Brittany Kruger’s story travels the globe
p2pnet news view | RIAA News:- The RIAA has “discontinued” its “broad-based end user litigation program against illegal downloading on peer-to-peer (p2p) networks”.
No if, buts or maybes there.The unequivocal declaration was made by RIAA boss Mitch Bainwol to the US congress just before Christmas.Then this month, “We are by and large dismissing all John Doe cases where we have not received a discovery order or a subpoena response.”
That’s RIAA spokeslady Cara Duckworth, quoted in Wired Campus on Bainwol’s widely touted (by the mainstream media to be picked up by lesser media as fact) statement.
By and large? Didn’t Bainwol flat out state, “You may have seen news reports that the RIAA has discontinued our broad-based end user litigation program against illegal downloading on peer-to-peer (p2p) networks,” going on:
“As a result of our lawsuits, and the Supreme Court’s Grokster decision, there is now remarkable awareness and clarity about the law.”
In reality, copyright law is obtuse and confusing as it’s ever been with no two lawyers able to agree on any aspect of it, and nowhere in his statement to US lawmakers does the Joseph Goebbels of the corporate music industry suggest there might be qualifications.But, “Of course, there are some exceptions,” says Duckworth.
Of course. And what would they be?
She doesn’t say.
Meanwhile, “According to court papers in Interscope Records v Paul, a Massachusetts case, the RIAA served a summons and complaint upon the defendant on January 20th, more than a month after its announcement that it was ceasing its mass litigation program,” said Recording Industry vs The People.
And remember Ducklworth saying, “We are by and large dismissing all John Doe cases where we have not received a discovery order or a subpoena response”?
‘I got off the phone in tears’
This Saturday p2pnet ran an item featuring Brittany Kruger, a student who’s being pilloried by the RIAA.
“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,” she says, going on »»»
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.
By 5:25 am Pacific time, Britanny’s story had been viewed 2,848 times not only in North America, but by people in Israel, The Netherlands, France, Japan, Germany and the UK, to name some of the countries with blogs and newspapers carrying the story.
“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,” says Logan, going on:
“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.”
“See that sony store or record store?” – asks CHRoNoSS. “go print off a copy of the storey and glue it to the window”.
“It has been a long time since I last posted,” says Morg, “but this is just to reiterate what I have said before: stories like this in P2PNet and other sites are not going unnoticed [ ] There are supporters in places which would surprise you.”
“Hi Brittany,” says Myles. “This is just to let you know that Mo, Junie, Sam and I are thinking of you and praying for you here in England.”
Brittany isn’t by herself.
Whatever happens, she’s had the courage to tell her story, and she’s an inspiration to people around the world.
The Big 4? They think they’re winning but they’re haemorrhaging customers and goodwill like there’s no tomorrow.
And for them, there won’t be.
February , 2009
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February 9th, 2009 at 10:40 am
You’ve got a section repeated twice in there, Jon.
Anyways, nice story. I’m glad to hear that her story is getting out, hopefully that will help raise awareness of how evil the RIAA is and show people just a little more how nasty the music industry is as a whole.
February 9th, 2009 at 10:41 am
..And by music industry I mean the Big 4 and their sub-brands, since I know of several Indie companies who are the exact opposite of these guys
February 9th, 2009 at 10:43 am
@ Sukasa:
Fixed. Thanks.
Cheers!
February 9th, 2009 at 11:58 am
Hi Jon and other readers.
I cam across this today:
http://www.lewrockwell.com/tucker/tucker133.html
It’s an excellent read and provides good arguments, though it would help if there were actual cases and number to back up the claims further, but still a good read.
It is about IP and how the quest to protect everything is actually hindering growth, something we all agree, but the big business folks don’t care to agree to. The article explains why IP protection stymies growth, but again if they had raw numbers and an actual list of thousands of cases where this were true, you could then bring that to Congress (or our House of Commons) and have the laws changed to reflect reality.
Is it even possible to swing the other way? Is it possible to put the Sunny Bono Act from 90yrs down to 20yrs?
February 9th, 2009 at 12:40 pm
@IP Out of Hand:
Nice find, that’s a very interesting article. I enjoyed reading it, and it raises some very good points. Jon, why not consider an article about this piece?
February 11th, 2009 at 7:52 am
“âFebruary 3rd, I had a lovely conversation with one Morgan Schwartzlander [the âleadâ 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,â she [Brittany Kruger] says”
Well, according to claims made before the 2 big apple judges, the only person with settlement authority is “the dentist”.
So this “Morgan Schwartzlander [the âleadâ at the RIAA settlement extortion centre]” must be some kind of fraudster.
Next time someone from the RIAA S(chutz) S(taffel)-Center calls, tell them that you will record the call for evidence purposes and that you reserve the right to publish it via “online media distribution” system.
Lets have them on record when they lie just like the HRO and J&B guys have done so often for example when they claimed in their first letter that all the evidence was already secured despite the fact that it is now public record in the Thomas case that these lawyers are simply fabricating and tempering with evidence that no serious court of law could accept as evidence would it be lawabeiding!