Dear RIAA: My name is Brittany Kruger
p2pnet news view RIAA | Kids & Kartels:- “My name is Brittany Kruger. I’m not a criminal. I’m not a tough person. I cry almost every night these days, and I’m scared to death of what is going to happen to me in the future. Most of all I’m not a pirate, I don’t have a peg leg or a hook for a hand, and I don’t raid ships on the high seas looking for booty.”
They’re the first three lines Britanny (right) wrote in a story explaining exactly what it’s like to be an American student hounded by Vivendi Universal (France), Sony BMG (Japan and Germany), EMI (Britain), and Warner Music (US, but run by a Canadian).
Because, say Mitch Bainwol, Cary Sherman, Cara Duckworth, Jonathan Lamy and all the other good people at the unAmerican (literally) Big 4′s RIAA, Brittany has shared with other people. And that, they say, just cannot be allowed.
“During the past several years, thousands of regular working class folks in the music community have lost their jobs precisely because of the illegal activity involved in this case,” said Duckworth in a written statement to the San Francisco Chronicle.
Duckworth wasn’t referring to Britanny’s lawsuit. Rather, she was talking about the Joel Tenenbaum farce in which a Boston student is being represented by professor Charles Nesson and his team of Harvard law students.
But even that’s incorrect. Joel Tenenbaum’s one case isn’t responsible any more than any of the other file sharing cases, only one of which has ever made it to court. And that’s having to be re-tried.
If Big 4 artists and support workers are in trouble, it’s because the labels missed the boat when it was time to move from the physical 20th into the 21st digital century.
The Tenebaum lawsuit has struck terror into the hearts of Bainwol and Sherman, et al, because judge Nancy Gertner said it was OK for oral arguments to be streamed live so they could be seen and heard online.
Despite the fact the Big 4 and their RIAA claim the sue ‘em all lawsuit campaign is designed to educate people on the evils of file sharing, there’s no way they want the proceedings to see the light of day and they’re currently doing everything they can to make sure that doesn’t happen.
Duckworth’s statement is just one glaring example of the kind of nonsensical rhetoric she and other RIAA sophists issue on a daily basis to be picked up and run by the mainstream media, and which later come to be seen as fact.
One filesharing case is responsible for thousands of people being thrown out of work? Of course, Duckworth doesn’t mean that. She means all of these “regular working class folks” are in dire straits because of all of those other “regular working class folks” whom the Big 4 and their RIAA have labelled criminals and thieves because according to the corporate music industry »»»
When someone shares a song with someone else, it’s exactly the same as walking into a record store and stealing a CD off the shelf.
When a song is shared, a sale which would have otherwise occurred, is killed.
Both claims are, of course, ridiculous, and if anyone made them in even a junior school debate, they wouldn’t stand up for five seconds.
But Vivendi Universal (France), Sony BMG (Japan and Germany), EMI (Britain), and Warner Music (US) and their RIAA-clones around the world, have been getting away those statements since 2003.
A pack of lies
During the week we published a letter from Randy Kruger. His daughter, Brittany, “is being hung out to dry by the labels, with the RIAA fronting for them,” we said, quoting recording Industry vs The People’s Ray Beckerman who described her case like this »»»
The RIAA is being especially vengeful towards Brittany, because she, with the help of her non-lawyer father, dared to question the legality of MediaSentry`s conducting investigations in Michigan without an investigator`s license.
Her complaint prompted an investigation by Michigan`s Department of Labor and Economic Growth which encouraged other college students, and even colleges, in Michigan to follow suit, probably led to reform of Michigan`s licensing statute, caught MediaSentry up in a pack of lies, and which may yet lead to criminal prosecution, but which was not sufficient to cause MediaSentry to stop its illegal practice.
Not at all incidentally, MediaSentry has been fired to be replaced by another company, this time conveniently located in Denmark.
Here’s Brittany’s story, unedited and just the way she wrote it so you can see what the life of an evil filesharing pirate is like.
And please, whether you’re a website or blog owner or a reader and forum poster, republish Brittany’s story, or pass it on in any other way. No need for attribution to p2pnet »»»
My name is Brittany Kruger. I’m not a criminal. I’m not a tough person. I cry almost every night these days, and I’m scared to death of what is going to happen to me in the future. Most of all I’m not a pirate, I don’t have a peg leg or a hook for a hand, and I don’t raid ships on the high seas looking for booty.I was a regular kid (I may be 22 years old now, but I still rely on my parents for almost everything!). I’ve no real knowledge of the world at this point in life other than how hard it is to establish credit or get a loan.
Today, February 3rd, I had a lovely conversation with one Morgan Schwartzlander [the 'lead' at the RIAA settlement extortion centre], and let me just tell you, it was outstanding, so great in fact I got off the phone in tears. My suggested settlement of $2,000 was “ridiculous” compared to their (“not negotiable”) $8,100 settlement.
Morgan will tell you that she is “not legal counsel” but she’ll tell you what she would do if she were in your situation, she’ll give you some statistics about how motions to quash are almost never granted, and then she’ll tell you that whoever suggested your motion to quash is an idiot (I don’t think she knew that was my dad).
I make about $4,500 in a YEAR working at Dairy Queen, and they want a lump sum of $8,000+? I don’t know how that’s going to work. When I buy a song from iTunes, it only cost $.99. Not every college student can have mommy and daddy pay for all their problems to go away.
I was looking through my journal to refresh my bad memory of how everything happened, then I decided that I didn’t want to bore you with dates. So I’m going to tell what I’ve learned about myself these past 2 years.
Today I realized that I cry a lot! Over and over I question myself “am I a bad person?” I’ve never killed anyone, I’m a very sympathetic and forgiving person, I volunteer, and I go to church.
But these people at the RIAA still have a way of making me question myself. Are some people just programmed to be bad no matter how hard they try to be good? That’s exactly how it seems to go for me, one step forward two steps back (or that seems to be how it is for my one person pity party).
