not.
Copyrightinfringement is against the law. Thats it, point.
Alleged he wanted to say with his piece that his daughter indeed did something that is against laws that were then and are still now in effect, I guess I have a problem to understand his reasoning.
If he wants to attack the law as it stands (as Joel T and Charles N. are trying to do with theri counterclaims) then it is fine.
But blaming those that rights are violated for that they do something against it is a bit hypocrite.
He should blame the politicos that they made these laws that are so outragous. Or blame the guys like DLEG and co that they don’t show evil4 and their lawyers where lawful actions to protect their lawgiven exclusive right to copy ends and where criminal(?) wrongdoings by HRO, J&B, MediaSentry/Safenet and Co. are start to happening.
That evil4 is nasty with their “SS-Center”, that their demands are rediculous for something with a profit margin of ~35 cents each, that is no question, but that is perfectly fine with the law at least what I understand about your american copyrightlaw.
Maybe those fathers of copyrightinfringers should go after the politicos instead of the rightsholders that just enforce their law given rights.
February 5th, 2009 at 12:41 pm
“Finally people who really do deserve to be assassinated but no assassins!”
You are wrong on the last part of this one.
February 5th, 2009 at 6:49 pm
@ A_F
Firstly I applaud your willingness to disagree in an open forum. Secondly, the fight does include lawmakers. Imagine a kid who steals a candy bar worth a buck – someone illegally breaks into his house to find the wrapper, then he faces $150,000 in fines, followed by years of harassing phone calls, days of depositions, having his and his family’s name dragged publicly through the dirt, all to make an example of him, and the lawmakers allowing it. Then imagine the store clerk responsible for this persecution having enough power that he can line up a swat team to assist, and the ability to change the laws he doesn’t agree with.
The lobbying machine is being fought along with the litigation machine. Yes, it may (I say “may”) be illegal to download an mp3 – but persecution like this in the name of deterrance? And one hell of a spin is being applied to arrive at that deterrance. And given the chance for increased exposure in the courtroom – cameras and a webcast – is being fought tooth and nail by the RIAA. In the name of public awareness of their plight, they should be welcoming the opportunity to have a larger audience, but they can’t afford this type of exposure. Why? Because what they do out of the public eye is a far cry than what’s presented for public scrutiny.
The results are spun and presented in the name of deterrance. It’s the path to those results that they don’t want the public to see. Too hard to spin that kind of image.
February 14th, 2009 at 9:26 am
I haven’t bought a CD in five years. I have purchased vast amounts of music, but from outlets that bypass the RIAA. I will never, ever put a dime in the RIAA’s coffers as long as I live. However, I would be happy to contribute directly to individual artists whom I enjoy. Someone out there listening?
July 8th, 2009 at 10:29 pm
First of all I would like to say that I´m deeply sorry for you and your family! I hope that lawsuit is not going to keep making your life worse and I wish for your daughter to be strong. I believe i can speak for the hole filesharing community when I say that you have our deepest sympathy and we wish you only the best!
That being said, I believe that the copyright system is deeply flawed. It is legal to record a song from online radio for free, but it is illegal to then go ahed and share it? What is up with that? The royalties are still distributed, I just can not see any justification for that. I sincerely hope that this system will be corrected and adapted to the modern internet society.
Be well friends,
dont give up!!