From Us to You
p2pnet.net News:- The CRIA (Canadian Recording Industry Association) has been instructed by its owners, the Big Five record labels, that it’s time to force Canadians into line with online music marketing policies.
Accordingly, it’s just launched Phase One of an intimidation campaign that’s identical to the one now running in the US and in which Jesse Jordan ’starred’ as one of the first people to be nailed by the RIAA (Recording Industry Association of America).
An information tech major in New York, he developed ChewPlastic.com, a search engine he says has a lot in common with Google, but which the RIAA likened unto Napster.
It took $12,000 to see the RIAA off and Jordan settled not because he thought he’d done something wrong. Rather, he paid the music industry solely to avoid the costs of litigation …
… just like every one of the many other American families targetted by the CRIA’s notorious opposite number in the US, the RIAA, in its relentless and ongoing sue ‘em all campaign.
But Jesse hasn’t forgotten the RIAA, and nor has his family.
His mother, Chelle, launched the Adventures of (appropriately ; ) Chewie the Sitting Duck who takes on the SRIAA (Society for the Random Intimidation of Average Americans).
Here, too, is a link to a transcript of an interview CNN’s Bill Hemmer conducted with Jesse.
And p2pnet asked Jesse’s father, Andy if he had any thoughts he’d like to share with Canadians who might find themselves in a similar situation.
Now read on >>>>>>>>>>>>>>
From Us to You.
From Andy Jordan
If you’re ever unlucky enough to be slapped with a lawsuit by the Recording Industry, you’ll probably feel angry, frightened, confused, and maybe even somewhat guilty. But before you misdirect your anger at your son, daughter, or yourself, you should ask yourself a couple of practical questions:
If your neighbor’s 11 year old son were stealing your newspaper, would you talk to the neighbor first, or just call the police and press charges? If your neighbor’s barking dog were waking you up at 5 am every morning, would you speak to the neighbor first, or just toss an explosive through his window? So why won’t the CRIA attempt to contact you to resolve this problem before they take you to court and smear your names in the press as if you were major criminals?
The answer is that they don’t want to resolve the problem with you in the first place. What they really want is to turn the lives of you and your loved ones into a cheap publicity stunt for their own benefit. You are being used by greedy corporate monopolies who are trying to bully you and intimidate other law-abiding families just like yours.
They will tell the press that your “brazen piracy forced them” to sue you.
They will claim that their lawsuits are part of an ongoing “educational effort.”
They will whine that they are doing this to “protect the artists.”
None of those claims are true, and no artists, recording engineers, producers, songwriters or anyone else will ever receive a penny from these lawsuits. The appalling truth is that these gigantic, greedy, monopolistic multinational corporations are behaving like schoolyard bullies, simply because they think they can get away with it.
As your own parents probably told you, you should never be afraid of a bully … and even you feel afraid, you should never show it. Be sure not to accept any “legal advice” from the CRIA (or RIAA) or anyone they want you to speak to. Look for your own legal advice, and educate yourself on the issues.
Even if you have to pay some form of “settlement,” don’t agree to make any apologies or sign any “gag” agreements. Leave yourself room to fight back later in the media, and if possible, in the courts. The only way to deal with bullies is to stand up to them.
You will find plenty of support from other ordinary families, even financial support in the form of donations, and you will provide enormous encouragement to others by speaking out.
But above all, don’t take your anger out on your kids! They are victims of these bullies too.
We hope this will help,
Andy Jordan
March 13th, 2004 at 11:44 pm
I feel your pain being presumed guilty before proven innocent. As p2p.net has stated on the bottom it is permissable to use their stories as long as a person links to the original story as I always do. I did an editorial on slyck.com to increase the scope to show your message and agree with your stance to the bullying.
Andy, a personal message. Please pay close attn to the mother who is suing the RIAA under the RICO Act. It might give you more options.
ln_solitude
March 14th, 2004 at 4:58 am
I hope the justice system here in Canada reads your letter and looks deeper into the isue than in the USA. Like you say if they wanted you to stop file swapping they could have warned you. This is a new area for law and warnings should always be first. They do not care about you or your children only the point they want to make. I bet if Kazza ask it’s users for donations we could fight these gangsters. You sound like a good father.
March 14th, 2004 at 1:47 pm
hi read your story…sad we have come to this in this day and age…but i feel no pity for the industry or artists at all..anytime u shove a video in my face with such excessive,flagrant,and shove it in your face crap,cars ,money ,gold,broads,and all else..i say u have enif cash in the bank baby…record companys have always been excessive in promoting thier clients and will continue to do so.it sells,and so does the hype regarding sharing,if it can make a buck,,lets do it….wish u all the best and good luck,as for me ..ill continue to download….ty
March 17th, 2004 at 12:16 am
How do you expect the CRIAA (or any other __AA) will be able to talk to the parties involved, without filing a lawsuit and then using the subpoena power to obtain the name/address/phone number of the ISP’s subscriber, from the ISP (who won’t, post-Verizon in the US, and I don’t know about Canadian law but I expect it’s similar, release that information without a subpoena, which can only be obtained by … filing the lawsuit …)
March 17th, 2004 at 6:27 pm
You asked a very good question. (”How do you expect the CRIAA (or any other __AA) will be able to talk to the parties involved, without filing a lawsuit…?”) The answer is a lot simpler than the CRIA (or any other __AA) apparently want you to know…
The 1998 Digital Millenium Copyright Act, which was primarily written by lobbyists for the recording and movie industries, defines infringement, and spells out the remedies for copyright owners who believe their copyrights are being infringed. This includes the procedure for notifying the ISP (or operators of college campus or corporate networks) to have them put a stop to the infringement without violating anyone’s privacy rights. If the infringement continues, the copyright owner can then take further legal measures, which are also spelled out under the law. The law also provides protections to ISPs as long as they carry out their obligations under the DMCA.
As bad a law as the DMCA is, it does spell out what is expected of the parties involved, and what is required in order to prove infringement. By circumventing these provisions of the DMCA, a law they practically dictated verbatim to the legislators who enacted it only a few years before, the RIAA has opted for vigilante justice and trial by media circus over the rule of law and the right to due process. I’ve always thought our neighbors to the north had more common sense than we often exhibit in the USA, but from what I’ve been reading, the CRIA seems to be headed in the same dangerous direction. I don’t know what the Canadian copyright laws are, but if the CRIA imitates the behavior of the RIAA, it doesn’t matter what those laws are; the CRIA will make up whatever excuses they need to.