Then my mom assures me that it’s not me. The jobs (I call them jobs because I would assume that a career is something that makes you feel good about what you do) these people hold are there to make people feel bad because they don’t have the monetary funds to make all their problems just go away. They are bullies!
I wonder how people like Ms Schwartzlander or Mr Kelso sleep at night, I wonder if they go to church every Sunday and think “I’m a good person”.
[Note: Kelso is Donald J, a Holmes Roberts & Owen attack lawyer acting for the Big 4's RIAA as it extorts American students such as Brittany.]
I think all the time about how something that I love so much could get me into so much trouble?
I never sold copyrighted music for profit; I used it [P2P] to find new music or to figure out if I liked a band enough to buy their CD (because I hate buying a CD for just one song)! I didn’t think I was hurting the bands that I love by finding more of their music, listening to it, and then buying their CD. That makes no sense.
I didn’t even know what copyright was until got called to the Dean’s Office.
I don’t know how everyone else spends their college life, but for me a large portion consists of printing off endless amounts of documents that use language I don’t understand, making pleasant phone calls to settlement agencies, and racing papers to the local court house.
That’s precious time I could be using (studying or hanging out with friends) that’s wasted because of money.
I wonder how many college students have had to go to the police station to file a complaint about a “private investigator” invading my privacy, and have had the police look at them as if they were totally incompetent?
How many students have had their university hand them over like a piece of meat to hungry billion dollar corporate wolves?
I know that the University of Michigan didn’t do that, and Harvard University didn’t do that.
I feel bad for my roommates and friends too, because I know they get pulled into a lot of the problems that I have. They get caught answering the phone when it’s a settlement agency and have no idea what to do or say.
How are they supposed to comfort me when I’m having a bad day? I know that hundreds of kids at NMU, at one point or another, downloaded music, but they didn’t get their computers hacked into, and get accused like me of being a pirate like me, and they’re lucky for that. I think they know that.
I’m not a regular college student. I’m an example for everyone to stop and look at, with a giant stamp on my forehead that says, “Don’t be like me, because I made one mistake as a teenager that will ruin the rest of my life”.
You might not see my face or name plastered everywhere, but I can guarantee you that I’m in every statistic, you see a poster on the wall warning you against “illegal downloading”.
I’m the person they’re talking about. I might even be one of the “stupid” ones fighting the RIAA.
I’m Doe # 5, but I prefer to be called Brittany, because that’s who I am.
I’m a person, not an IP address or a case number.
I’m a person and no one will ever change that about me. I’m me and no one else will ever tell me different. I need to believe in that. Everyone makes mistakes, and the people who are doing this to me are no different.
I’m scared, and now I worry all the time about what is going to happen to me.
I don’t know if it has made me a stronger person or a weaker person. I have problems sleeping, my hair is falling out in ungodly amounts, I’m having a hard time concentrating in class, but most of all I hate the fact that I’ve pulled my entire family into this.
My dad helps me all the time figuring out what I should do, my mom listens to me when I’m having a bad day and need someone to cry to, my brothers and sister, I’m sure get jipped on the time my parents spend with them, and there’s always that perpetual question “hey isn’t your sister being sued or something for downloading music?”.
Right now it doesn’t seem like this is ever going to end, I’m just now entering the tunnel and the light is miles away.
I know it will end. I just don’t know how long it will take to get there.
I guess Murder by Death was right when they said “Sometimes the line walks you”.
Thanks for sharing, Brittany. I know how hard that was for you.
Jon Newton – p2pnet
February , 2009
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February 7th, 2009 at 2:04 pm
Hi, Jon;
Just finished reading Brittany’s letter and I find myself in full agreement with what she says. The RIAA is nothing more than the neighborhood bully, you know the kind, who walks around with a gang of morons like him or herself threatening others or beating them when they won’t give up their lunch money. The thing is like this bunch of morons, the RIAA hasn’t learned or refuses to learn that eventually even the smallest person will stand up to them as is evidenced by the NMU as well as Harvard and others who are now taking up the cases of those accused by these bullies. I’m waiting to see the results of some of the forthcoming class action lawsuits like the one in New York against the RIAA and if and when they are found guilty of Racketeering, Price Fixing, Hacking and the host of other charges that will be brought forth, I want to see Joe Biden and the rest of their lackies cry “FOUL” and try to get it over turned due to their stacking the deck with RIAA lawyers in the DOJ. The bottom line for me is that they are attacking the wrong people, their own customers and expecting the rest of the world to go along with it. Unfortunately their spin doctors have made some inroads against file sharing, but they’ve also made more than a few errors that will come back and bite them in the ass at the end. Their arguments are being shot down more and more every day in Federal Court and so they have to try this new tactic, even tho they’ve sworn that they’ve stopped suing their customers, let’s see what happens when Congress discovers that they are being lied to by these crooks. If all goes right they may find themselves shut down and facing hard jail time or they may get a well done and nothing will happen but more terrorist tactics against defenseless and innocent members of both Canada and the US who’s only crime is one of copy right infringement which is not a criminal matter but a civil, that of trying to make a good compilation of their favorite artists and not the garbage with one good tune only.
Brittany, as she has made plain to all who have read her letter, is not a thief but a victim of many thieves who seem to get the greatest joy out of suing those who can’t defend themselves.
February 7th, 2009 at 2:09 pm
see that sony store or record store go print off a copy of the storey and glue it to the window
maybe doing that will get people thinking a bit more
make it readable both ways in other words glue it so can be read instore and one for people on way in.
if maybe a hundred such thing appeared some real pressure might mount
February 7th, 2009 at 2:11 pm
Hello Jon:
Morg, here. It has been a long time since I last posted (I seem to say that every time, do I not?) but this is just to reiterate what I have said before: stories like this in P2PNet and other sites are not going unnoticed.
Please keep up the good work. There are supporters in places which would surprise you.
February 7th, 2009 at 9:09 pm
The RIAA are bullies and that is why I do not buy music any more. I have spent thousands of dollars on albums, CD’s, tapes, and digital music in the past. But no more. If the record companies are going to act like thugs I will not support them.
