Brittany Fights the RIAA: update I
p2pnet news view RIAA | P2P:- Vivendi Universal, EMI, Warner Music and Sony Music`s RIAA says it`s, making a diligent, good faith effort to settle existing cases (see Santangelo, for example), says Ars Technica today.
But in instances where the defendant flat-out refuses to accept responsibility for their actions and settle, or ignores repeated overtures, the unnamed spinperson says, we have no choice but to move forward with the legal process.
As we have said since December, no new cases are being filed.
That`s apart from the new cases that`ve been filed, of course.
But wait! They`re not new new cases, it says. Rather, The answer remains (as it has every time we`ve covered this issue) that the RIAA did not pledge to stop filing legal documents, says Ars, noting the Vivendi Universal, EMI, Warner Music and Sony Music `trade` outfit`s own definition of new cases doesn`t include any already in process under John Doe, or where `settlement` letters had already gone out.
Which brings us to Brittany Kruger.
`They treat her like she killed someone`
If you haven`t come across her story before, My name is Brittany Kruger, she wrote in February, explaining exactly what it`s like to be an American student hounded by the Big 4 labels. I cry almost every night these days, and I`m scared to death of what is going to happen to me in the future.
She`s a student at Northern Michigan University in Marquette.
Sarah is her roommate, there, and, They [the labels] treat her like she killed someone and should face the death penalty, she told me in an email. I don`t understand how those people can sleep at night for all the suffering they put people through.
For those who think she is getting what she deserves, how would you feel if you were continually harassed for getting a speeding ticket? – Sarah asks, People calling you day after day to collect money that you don`t have, making you feel like you`re 2 feet tall.
If you met Brittany, you’d see a, “kind, caring, trustworthy person, she says, adding »»»
I wishing I could make this all go away for her, to tell her she has nothing to worry about and this will all work out in the end.
But I can`t and that has been the hardest part of all this. I am completely helpless. I hope the people who are putting her though this could just get a taste of what they are doing to her, so that maybe they would have a little bit of compassion in their lives.
The ball is rolling
On Monday, It`s time for me to put my money where my mouth is, I wrote, going on, I`m going to contribute to a fund I hope can be put together for Brittany in the same way Fight Goliath helped Patti Santangelo, someone else the RIAA did its best to hang, draw and quarter, but failed.
When p2pnet readers raised more than $15,000 to pay for disbursements and expenses for Patti, Jason Rohrer, now a major game developer, wrote a script so donations registered literally as they came in, and a running total was visible 24/7.
Jason is too busy to re-jig it this time around, but he`s handed the code over to well-known p2pnet contributor surfer, who`ll re-configure it for the Brittany Kruger fund.
And we`re hoping a friend with many years experience in the entertainment industry will be able to organise an escrow account where donations will be deposited.
Jordan Glass represented Patti her pro bono, and it`s only a matter of time until someone comes forward offering to do the same for Brittany. But for now, I can`t volunteer full time, says Colin Shanahan (right), a third-year law student at Marquette University Law School in Wisconsin, but I could spend 10 to 20 hours a week researching and working on Brittany`s case.”
People helping people
When I first started thinking about this, it was in terms of organising a major music benefit with a name star heading the bill.
That would certainly be a big deal, but only for a short time and what we need to do is start a pressure wave and keep it building not for days or weeks, but for months.
And that means getting a lot of people involved.
We also need to realign the focus and move the emphasis away from the false accusations being levelled by the RIAA and Vivendi Universal, EMI, Warner Music and Sony Music, back to where it should be â to music as a source of pleasure for everyone, not a corporate `product` owned exclusively by four venal music companies for `distribution` on their terms, and only their terms.
Students are the current RIAA targets. So let students spearhead the Brittany campaign by organising benefits at their schools using local bands, and using school newspapers and TV and radio stations to spread the word.
The events will also be picked up by local print and electronic media with the added advantage of telling people who may not know about how Big Music is deliberately and consciously terrorising innocent people, seriously interfering studies and using taxpayer money to fund corporate copyright enforcement` at the community level.
We`ll be going into a lot more details about this, and other aspects of the compaign, later, but for now, remember:
At the moment, the RIAA is getting away with it because it` s attacking people with absolutely no financial or legal resources on an individual-by-individual basis, and because it has the mainstream lamescream media in its pocket.
But community communications, including all the new forms of cyberspace and electronic communications of the 21st digital sentry, are where it` s at. And we, not the labels, control them.
We can change the picture — and we will — ultimately creating a general fund which can be accessed not only by Brittany, but also by other RIAA victims across America.
The RIAA may be able to terrorise people one-by-one, but imagine what would happen if victims — all of them — were properly able to defend themselves.
And as Ray Beckerman notes on Recording Industry vs The People, “Brittany and her family have special credentials as ‘RIAA-fighters’, because they are the ones who brought the unlicensed status of the RIAA investigators to the attention of Michigan’s Department of Labor and Economic Growth. The RIAA is pursuing Brittany with a vengeance, in retaliation for her having exercised her rights as a citizen to complain of illegal conduct. So any contribution to the Kruger family is money well spent.”
So stay tuned.
Jon Newton – p2pnet
The RIAA: family devastation specialists - February 4, 2009
From one RIAA victim to another - February 5, 2009
Dear RIAA: My name is Brittany Kruger - February 6, 2009
Brittany Kruger`s story travels the globe – February 9, 2009
Emma to RIAA victim Brittany Kruger – February 11, 2009
Student threatens suicide over RIAA lawsuit- February 16, 2009
RIAA to Brittany Kruger: Pay now. Or else – April 2, 2009
Help Brittany beat the RIAA: I – May 4, 2009
May, 2009
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May 6th, 2009 at 4:28 pm
“Which brings us to Brittany Kruger.
âThey treat her like she killed someoneâ ”
Well from the Point of view of the middleman between music making artists and music “consuming” people, the labels that is, people that don’t pay the middleman for the service of distributing the plastic disc are killing them!
And rightfully so I say. Those services that the labels perform *ARE* obsolete and they have no more right that there obsolete businessmodel is artificially kept allive like the guys had that sold iceblogs on the corner a few decades ago when the household refrigerator was not already invented!
May 7th, 2009 at 4:47 am
Gee Jon, when you turn that switch on – those revs start mounting…..
June 26th, 2009 at 2:58 pm
There is a very interesting new social network that is getting alot of hype out here in the NYC area because of its radio station where artist can upload their music and let the users vote the music into radio rotation. There is a station for all genres. BTW, there are many other features on the site like a 4 way video chat & dressing room where users can create outfits from all the top designers clothing