p2pnet - rss feed: RIAA ‘incriminate yourself’ site
p2pnet.net news:- “Warner Music, EMI, Vivendi Universal and Sony BMG, the members of the Big 4 music cartel, think they’ve figured out a neat way to save themselves embarrassment in the courts, and costly lawyers’ bills, as they try to sue you into buying their ‘product’,” p2pnet posted in today’s (February 28) lead story intro.
“Their ‘incriminate yourself’ web site is now online.”
The idea is: American students get to admit they’ve been ‘illegally’ downloading copyrighted songs without Warner Music, EMI, Vivendi Universal and Sony BMG, the members of the Big 4 music cartel, actually doing anything themselves.
And having admitted their ‘guilt’ (for possible future reference?) the students can use their credit cards to pay the Big 4.
As Ray Beckerman, the New York lawyer who’s representing a number of RIAA victims, says in a comment post, “I hope the universities will see through this obvious ploy to increase the RIAA’s stream of easy settlement revenue, and will assist their students in finding out what their true legal rights are.”
Meanwhile, here’s the full spiel from their RIAA (Motion Picture Association of America).
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The recording industry today launched a new and strengthened campus anti-piracy initiative that significantly expands the scope and volume of its deterrent efforts while offering a new process that gives students the opportunity to avoid a formal lawsuit by settling prior to a litigation being filed.
The Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA), on behalf of the major record companies, today sent 400 pre-litigation settlement letters to 13 different universities. Each letter informs the school of a forthcoming copyright infringement lawsuit against one of its students or personnel. The RIAA will request that universities forward those letters to the appropriate network user. Under this new approach, a student (or other network user) can settle the record company claims against him or her at a discounted rate before a lawsuit is ever filed.
The initial wave of this new initiative launched today will include letters in the following quantities sent to Arizona State University (23 pre-settlement litigation letters), Marshall University (20), North Carolina State University (37), North Dakota State University (20), Northern Illinois University (28), Ohio University (50), Syracuse University (37), University of Massachusetts - Amherst (37), University of Nebraska - Lincoln (36), University of South Florida (31), University of Southern California (20), University of Tennessee - Knoxville (28), and University of Texas - Austin (33). The RIAA, on behalf of the major record companies, will pursue hundreds of similar enforcement actions against university network users each month.
‘We have transformed how we do business, and online music has experienced a sea change compared to three years ago,’ said Mitch Bainwol, Chairman and CEO of the RIAA. ‘A legal marketplace that barely existed in 2003 is now a billion dollar business showing real promise. Many rogue sites have gone under and fans have a far better understanding of the right and wrong ways to enjoy music. No matter how much we adapt, though, any new business model must always necessarily rely upon a respect for property rights. That’s why we must continue to enforce our rights.’
The new initiative comes as the nature and understanding of online music theft have changed dramatically since the RIAA first launched its individual user lawsuits in the fall of 2003. The music industry’s anti-piracy efforts have achieved real progress holding accountable the businesses that promote theft and deterring many would-be illegal downloaders. On college campuses, though, the illegal downloading habits of students remain extensive and disproportionately problematic.
For example, a survey by the Intellectual Property Institute at the University of Richmond’s School of Law found that more than half of college students download music and movies illegally. Additional data from market research firm NPD shows that college students, the most avid music fans, get more of their music from illegal peer-to-peer than the rest of the population: 25 percent vs.16 percent (percentage of total music acquisition from peer-to-peer downloading).
At the same time, the RIAA’s new deterrence initiative will focus more heavily on Ares and Gnutella-based networks such as LimeWire, which are gaining in popularity as online destinations for free, illegal music.
RIAA officials praised the collaborative efforts of the university community, such as the Joint Committee of the Higher Education and Entertainment Community, but said despite progress and a more proactive approach by many universities, the pervasiveness of illegal downloading on campus was unacceptable and compromised industry’s ability to invest in the new bands of tomorrow.
‘We understand that no deterrence or education program will ’solve’ piracy. Our job is to provide sufficient oxygen for the legal marketplace to show its true promise,’ added Bainwol. ‘The theft of music remains unacceptably high and undermines the industry’s ability to invest in new music. This is especially the case on college campuses, despite innovative business models like Ruckus’ offer of free, legal music to any college student. Our work with college administrators has yielded real progress, and we’re grateful for the help of those who have worked closely with us. At the same time, we recognize that the nature of online music theft is changing, and we need to adjust our strategies accordingly.’