February 7th, 2009 at 9:27 pm
The RIAA needs to be prosecuted for attempting to disrupt an entire branch of government, namely, the legal system. They are the moral equivalent of terrorists and perhaps one day, when they’re all on a cruise some real pirates with automatic weapons will introduce themselves to the RIAA people.
The RIAA should be forced to pay $10k for each lawsuit they file, unrecoverable. R does stand for Reich does it not?
February 7th, 2009 at 10:33 pm
Boo Hoo Brittany, I think this piracy scourge can only be eradicated by making it socially unacceptable like DUI used to be and unfortunately little Brittany is cannon fodder for the greater good.
February 8th, 2009 at 1:59 am
FUJ, you miss the point; Unless you like the idea of having the town bully hire a window peeper to look into the window of your house, take a photo of you doing the “wild thing” with your boyfriend, and then running back to the town bully with the prize. Once they have the “evidence” , the bully threatens you with civil action for your sins unless you pay up. That is the basically the practice used to trap the kids. The financial inequality between a billion-dollar industry and a college kid is even more disturbing. Legal or not, it is wrong. When the kid tries to equal the playing field, and catches the cartel dirty, the cartel “up’s” the ante.
BTW, am I reading your comment right?? Socially unacceptable like “DUI Used to be”. Enough said.
February 8th, 2009 at 8:43 am
sleep well – this will have a good ending.
February 8th, 2009 at 8:54 am
Quote: ”When someone shares a song with someone else, itâs exactly the same as walking into a record store and stealing a CD off the shelf. When a song is shared, a sale which would have otherwise occurred, is killed.”
This you can compare with sharing a newspaper or a magazine….after I finished the newspaper if give it to my friend to read instead of trowing away, so by this does it mean that I am passing the law??…Did I killed the deal??……………. you can easily say, YES if I wouldn’t give him the newspaper he might buy one!!…………. (which is not true!)………… Then it means we all are CRIMINALS which are passing the law every second……….. of the day!!! Also NY Times can sue me for this!! YES I share the newspaper withj another 10 people…………….
This claim is absurd, and I’m sure that RIAA will cancell the claim, and there are many LAW FIRMS who heard about this claim and will assist you without $$$$. You just need a bit of ‘comon sense’…………….
February 8th, 2009 at 9:22 am
Well… Even though I totally agree that running after P2P end users is the most ridicules action to take, and a transition time must be allowed after the music industry did not respond quickly enough (10 years) to the Digital new ways that consumers wanted to consume music (though they are now offering digital purchasing and thus are elegable to fight the pirate users).
I must say that I don’t find your reasoning to be right. Papers do not earn from printing – they actually loose from each paper being printed. It is in the paper’s interest that it will be spread around because the main revenue flow comes from adverting and not from selling.
February 8th, 2009 at 9:57 am
i am happy to be in a country that dont do anything- the technology will win
and all the rip off guys- they will go to gail- after rip us off since the cd is out and before
February 8th, 2009 at 10:32 am
live the kid alone snakes.
February 8th, 2009 at 10:52 am
While the RIAA is wrong for having sued and collected from so many innocent person’s, my gripe is with the justice system for permitting innocent people to be made to turn money over the the RIAA and Directv. Justice should never support the suing of innocent people nor should they ever assist the collection from innocent people. Because justice is on the side of such fraudulent suits, I can no longer support justice till they come back to the side of law and order. What will I do? The next time I am a Juror, I will do what justice has done. That is ignore justice and cast my juror vote disregarding justice. The next time I am a witness to an event, I will ignore justice. If justice decided to not protect innocent people being sued, then justice has to learn the lesson.
February 8th, 2009 at 11:52 am
i`m from israel and here nobody cares
February 8th, 2009 at 1:21 pm
sue this animals on stress,you are the victim.
February 8th, 2009 at 1:23 pm
Besides, Why do you think the RIAA aren’t taking these to criminal court ?
After all, they are calling it CRIMINAL copyright infringement ?
I’ll tell you why .
The RIAA plaintiffs would never survive the BURDEN OF PROOF necessary for
a criminal conviction. The standards are VERY strict in criminal cases.
Perhaps that’s what needs to be done.
One really brave soul who has done NO file sharing, but is being harassed, to
INSIST on this being tried in a criminal court and not a civil court.
a very interesting thought.
February 8th, 2009 at 6:03 pm
i sorry to read how you got into this and i hope you’ll get out of this mess quickly.
the RIAA are the perfect example to a bully corporation which is inspired by greed. without arguing whether sharing is good or bad
i this that in your case the RIAA HAS TO consider about your economic situation and income.
by not doing so they cause antagonism instead of empathy.
again as i see it it begins and ends with greed.
may you prevail
February 8th, 2009 at 6:35 pm
Hi Brittany:
This is just to let you know that Mo, Junie, Sam and I are thinking of you and praying for you here in England.
February 8th, 2009 at 6:53 pm
I would encourage Brittany and every other person being handled by these firms to name the names of everybody they’re dealing with at these shady “settlement centers” and RIAA go-betweens, much as Brittany has done here with Morgan Schwartzlander.
If nothing else, directly associating their names with their stupid, heavy-handed actions on behalf of RIAA thugs will stain their name for years to come. Anybody Googling them from here on out will see that they were once an RIAA attack monkey who helped the RIAA sue people into oblivion.
Because remember, kids, people eventually change jobs… Or, at least, they might try to.
February 9th, 2009 at 6:18 pm
I thought the RIAA said they were going to stop suing people. Guess that didn’t last long…
February 10th, 2009 at 10:49 pm
I’ve never understood why they would go after individual people for downloading music and don’t really go after the places where people can get the music. Yeah they went after Napster, Limewire. Kazza, certain torrent sites ect, but it doesnt work. People claim they download a song to “check” it out first but nowadays you can hear the music on Myspace, Official sites, Youtube etc. So that arguement isnt as good as it use to be.
