The RIAA do not have a valid complaint.

In fact, it is the other way around. The RIAA is withholding things that should be in the public domain. They were illegally placing a tariff on things they do not own.

The Congress, the Senate and the President can pass any laws they like. Without the consent of the people, those laws have no moral force. Ultimately, they can have no force in law. Sure, those guys are your ‘duly elected representatives’, but let’s get real here. They lost any legitimate claims to authority on two counts. Either is good enough to nullify their legitimacy:

1) They violated their oath to uphold the Constitution.
2) They do not properly represent your interests.

From where does the authority to make law come? It comes from all of you. The so-called representatives have breached their contract with you. It is hence null and void.

I suggest that EVERYONE who is sued by the RIAA simply insist on a separate jury trial. They should then pool their resources and each mount the same ‘pro-forma’ defense. The defense should be short and sweet and should cause the case to come before a jury as quickly as possible. This should be accompanied by a vigorous campaign to get the word out. Juries would know that they could and should toss these cases out with extreme prejudice.

Under common law, juries can do whatever they like. I suggest that since the RIAA is SO WRONG in so many ways, each Jury will punish them.

After a few dozen or at most a few hundred of these cases, the RIAA will have lost more than just their nasty campaign. They will be significantly worse off than they were to begin with. File sharing as it currently exists would become de-facto a perfectly acceptable activity. At that point, they probably WOULD lose sales to file sharing. Rightly so.

The entire debate would be laughable if the RIAA were not so greedy and negligent of the damage they cause.

Really, the law needs to be completely changed to bring it into line with the U.S. Constitution. The intentions of those who wrote it are clear. If one looks at some of the writings of those people and is aware of the historical context within which they wrote the constitution, it is quite clear that they intended copyrights and patents to be very limited. I should think they had in mind that they would expire in something like an outside maximum of 14 years or perhaps (in some special cases) 28 years.

What the RIAA is doing is willfully wrong on its face. If the whole matter were the subject of a plebiscite, the RIAA would lose big. If everyone had a proper understanding of these matters, powers conferred by patents and copyrights would be radically reduced.

We the people . . . should take back our sovereignty with a vengeance. The machinations that lead to the DMCA and many other abuses are downright treasonous. Not only should the RIAA weasels and their lawyers lose their cases, they should be punished severely for injuring the public good. When I say severely, I mean a complete re-assessment of past revenues based on the laws as properly backed by the Constitution. They would have to disgorge every ill-gotten penny and pay punitive damages besides. For ringleaders that perverted the political process to have those laws mangled out of alignment with the Constitution, I think jail-time is only fitting.

What if the vast majority of citizens cast a critical eye on how their sovereignty has been misappropriated and abused? Imagine how quickly the RIAA, its lawyers, political backers and the press would shrink away.

As far as I am concerned, most of file sharing as it is practiced today is entirely fair use. The current regime of copyright and patent law specifically defeats the purpose that allowed it to exist in the first place.

http://www.fightgoliath.org

[this is an escrow account handled by Patricia Santangelo -- currently going toward defraying legal expenses in her case, since it's the first one that's getting into court. No connection to Tanya Andersen or other club members as yet, I believe... but I think this might change as more money comes in, more RIAA victims join the club, and resources can be pooled more efficiently.]

The ‘war’ needs to be fought not just against the RIAA, MPAA etc, but against all big businesses which aim to maintain their monopolies. Just think DRM, trusted computing and all that sort of stuff – purely designed to take the power out of the peoples’ hands. If we do nothing, they will be enforced upon us without our free will. I think that Richard Stallman’s essay (http://www.gnu.org/philosophy/can-you-trust.html) gives a valid argument against trusted computing.

It would seem that just as some fear the rise of big companies, big companies fear the rise of the people.

http://www.polarity1.com/pcrr36.html

the rest of it is at:

http://www.mca.org.au/mf94wilhelms.htm

(the whole thing is probably too long to post here)

Would any of these people who are taking on the labels be able to make any use of any of the information in Wilhelms’ testimony?

