p2pnet to Zack Whittaker: thanks, m8
p2pnet news view RIAA | P2P:- I want to thank Zack Whittaker (right) over at CNet News’ iGeneration blog for picking up, and commenting on, the story about the appalling instance of an RIAA victim who threatened to kill herself.
“I was shocked, horrified and appalled at the news that a student from Chicago threatened suicide over the forceful, bullying tactics of major media corporations,” he says, going on »»»
I didn’t think my 200th post on ZDNet would result in me saying this.
I have a fairly controversial opinion when it comes to software piracy, and sharing music and other multimedia online. But considering hundreds of millions of people share and download music every day, the chances of being struck by one of these lawsuits is en par with winning the lottery or being killed in a nasty milk float accident.
The Recording Industry Association of America (‘RIAA’ hereon in) with the assistance of other major corporations, including EMI, Warner, Sony BMG, has reported to be bullying students and ‘innocent people’ in a series of attacks in regards to music piracy. Whilst some may say sharing a music file with another person is like walking into a shop and stealing the CD, I would whole-heartedly disagree.
I don’t know a huge amount about the legalities, nor do I understand US law or even the politics too much, so I’ll give this the best go I can. Many of my links direct back here, so please do check out the sourced article.
Thomas Perrelli is the ‘main guy’ who shut down Internet radio by helping to mastermind massive fees imposed on companies such as Pandora.com. Also we have Donald Verrilli, who was one of the main people involved in the attempts of Viacom suing YouTube.
These two men, Perrelli and Verrilli, don’t have a very positive opinion in the online world.
Zack, based in Britain, where I was born, goes on to quote the p2pnet post in which I say, “I eventually had a long telephone conversation with girl I mentioned earlier, the one who was threatening to kill herself, and she said she, too, would write something about her experiences. But she changed her mind after her parents agreed to bail her out.
“She wouldn’t tell me the price, but she said she now hoped she’d be able to get back to her studies and on with her life.”
He goes on to cite the earlier p2pnet story of Brittany Kruger, another American student hounded by the Big 4 labels adding:
“In both my honest, professional opinion, as both a journalist and a student, these vicious, thoughtless, bullying tactics need to stop. Yes I’m sure to some extent this post may not make sense, and you’re probably looking for a point. There is my point, America, because students should not be victims of media giants who take advantage of the law.”
Zack has it right and I’m highlighting his post because although both cases centre on American students, Vivendi Universal (France), Sony BMG (Japan and Germany), EMI (Britain), and Warner Music’s (US) sue ‘em all campaigning is international and unless and until the mainstream media focus on these kinds of travesties, innocent people will continue to be victimised in the name of corporate profits.
‘Mary,’ as I’ve called her, didn’t follow through with her threat, but I’ve heard rumours of a tragedy which occurred early on when someone being sued by the RIAA did, in fact, commit suicide.
The online media are doing their part and its time offline print and electronic reporters start doing their jobs as well by focusing on the kind of crimes, because that’s what they are, the music and movie studios are getting away with every day.
So, Zack, thanks again …
Jon Newton – p2pnet
February , 2009
Use free p2pnet newsfeeds for your site. It`s really easy!
Subscribe to p2pnet.net | | rss feed: http://p2pnet.net/p2p.rss | | Mobile – http://p2pnet.net/index-wml.php
Net access blocked by government restrictions? Use Psiphon from the Citizen Lab at the University of Toronto. Go here for details.