Just because someone downloads a song doesn’t mean that it is a lost sale. I’ve have thousands of mp3′s and I would never have bought any of the cds or even the songs. Even if they were sold for 1 cent. I dont need them but the random time I might want to hear the song.
If cds were less expensive or songs cheaper then maybe more people would buy them. I can’t undestand how a digital cd from itunes may be 9.99 and the actual cd may be 12ish. The cd needed to be made, artwork done, shipped to record stores etc etc. How can that make it only a couple of dollars different?
Politians and law makers need to wake up and see what is going on today. I bet every politian has someone in their family that uses p2p. Maybe if they were getting sued they may change stuff.
Downloading a song is the same as rightclicking a picture and saving it to your harddrive….is it not??
How about capturing a video from Youtube and converting it to your ipod?
And the thing is if the record labels really looked at how readily their music can be downloaded for free they would be shocked. I can find almost any cd by any band in less then 10 minutes. And most of the time I don’t even have to look through torrents or any other form of p2p.
And because I’m in Canada and pay a tariff on blank media, it’s legal.
February 12th, 2009 at 4:20 pm
Notice how if we stole anything no matter the size and went to court we would never have this insanity. That the Big 4 or RIAA(YES BULLIES and obviously our justice system allows them to be) are allowed to do. Plus saying that some one that has went into the store and bought it is like they stole it is wrong. How many people and no doubt including them buy a cd and lend it to their friends. Been happening for years . Might have increased their sales and free advertising . Same Aholes that ripped of artist for years and they have the adasity to talk .Typical thing money and power to rip off people showing for many years that you can never trust them.. But I don’t believe that if she was in court for stealing a cd it would ever amount to this. Plus you could also say that the amount of sale they claim to lose (as we all truthfully now is a complete lie) is the people that never buy anyways or want to. But also they might. Fact is there are less chances now of people ever wanting to support the BIG 4 . Amazing how nothing like this has been done when you share the cd with a friend who most likely has copied it . Although that would take a warrent
.
Plus its also horrible to see the court make it illegal for soem of the things they are still doing. Also beimng allowed to still use them in court. Justice system will always be crap to put it bluntly. $$$$ and you can do what ever the f..k you want and the proof is there .
February 12th, 2009 at 4:49 pm
Yeah thats very true this lost sale crap. People still record the songs from the radio local or online.tv etc etc . Plus showing the rip of that you mentioned about how the crappy wma/mp3 is selling fro so much nothing can even come close to justify that price at all. Not even getting good audio for that price like wav or flac . They are hurting from their over priced , ripping off artist for years and looking for any bs to feed their greed.
February 13th, 2009 at 5:43 pm
Once the P2P is marked as illegal you will find that people will start doing private sharing on sites such as http://www.myotherdrive.com. In those cases the RIAA will have to go after the companies to raid their bin or files that noone but the person you’re sharing the files with on the internet would be able to see.
February 13th, 2009 at 11:57 pm
@ Tal replies to Sergie Feldman Says:
true, revenue does come from advertising for papers, but there are factors like circulation base, demographics, etc. If the circulation is not high, how can they boast to potential advertisers of their reach and target markets. So, it IS important that a paper’s circulation base continues to improve or at least stay steady. How can you ask an advertiser to still pay big bucks when you’re circulation is going downhill? If I’m an advertiser, I want as many eyes as I can get to see my ad.
February 18th, 2009 at 7:59 pm
A while back someone did a survey on whether people thought downloading music was illegal or immoral. The results showed that the majority found it neither. There,s your answer. If a society does not think it is illegal or immoral, then your music industry dick heads are lost. They just don’t know it, after they receive minimal sympathy from the masses, they revert to the bulling crap. Small penis syndrome I think it,s called.
So long as a show on MTV like Cribs, that shows the massive dollars thrown in the faces of the common folk, I personally have no sympathy for them.
You hang in there darling, you haven,t done anything wrong. Get it on Oprah and watch how much sympathy these music folks will have. Life is a big circle and them that does the bullying will get theirs in the end. At 58 years old, I’ve now lived long enough to see this.
February 19th, 2009 at 4:05 am
Don’t you enjoy how stupidly moronic the RIAA is? If you look at the DMCA, there is a line in there which states that even if you pay for music which has DRM, you cannot remove DRM under any circumstances. Simply put, if you upgrade your OS and the DRM tells you no you can’t access this file, you cannot remove the DRM without being a criminal. The only other option is to pay for every piece of music all over again. So even if you do follow the rules, you will eventually become a criminal. Ah, the power of human stupidity.
February 19th, 2009 at 10:10 am
Ah, another case of Big Business teaming up with Big Legal to make Big A$$E$ of themselves. Terrorizing children is a sound tactic for them short term because the first week of school the bully gets a pretty decent cut of everyone’s lunch money. But after a week or two, the bully pushes too far and angers enough people that they band together and kick the bully’s a$$.
It’s time to stop these soulless empty suits. If I buy a CD, it becomes my property, and I can do anything I want with it, including sell it, melt it down for scrap, leave it on the subway, or give it to my friends. Why should a digital file be any different? I will never buy another CD again. I’m content to listen to my 1000 song library from here to the apocalypse. And I will give every one of my CDs to my friends with the only condition being that they must give it to someone else after a short period of time, JUST so the record companies lose whatever killed sales they think are important enough to terrorize children. Is THAT illegal? For an American citizen to give away one of their possessions for someone else to enjoy? What about playing music over a loud speaker? Am I a criminal because I used to play my CDs at the basketball games I used to announce?
I’ll donate all of my CDs to ANYONE who can somehow convert them to money that can be used to make Morgan Schwartzlander’s life so miserable that his daughter’s hair is falling out in clumps.
February 19th, 2009 at 3:18 pm
A blank CD costs me about 15p, a music cd about 10 pound. Most of this money seems to go in profit to the big companies not to the bands. Several years ago I bought a CD which had 7 versions of the same song on. Stuff the music companies – don’t buy albums get music free from jamendo.com and donate if you really like it!