Cary Sherman, President, RIAA, said, ‘Because we know that some audiences - particularly campus music downloaders - can sometimes be impervious to even the most compelling educational messages or legal alternatives, these new efforts aim to help students recognize that the consequences for illegal downloading are more real than ever before. We will continue to work with respected educators to reach students before college through programs like i-SAFE and Young Minds Inspired, but we simply cannot afford to write off a generation of college music fans. We hope that university administrators recognize the beneficial role they will play here - most immediately, by helping avert a lawsuit against a student, but better yet, by demonstrating the leadership that helps teach students right from wrong and by implementing the technological tools that prevent piracy from happening in the first place.’
In addition to the strengthened enforcement initiative, the RIAA will launch a new website - www.p2plawsuits.com - to serve as an informational resource for individuals facing a lawsuit. The RIAA has also developed an educational advertising campaign targeted for university newspapers. Incorporating concepts developed by marketing students enrolled in RIAA-EdVenture Partners classes, the ads will continue to appear in campus newspapers across the country in the coming weeks. [For samples of ads to run as part of this campaign, please see the hyperlinks at the bottom of this press release.] These educational efforts build upon the RIAA’s launch last fall of an orientation video for use by universities available at www.campusdownloading.com.
Today’s announcement comes on the heels of news last week that the RIAA is sending ‘notices’ to colleges at a rate more than three times higher than the previous academic year. While distinct from lawsuits and pre-litigation settlement letters, these notices - letters informing a college of an individual on campus illegally distributing copyrighted songs and requesting that the university take down that illegal content - are another ongoing means of enforcement against campus music theft. Due to technological advances, RIAA officials point to the current notice volume as an improved reflection of the file-trafficking problem on college campuses.
Stay tuned.
Also See:
lead story - RIAA college settlement plan, February 28, 2007
full spiel - RIAA Launches New Initiatives Targeting Campus Music Theft, February 28, 2007
If your Net access is blocked by government restrictions, try Psiphon from the Citizen Lab at thIs the end (of the Net) nigh?zze University of Toronto’s Munk Centre for International Studies. Go here for the official download, here for the p2pnet download, and here for details. And if you’re Chinese and you’re looking for a way to access independent Internet news sources, try Freegate, the DIT program written to help Chinese citizens circumvent web site blocking outside of China. Download it here.
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Tired of being treated like a criminal? They depend on you, not the other way around. Don’t buy their ‘product’. Do bug your local politicians. Use emails, snail-mail, phone calls, faxes, IM, stop them in the street, blog. And if you’re into organizing, organize petitions, organize demonstrations and then turn up on your local political rep’s doorstep, making sure you’ve contacted your local tv/radio station/newspaper in advance. Don’t just complain. Do something!
February 28th, 2007 at 7:16 pm
WOW! What won’t the RIAA come up with next? A website so you can pay them a fee ? Man people really are stupid here in America and especially people in my age group 18-25. The sad fact is people will buy into crap. File sharing will never go away. The mass media only reports what they want you to hear. It is all about money. Sad. Very sad.
February 28th, 2007 at 10:53 pm
Do they ACTUALLY think that people are gonna just go to this site and ADMIT they have been filesharing?
The more I read about the RIAA tactics….the more retarded they seem to be.
March 1st, 2007 at 5:13 pm
hmm… where can I send an email to the RIAA that says “Are you all f’ing retarded??”
If you haven’t seen the music video for Disturbd’s cover of the Genesis song “Land of Confusion”, check it out on YouTube. The big fat guy made of money is the RIAA/MPAA/all the other corporations.
I can’t wait for the day that all these evil corporations are gone.
March 2nd, 2007 at 9:40 pm
In my opinion: Not only is it another form of coercion, but it is my opinion that no one who does not ACTUALLY know themselves to be a target of a particular law suit has ANY obligation to maintain inclupatory (incriminating) evidence. Anyone who has illegally downloaded — provided they have not already received notice of a lawsuit against them, in particular — should erase the offending data off their hard drive, have it wiped professionally clean, cancel their illegal subscriptions, change their screen names, obtain new MAC addresses where possible, change their emails, close out old accounts, etc., and admit to nothing.
This is a Gestapo tactic for which no one will be rewarded.
Why would you incriminate yourself before you know what the “substantially reduced” settlement offer is?