Big Music goes after Princeton
p2pnet.net News:- A Princeton student is worried he might face criminal charges and be thrown into jail on the instructions of Warner Music (US), Sony BMG Music Entertainment (Japan, Germany), EMI Group (Britain) and Universal Music Group (Vivendi, France) for sharing music online.
The Four Horsemen of the Big Music Apocalypse think they can do whatever they want, whenever they want and to whomever they want in their attempts to gain control of p2p and how music is distributed online.
However, having people thrown into jail for file sharing isn�t a cartel option, and this kind of copyright infringement is a civil, not criminal, matter.
Now the Big Four labels have turned their RIAA (Recording Industry Association of America) loose on one of America�s premier teaching institutions, Princeton University, demanding the names of 39 students they claim have been sharing music online.
So far, not one of the approaching 10,000 people who�ve received an RIAA subpoena has actually appeared before a judge. And that�s they�re all very ordinary men, women and children � and students – who simply don�t have the financial or legal resources to take Big Music on.
The cartel knows this, using the fact it�s issued the documents to imply that it�s successfully prosecuted thousands of hard-core, file sharing criminals for the �crime� of file sharing.
Of course, file sharing isn�t a crime. No money changes hands for one thing. And for another, it�s never even been vaguely proved that file sharing has any impact on record industry sales, a point driven home by the most recent of the many academic and other studies which examine this spurious contention.
In fact, as an article in Britain�s influential The Economist recently pointed out, “”perhaps the decline in global sales is indicative of a far greater problem for the music industry – consumers simply think that many of its products are just not worth paying for.”
Now, however, it appears Princeton University has every intention of caving in to the cartel, handing over the names so its students so they can potentially be sued by the labels.
‘If and when …’
�Princeton spokesman Eric Quinones indicated Wednesday the university plans to cooperate with the RIAA, and he affirmed the school’s commitment to honoring intellectual property rights,� says The Princeton Packet, going on:
�The spokesman said Princeton received 39 notices beginning last week from the RIAA alerting the school that it would be served with subpoenas to obtain information on people responsible for computers associated with the alleged acts of copyright infringement. He said he could not confirm any details of the activities alleged by the RIAA.�
And it also seems the cartel doesn’t actually have to do anything to see its desires acted upon. A mere threat is now enough.
�Mr Quinones said the university has notified the students responsible for those computers, letting them know that the notices were received. He said the school has not yet received any of the subpoenas.� But, “If and when we do receive subpoenas, we would respond to the RIAA’s request for more information,” the spokesman continued.
Quinones said the university, �would not be party to any lawsuit, but could provide students with a list of local attorneys,� the Packet continues. He said if students are found to have, “engaged in any activity that infringes copyright-protected materials, they would be subject to disciplinary action. We have a thorough disciplinary process that would be followed.”
Thus, Princeton officials are ready and willing to �discipline� students on behalf of the record labels.
�The RIAA reportedly may have detected students sharing copyrighted music over a network called i2hub,� says the report. �Another file-sharing network referred to as DC++ has also been cited as a possibility.�
An accused students confirmed receipt of an e-mail from the university reporting the RIAA was, “seeking the names and contact information for certain computer IP addresses,� says The Princeton Packet.
Losing the battle
�The student reported writing back and telling the truth, which the student said was that there is no file-sharing software � �period�. The student added, �I was warned that I’m obligated by law to preserve all evidence, meaning I can’t alter anything on my hard drive. The most irritating thing is I don’t know what’ll happen next�.
�The student admitted being scared about the small possibility of jail, saying, �The thing I’m most afraid of is a criminal charge,� or potentially being sued for large sums of money.�
The student moreover suggested the RIAA was is fighting a losing battle.
“In the long term, the RIAA will always be one step behind and will not be able to stop this from happening,” the student said. “Given the number of people who they can sue compared with the number of people who share music, they won’t be successful in stopping this in the long run.”
He said he believed students have known that consequences existed but that they haven’t been in the forefront of their minds. He said it is unlikely the RIAA will see lasting results.
“This might discourage college students from using certain file services temporarily, but ultimately, this won’t do anything,” Princeton freshman John Curtius is quoted as saying in the story.
“I think a lot of people are going to stop using i2hub for music downloading. They’re going to make sure not to get caught, but the only people stressing about this now are those directly involved.”
However, the Penn State Option is also open to Princeton.
Penn was the first of America�s senior schools to actively collaborate with the Big Four record label cartel and now works in concert with it.
(Thanks, Doug)
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See:-
successfully prosecuted thousands - File sharing, p2p criminals, March 12, 2005
spurious contention – Is p2p killing CD sales?, p2pnet, March 28, 2004
not worth paying for – Crux of Big Music’s problems, p2pnet, March 25, 2005
The Princeton Packet – Recording industry cracks down on students at university, April 1, 2005
i2hub – i2hub: Movies in minutes, p2pnet, November 19, 2004
works in concert – University p2p ‘report’, p2pnet, August 25, 2004
April 4th, 2005 at 12:23 am
“and he affirmed the school’s commitment to honoring intellectual property rights…”
The constitution does not recognize “intellectual property” as a “right”. It is at very best described as an affirmatively “permitted priveledge”… a necessary evil to stimulate widespread publishing which should be limited/withheld unless it can be demonstrated that the granting of such monopoly power would bring greater public benefit than not.
Also.. I’d state that the i2hub rumor is simply that.. a RUMOR. i2 is a research network which requires serious money and credentials to tap into. I’d doubt even the aMaZiNg RIAA would be able to gain access to i2 lines without some serious trouble and an easily sniffed trail traceable by investigative bloggers. In truth.. i subscribe to the BIG LIE theory.. they’re lying their ***es off trying to keep people off networks they know can’t be traced.
April 4th, 2005 at 1:35 am
Great comment!!!! Interesting!!!!!!! The Riaa lie it’s ass off??? Who would have thought!!!!!!!
April 4th, 2005 at 9:52 pm
I might work on setting up a filesharing server will only local wireless access. This way the kiddies can share all they want and the cartels will never kow a thing about it. It is really simple do do. All that is needed is a Linksys wireless router and a computer to store the files on. Open source software can be downloaded that allows one to host files just as one would do it on the web. All users would have to do is enter the network anme into their computers and connect to the service. If i was living on a college campus, I’d be running one of these services myself.