Good luck Brittany!
February 19th, 2009 at 7:18 pm
The RIAA doesn’t care about Brittany or anyone else.
The only things they care about are numbers… and facts are that the sales numbers are down turning. What’s interesting here though is this recession America and the rest of the world is now in. When you consider the down turn of sales as a early leading trend to people’s tightening wallet’s over the last half dozen years – the state of our global economy has more to do with sales trends than p2p ever did.
Look, there are two ways to view p2p. 1) One is as a source of free (as in beer) advertising. Yes there is a cost as the song was sung by someone, recorded by someone, burned and sold by someone and then ripped and shared by its end consumer who bought the original released product. Every person who downloaded a copy of the song after that was either inspired to buy A) nothing or B) something and no real quantitative study (that I’ve seen) has been done to test how many buy concert tickets/shirts/cd’s/etc or nothing after listening to downloaded content but all downloaders are viewed equally as freeloading wastes of space. 2) The other is outright thievery where people simply do not care about anything else after the fact that others had access to music without paying for a cd and that there could be no possible value to a person downloading and freely sharing their downloads.
I’ve been listening to these arguments for years. P2P of some form or another is going to be around when this generation’s children have children and contrary to some people’s opinions, downloading isn’t seen as a bad thing by most people. I still overhear people openly talking about running Kazaa and other p2p applications regardless of how stupid (because their IP is openly shared with anyone on the other side). Even walking in malls or in stores people talk freely and openly about their use of these programs. If it was such a stigma to use these things – if things were really having a negative vibe in with the masses you’d think people would avoid such taboo subjects.
Nobody wants to be ripped off. Can we agree to that? The songwriter and the consumer want equal footing. So what can be done? Have any of you ever looked at Hulu? Legally shared, free to watch movies you can watch online that have some advertising thrown in here and there.
I know this is going to be a “shocker” concept – but it shouldn’t be. Limewire/Morphious/Direct Connect and others have done this but yet the copywrite holders havenât.. They need to make their own p2p sharing program. Populated with targeted advertising based on the user-history of downloads and associative music/movies etc that are related – there is a plethora of marketing data to be had if they would only log it. Regional interest/overall popularity/viral quality and on and on.
Even if they were to make it a listen-only sharing ap without a burn option – a legal FREE option being made available would still get used. If the listening person wanted to burn the songs they could buy them and they’d be unlocked – yep itâs just like Napster with one big difference… Once the consumer downloaded the song to listen to 1 time, the next person would download it from that 1st downloader and the source server – torrenting the load and lowering cost to the host server.
Anyway – I wanted to chime in as it’s been a long time since I’ve posted here. Brittany, keep your head up – there are many lawyers defending these cases today and you didn’t do anything wrong – only something that people have not quite accepted into our society. Like women not wearing dresses or having jobs..Oh God forbid someone that isn’t caucasian using the same bathroom as a caucasian… heck pick any of the many stupid things that were considered taboo when our nation was founded to present and most things we consider normal today would be outlandish.
Regards,
_-Jile-_
February 20th, 2009 at 12:58 pm
This may be a silly question…. How much of the proceeds from the RIIA settlements go to the artists?
To me it does not appear that RIIA actually has the artists intrests in mind as they profess, see this article http://hypebot.typepad.com/hypebot/2006/12/riaa_petitions_.html that quotes RIIA as syaing the artists are making to much.
February 21st, 2009 at 4:52 pm
I agree wholeheartedly. Whatever happened to the days when musicians just played music because they liked to? Music should not be a business, it should be an artistic endeavor by talented people who have the time to suffer for their art. Like the old days. People should not have to pay for music. If musicians would work for free and all of the record companies, radio stations that play music, concert venues and promoters would either join in the fun and just do the work because they like it or just stop so the unpaid musicians could just stand on street corners and have a fun time making people tap their feet, then this would be a better world.
February 21st, 2009 at 4:53 pm
Also, if the musicians want to make money, they should have to become attorneys as well. It should be illegal for agencies or attorneys to fight their battle for them
February 21st, 2009 at 10:52 pm
Who hasnt boughten a CD and shared it with friends. Is that stealing money from the record producers? well to bad for them. I feal they are useing Brittany as an example of what they could do. I hope it back fires in their face and they all go out of business
February 22nd, 2009 at 2:48 pm
I know it is a lot for me to say since it is not me who is being targeted. However, if it were me, I would name names, places, and anything else that I believe that would hurt the RIAA without hurting my case. If I didn’t have or could not raise the funds to fight these thugs in court, then I would move to Florida and declare bankruptcy. Bankruptcy is not the same as it used to be. I know of someone who has filed bankruptcy and is able to ect. loans, etc. Also, in Florida, under bankruptcy, a person can keep a car, a place to live and personal belongings. If I were sued, it would be a waste of money for the RIAA.
March 1st, 2009 at 4:11 am
Sad RIAA GTFO
. Sue the RIAA for harassment and blackmail.
March 4th, 2009 at 12:12 pm
I don’t know how is things up there, in Michigan… but I do know something: the people behind these schemes are much like the old ‘Al Capone’ guys – MOBSTERS – that make the law and other rights upside down in favor of… themselves!
I think that now should be a time for rallying people to discuss the post-modern most relevant question: free knowledge. Wasn’t it the aim of Internet all the time ? To expand horizons ?
America used to be the land of freedom…
March 7th, 2009 at 1:48 am
Brittany,
Your not alone. I have been sentenced to endure harsh treatment from RIAA, too. They charge I shared music I have never heard before as well as other erroneous charges. They claim I must pay them approx. $4,000.00 or face a law suit where they will sue me for approx. $60,000.00. Who’s the nuttier? I can’t believe in America this is happening. How has the judicial system bought into this.
I’m looking for an affordable lawyer to defend my case. My mother is spending hours every other day to find a resolution and legal assistance in fighting these people. This is so difficult to find, still we search. I don’t believe men are created equal any longer.