But I agree that it is stupid not allowing tv shows to be downloaded. You are allowed to record with a vcr the same shows with no problem and freely hand these out to your friends. The TV companies also don’t lose any money as its not like people would usually go out and buy one tv show at a time like with music.

Do they even check through the computers of the people they are suing, check their hard drives and see exactly what copyrighted material there is on there? Do they check to see if these people own original copies of the material on their pc?
How can they sue somebody going off just a username and ip address? How about people with a dynamic ip?

When I can easily buy me a Tivo or use my cable companys dvr and record the shows anyway. Makes absolutely no sense. I mean would it even be illegal if I was downloading the episodes in their entirety with commercials intact?

J Rivera

The industry’s high profile lawyers may scare people but there are laws in this country to protect people and their privacy. How dare these greedy pigs violate so many principals of law and fairness just so they can make a few more dollars.

I remember well the Beta Max case where Hollywood tried to kill the VCR. Now they make more money off selling and renting movies than they did in the theaters. The entertainment industry is populated by blood sucking pigs who do ANYTHING to line their own pockets. Sueing children and poor helpless women….its all in a days work to them. They are stuck in the past and fail to see how technology could be working for them. Their ignorance is paramount and their lack of vision is a product of their own selfish stupidity. Instead of their costly and illegal lawsuits and actions they should be directing their efforts to customer service and producing a good quaility product at a FAIR price.

Rather than to use some brain power and be inovative they instead choose to harass and brow beat the very customers who fed them. Come on America, boycot these jerks and really make their sales fall!

I only hope that Americans will wise up and stand up to these PIGS.

J. Sterling

One man gives freely, yet gains even more; another withholds unduly, but comes to poverty.
25
A generous man will prosper; he who refreshes others will himself be refreshed.
Proverbs 11:24-25

1
“Be careful not to do your `acts of righteousness’ before men, to be seen by them. If you do, you will have no reward from your Father in heaven.
2
“So when you give to the needy, do not announce it with trumpets, as the hypocrites do in the synagogues and on the streets, to be honored by men. I tell you the truth, they have received their reward in full.
3
But when you give to the needy, do not let your left hand know what your right hand is doing,
4
so that your giving may be in secret. Then your Father, who sees what is done in secret, will reward you.
Matthew 6:1-4

13
But when you give a banquet, invite the poor, the crippled, the lame, the blind,
14
and you will be blessed. Although they cannot repay you, you will be repaid at the resurrection of the righteous.”
Luke 14:13-14

17
If anyone has material possessions and sees his brother in need but has no pity on him, how can the love of Elohim be in him?
18
Dear children, let us not love with words or tongue but with actions and in truth.
I John 3:17-18

In everything I did, I showed you that by this kind of hard work we must help the weak, remembering the words the Master Yeshua himself said: “It is more blessed to give than to receive.”
Acts 20:35

for riches do not endure forever, and a crown is not secure for all generations.
Proverbs 27:24

Each man should give what he has decided in his heart to give, not reluctantly or under compulsion, for Elohim loves a cheerful giver.
II Corinthians 9:7

Heal the sick, raise the dead, cleanse those who have leprosy, drive out demons. Freely you have received, freely give
Matthew 10:8

Whoever loves money never has money enough; whoever loves wealth is never satisfied with his income. This too is meaningless.
Ecclesiastes 5:10

Do not forget to entertain strangers, for by so doing some people have entertained angels without knowing it.
Hebrews 13:2

If I run off a copy of a magazine and give it to you, then you don’t have to go to the store and buy it. There is real loss there.

The law is called COPYright. It means that the owner has RIGHTS to the COPIES. It means that you do NOT have the right to make additional COPIES.

A lot of people tend to think that they are entitled to have something just because they want it. This is a self-centered, childish, me-me-me point of view perpetuated by the marketing industry in order to motivate people to go out and buy everything they can.

Looks to me like some really good lawyers are handing the RIAA their head in a basket.