Any legal assistance out there?
March 8th, 2009 at 10:55 pm
said: Brittany,
Your not alone. I have been sentenced to endure harsh treatment from RIAA, too. They charge I shared music I have never heard before as well as other erroneous charges. They claim I must pay them approx. $4,000.00 or face a law suit where they will sue me for approx. $60,000.00. Whoâs the nuttier? I canât believe in America this is happening. How has the judicial system bought into this.
Iâm looking for an affordable lawyer to defend my case. …
Any legal assistance out there?
Contact Jon, and post your story.. your right, this has to stop. What state do you live in, and what university?
March 9th, 2009 at 2:31 pm
I haven’t bought a CD in seven years. I buy my music from several Russian websites. They claim that they reimburse the artists, I hope that’s true. But one thing’s for sure: the RIAA doesn’t get a single kopeck!
March 11th, 2009 at 9:52 am
I think it is time to stop referring to these clowns as RIAA. This is a cover the main record labels are hiding behind. Most people (mainstream) think this is some sort of advocacy group set up to protect the interests of the artists. Of course it is not; it is a bunch of corporations set up to protect their own interests.
March 17th, 2009 at 6:40 pm
“When someone shares a song with someone else, itâs exactly the same as walking into a record store and stealing a CD off the shelf.”
There is one MAJOR FLAW in this comment.
When someone shares a song, they make a COPY. Which means the original is STILL THERE.
When someone walks into a record store and steals a CD off the shelf, that CD is NO LONGER THERE to sell.
Maybe if artists made more than one good song per CD we wouldn’t need to pirate everything to see if we even like it.
I bought the Boston CD because it was amazing.
I bought the All That Remains CD (Fall of Ideals) because it was amazing.
I downloaded All That Remains CD (Overcome) because it was okay. I only listen to Two Weeks and Chiron.
RIAA, learn your facts. Pirating does NOT equal stealing.
March 23rd, 2009 at 2:57 pm
this is retarded. I would mail that to every freaking news station and talk show host you know of to gain public sympathy and support. You’d make everybody look like assholes if they continue with the lawsuit.
They can piss off and as a matter of fact. Im going to go download some songs right now.
April 13th, 2009 at 2:43 pm
[...] recording industry are people who don’t have much money. You are probably familiar with the story of Brittany Kruger, who offered to pay $2,000, but was told that the settlement figure of $8,100 was not negotiable. [...]
April 20th, 2009 at 4:08 pm
According to the mobsters that poor Brittany is dealing with I and 300 million other Americans are criminals too–I’ve/they’ve been lending copyrighted books out of my/their personal library to friends and family for over 40/500 years. I/they always (well, about 95% of the time) get the books back after they’ve been read and thoroughly enjoyed by people who did borrowed (did not purchase) the book. Come lock me/them up RIAA, MPAA and any other home-grown digital cartel terrorist group. I dare you to!
Why the past 6 months I’ve read copyrighted books I didn’t own, watched copyrighted DVD movies I didn’t own, and listened to copyrighted CDs I didn’t own. How did I do that? Why I checked them all out at my local public library? Omigosh!! How criminal!! Why, I bet the next plan of action by the mobsters of the RIAA and MPAA is to shut down ALL public libraries. Wait isn’t there a major part of a body of US law/Case Law/Code/Regulation that states that if a plaintiff has known about an activity, that they are now suing for, to have gone on for 3 years or longer prior to the aforementioned suit without said plaintiff party ever attempting a previous grievance/suit against such activity against anyone (not just this defendant), then plaintiffs suit is without merit. It is MOOT! For the Defendant in such sucumstances it is similar to a Laches Defense!
Another angle related to this is: “What law gives makers of blank copying media, like Sony, control of what you have a right to burn onto that media in the privacy of your own home?” How can a plaintiff prove that defendant did something other than download the music, listen to each downloaded song once, and then erase all alleged songs without infringing on copyright holders rights? Such “use” would be similar to listening to the songs on the radio or on a friends stereo–did you infringe on a copyright by listening to a copyrighted song on a friends stereo without paying for it first? I can prove in court that downloading a song is no more of an infringement on copyright than “downloading” a song into your ear from a friend’s stereo or a radio station for your brain to hear. The brain itself is a recording and data storage device, therefore, we are all unlawfully storing copyrighted works by the hundreds everyday according to the way the RIAA and the MPAA is trying to twist our US laws.
Using the above arguments (as the RIAA and MPAA are apparently doing), then, logically it can be said that uploading is no different that letting friends listen to your CDs on your stereo while they are visiting you.
Now if I charge my friends money to listen to my CDs on my Stereo then the copyright holders of the songs have a right borne out of the right to earn income from the fruits of their copyright’s commercial applications. If Brittany and her ISP charged uploaders then there may be provable damages. However, since the highest laws of the land should prevent bullies from being able to access Brittany’s private computer data without Due Process and Beyond a Reasonable Suspicion being proven to the court, then, proving that Due Process and Beyond a Reasonable Suspicion would require the court to throw out the RIAA/MPAA case due to the unreasonable invasion of Brittany’s 1st, 4th, and 5th Admendments Right to Privacy the RIAA/MPAA would need to violate in order to procure said discovery data. The snake is swallowing it’s own tail in Brittany’s case–the snake being you-know-who.
How can you allege theft by using theft to get an allegation of copyright infringement? That’s exactly what the RIAA/MPAA are doing in going after innocent people like Brittany. People like Brittany didn’t make a dime off of sharing a few files but did absorb the incalculable cost of having their privacy illegally invaded. How is that different from ID theft? Isn’t ID theft vigorously prosecuted in the US? Why isn’t somebody prosecuting the RIAA/MPAA for ID theft?
In the final analysis, Brittany’s case is about people who know nothing about technology deciding whether Brittany used technology in such a way as to infringe on copyrights, and, further, that she knew that her activities amounted to copyright infringement. That’s like having a 5th grader decide whether a patient knew what was going on surgically while they lay passed out during surgery. How absurd!
April 20th, 2009 at 10:59 pm
And that’s the 5th grader who would lay passed out taking a nap during the surgery! Got ya! Betcha thought it was the other way around!! hehehe!
April 22nd, 2009 at 7:20 pm
I was wondering if everyone would refuse to buy any CD, until the RIAA, stops hounding people.
If the record companies and the artists would wise up and put a stop to it? I don’t believe these
cases against people like this brings any new found money to either the artists or the record company.
Maybe what we need is boycott on buying CD’s.
May 22nd, 2009 at 7:33 pm
Sorry, can’t buy any of this wash.
I seriously doubt this woman, or most of the people the RIAA is going after, merely downloaded one song. There’s a lot of people saying “they’re being bullies, waah”. Perhaps they are, at that.
This is the real world, grow up. To the companies that the RIAA represents, what they are basically hearing is that people are not willing to pay for music at prices that will allow their companies to continue functioning as long as they can bypass it illegally.
You expect them to change this? The reality is, most people who claim to pirate games, movies, or music just to “try it out” are lying hypocrites. For every person who says “But I try stuff and buy it” there are ten who do not because they don’t have the money readily available or would spend it on something else.
Is every pirated download a lost sale? No. Much of this is posturing. To suggest, however, that none of the pirated downloads of music, movies and games are lost sales is equally credulous and even more insipid. If people wish to apply a narrow definition of “theft” as physical property and illegally obtain music through whatever channels they can get away with, fine. But in the real world, the mass of people who do this are not seen as customers but instead as parasites. You don’t download a cool song and recommend for one of your friends to buy it or the CD, you just give them the song. There is ZERO return on doing this the way many P2Pnet commenters wish over their current methodlogy.
And if her story scares even one person away from downloading, well, that’s a victory for them.
May 28th, 2009 at 4:47 pm
If you give them a mole hill they will take the mountain.Censorship is censorship you can’t just sensor one thing and call it bad and another good just because it dose not appeal to you.Just like religion and porn if you let them censor porn one day they will censor religion and or visa versa.It all has to do with control.The governments create laws so they can control people; not to protect them and give them security.But to take away their personal freedoms and liberties under the guise of protection security.These companys work hand and hand with the governments to stir up emotions and fear to help foster their agendas.They create the problems only to create their solutions.Ab Ordo Chaos.They don’t care about the money or that you are even downloading these files all they care about is getting other people to join their way of thinking so they can have a example for others to follow.The pied piper,Lemmings,and sheeple.Either you are part of the problem or you can be part of the solution.The bottom line is you can not sensor anything without sensoring eveything.
May 31st, 2009 at 12:56 pm
Just a quick comment: You should be recording these telephone conversations. And then perhaps leaking them online so everyone can see just how sleazy they are.
June 18th, 2009 at 7:28 pm
They deliberately choose weak, old, disabled, poor people or children for these lawsuits.
Have you ever read: “a 35 year old millionaire executive slapped with $7000 suit by RIAA.”
No, usually little girls. The plaintiffs feel this makes for better intimidation, since they can’t sue everyone.
June 19th, 2009 at 2:04 am
Yes i would just LIKE to stress out to all of you ppl that FILE sharing/downloading is ILLEGAL so if u are man enough to do it that means u are man enough to take the fault and consequences that come with it!!!! so please quit bitching about how the riaa/mpaa is ruining your life please. none of us give a fuck what happens to you. i do download media but i dont go bitching about it when people that are losing money get mad. hell if i was a musician and i saw someone downloading my shit id fucking sock him in the jaw!!! but thats just my take ON it no one elses if u want to email me about this posting please do covin_killer666 at yahoo
June 21st, 2009 at 12:58 am
I buy a lot of music even though where I live (third world), it is very difficult to find anything I really like. They only sell the most popular bands/albums that sell in large quantity and fast and for everything else, people used to go to the local pirate that sells burnt CD-Rs and then came the P2P where everything was instantly available. On average I spend about half my salary on music because I have to go through the trouble of ordering it from other countries and pay 200 to 300% import taxes charged in my country. But I still do download off the net ocassionally, and guess what? I get a mail from the ISP because of getting a notice from the RIAA. This is ridiculous. The CDs in question are not even available anywhere in the country, so what sale do they claim they lost? Most of us wouldn’t have even heard of those bands if it wasn’t for P2P. So if you look at it the way I do, they have GAINED sales from a few people like me. But you know what? I’m not gonna fill their pockets anymore if they’re going to be assholes to people like me. NOW, they’ve lost all future purchases from me (about $5k a year) which isn’t much for them but boy do I feel great!
June 21st, 2009 at 10:40 pm
Everyone on here seems crazy to me. How can you think the RIAA are a bunch of bullies? Oh boo hoo, you are taking a product for free and the company is suing you for doing that. Well if I was the umbrella corporation shielding my bands from thievery then yes I would sue you too. Now don’t get me wrong I’ve downloaded songs before, but I knew when I was doing it that it was illegal. Why don’t we just let everyone share music for free!? Well because there would be no revenue besides tickets and gear, and that is not enough for 99% of bands to live off of, if they even make it to that status.
Yes she did do something wrong, she stole. And I don’t believe her BS of not knowing that was wrong. I also don’t believe her BS of how she just ‘tries’ out songs and then buys the cd’s. Why would any sane person do that if they could just get it for free? They wouldn’t.
June 25th, 2009 at 11:23 pm
Looks like the trolls are out.
June 27th, 2009 at 9:42 am
it’s not fair to bully her. she just care about others by sharing files stupid copyright!
July 1st, 2009 at 10:30 am
This is actually a tactic the RIAA copied straight from the KGB.
You do not bother to single out the extreme cases. People see that and say ‘wow, he downloaded 3 terrabytes of tv shows and 27 terrabytes of porn, what a filthy pirate.’
And then they continue to download their two songs a month.
In Soviet Russia, the KGB singled out people who they knew had done nothing wrong to spread fear. This is basically the same tactic. Target people for extremely minor violations, hit them with draconian penalties, in the hope of spreading fear.
July 3rd, 2009 at 4:07 am
The ironic thing is a person can go to the library, borrow a CD and copy it.
What’s the difference?
July 8th, 2009 at 8:49 am
stupid RIAA you have fucked her hole life up
stupid fockheads assholls
July 15th, 2009 at 5:38 am
maybe we should all go back to recording cassette tape copies of record albums and giving them to our friends
July 21st, 2009 at 5:41 pm
While I agree that the RIAA is a little over the top in some of their actions, I find it hard to believe that you didn’t know what copyright was until you were called into the Dean’s office, that is unless you are the product of government education. That said even if you are a product of government education and you didn’t know what copyright was you have to be in the bottom 10 percentile, so save yourself some time and trouble drop out now, you are not capable of learning or being taught.
July 22nd, 2009 at 11:30 pm
Once again the trolls are out. “A little over the top” sound like minimization.
August 1st, 2009 at 3:40 am
Brittany Kruger have you ever asked Russia to help you with your intellectual rights to proclaim your freedom against Iran and North Korea whom could certainly end all music lovely downloads faster than any RIAA or otherwise with a few nuclear bombs? If you ever get a chance to voice your opinion please consider what all that means, your more likely to be out working on your publishing creativity than completing any stay incarcerated like has been the issue for so many and now states are finding it hard to feed these folks while RIAA seems more happily ever after since they started receiving the judgment awards courts sided on their argument without due course of action – there are no nuclear safe places for music documents the RIAA claims to have control over rights to protect. If you find one (I MEAN ONE) you can tell me and I might consider their argument fruitless to the point of a few hundred it would require. Meanwhile, hello public listeners, the music stops when the bombs detonate is a new song yet to be released from the Internet because RIAA wants to subliminize its words secretly making it possible to convence you never to download and share it. Believe me it would be taboo for you to participate with a cartel that steals from taxpayers never to repay or follow throguh with their promises. Consider this writing a successful action to protect our liberty and freedom in America. We the people always have gotten the rights correctly. See this aricle “Big 4âs IFPI whines at Vladimir Putin – Royalty collection dispute” http://www.p2pnet.net/story/25797
August 2nd, 2009 at 12:44 am
I’m not entirely sure about this one. But she said her computer was hacked, isn’t that illegal. Isn’t there privacy laws? Is someone allowed to hack into a computer, even if they have 50,000 songs on it illegally shared do they have the right to hack into our computer and see that? Where is the warrant.. the probable cause.. I thought our amendments stood for something. And if that is some kind of case.. that whoever hacked the computer and violated privacy laws, shouldn’t the case be thrown out for that?? Anyone have any light to shed on this matter??
August 2nd, 2009 at 2:30 am
Hi Brittaney,
While I know this situation sucks it is nice to see you have taken responsibility for your actions. I really do wish that the attorney working on behalf of RIAA would take the $2000 settlement offer. They won’t because they want a decent cut for their time and effort.
I do have a hard time believing that you didn’t intrinsically know that what you were doing was wrong. I think people know it’s wrong but that human nature intervenes common sense with the thought ‘So many people are doing it, how could I get caught?’.
Hope this works out the best for you.
August 2nd, 2009 at 6:25 pm
i was downloading for years and had no idea it was illegal.when i heard about it being illegal i checked out the properties on my music tracks and they all said”NOT PROTECTED”to me that means its free !!
August 2nd, 2009 at 7:54 pm
Yes Brittany, you can do something; fight back.
Raise as much awareness about your issue. Make videos explaining your plight on YouTube. Contact your local news media and online news websites and look for sympathetic ears. Raise lots of awareness. Never give up explaining your situation. Learn how to communicate effectively, be honest and remember that you can make a difference. Ask a communication expert to coach you, and find someone that knows how to be a publicist.
Don’t ignore the RIAA fanbois and critics of your plight. Use them to learn how to communicate more effectively and learn how to change your tactics so that you can sway the opinion of even the most die hard of RIAA lovers.
Never let the RIAA ever know that they’ve succeeded at bullying you and that you are sad and afraid; this is exactly what they want. They want you to cower and cry so that they can use you as an example. Don’t give them this power.
Go to your local live act clubs and spend your money on merchandise directly from the artist and show them that you support unknown talent that doesn’t mind working to make a living. If you feel you must support the music artists that are under the RIAA control, go to the artists concerts and purchase merchandise directly from the artist. Avoid buying CD’s or music DVD’s at all costs, encourage everyone that you talk to to completely boycott the music corporations, but they should support unknown local artists and support their record company artists directly by buying directly from the artist.
Rally up lots of support. Raise your voice. Show the RIAA that you are not going to be a crybaby and pay them a dime. They don’t like people that have a spine and a brain, and they certainly don’t like someone that can challenge them in a public way.
Who knows, you might be the David that can slay the Goliath. Stand up and fight as you are more powerful than all of the RIAA’s lawyers combined. Have faith in yourself because I have faith that you can succeed.
Fight and slay The Beast.
November 21st, 2009 at 1:13 pm
Brittany
Its very easy for people to offer advice when they aren’t in your shoes. It must be very hard for you and your family. Your dad was in the studio last week and I can see this is having an impact on him too. When you are 30 (which will happen quicker than you think) you will look back on this and call it a life lesson.
I can only say STAY FOCUSED on the big picture. Your life! This too shall pass and you’ll be a better person for it. I hope you keep focused on your future because it is bright and will be filled with great memories from college. Clouds pass…its does stop raining…and perhaps you can contact local schools and tell your story to them. To help future college students know what you have learned.
I’ve bought Led Zep II as a LP, 8 track and cassette…the CD and now they want me to buy it as a MP3. Record companies are greedy and if the artists actually got the money I may be more sympathic…but I am on your side and wish you the best.
Your personal photographer
-Kenn