p2pnet - rss feed: RIAA’s student extortion letter
p2pnet.net news:- “We urge you to consult with an attorney immediately to advise you on your rights and responsibilities.”
“I hope the universities will … assist their students in finding out what their true legal rights are.”
The first quote comes from Donald J Kelso who workes for Holmes Roberts & Owen, a law firm acting for the Big 4 music cartel’s RIAA (Recording Industry Association of America) as the latter tries to extort American students into adding to its sue ‘em all war chest, doing its and HRO’s work for them, and incriminate themselves, all at the same time.
The second comes from New York lawyer Ray Beckerman who represents some of the RIAA’s victims. His remark was in a comment post to p2pnet’s Wednesday story which kicks off:
“If you’re a p2p, file-sharing college student, here’s your chance to volunteer your name, address and other personal details to the Big 4 record labels so they won’t have to actually go looking for you themselves.”
With that in mind, the West Virginia Herald-Dispatch yesterday carried an interesting item by Justin McElroy who says 20 Marshall University students have received blackmail letters from Warner Music, EMI, Vivendi Universal and Sony BMG’s RIAA.
“If the RIAA goes after the students directly, we will have no choice than to give them the names,” the Herald-Dispatch has Marshall’s Jan Fox saying.
The story goes on:
Though the threat is clearly laid out, the music industry representatives have still left several questions unanswered.
For instance, they decline to admit the average amount of a settlement — though most estimates put it at around $3,000. The group also isn’t saying why some schools were chosen over others. Fox, however, has her own theories.
“I would guess it’s name recognition,” Fox said. “[”We Are Marshall”] has brought us all kinds of things, and one of those is name recognition. They want a publicly-displayed university that other schools are like. You’ve got all these other smaller and medium-sized schools, and if they think it’s only the big schools they go after, they’re not going to take it seriously. These are scare tactics.”
Whatever the methodology, it’s hard to argue that for a college student living on Ramen Noodles, $3,000 can be a very scary sum.
As p2pnet noted recently, this latest example of RIAA extortion is more than vaguely reminiscent of the failed Clean Slate program the RIAA tried on between September, 2003, and April, 2004″.
Below is the Herald-Dispatch letter. We’ve posted a copy here as well.
February 28, 2007
Re: Notification of Copyright Infringement Claims
CASE ID#
Dear Sir/Madam:
We have asked your Internet Service Provider to forward this letter to you in advance of our filing a lawsuit against you in federal court for copyright infringement. We represent a number of large record companies, including EMI Recorded Music, SONY BMG MUSIC ENTERTAINMENT, Universal Music Group and Warner Music Group, as well as all of their subsidiaries and affiliates (’Record Companies’), in pursuing claims of copyright infringement against individuals who have illegally uploaded and downloaded sound recordings on peer-to-peer networks.
We have gathered evidence that you have been infringing copyrights owned by the Record Companies. We are attaching to this letter a sample of the sound recordings you were found distributing via the AresWarezUS (Ares) peer-topeer [sic] network. In total, you were found distributing 321 audio files, a substantial number of which are sound recordings controlled by the Record Companies.
The reason we are sending this letter to you in advance of filing suit is to give you the opportunity to settle these claims as early as possible. If you contact us within the next twenty (20) calendar days, we will offer to settle the claims for a significantly reduced amount compared to what we will offer to settle them for after we file suit or compared to the judgment amount a court may enter against you. If you are interested in resolving this matter now, please contact our Settlement Information Line at 913-234-8181 or, alternatively, you may settle this matter immediately online at www.p2plawsuits.com, using the CASE ID# that appears at the top of this letter.
In deciding whether you wish to settle this matter, here are some things you should consider:
* The Copyright Act imposes a range of statutory damages for copyright infringement. The minimum damages under the law is $750 for each Page 2 copyrighted recording that has been infringed (’shared’). The maximum damage award can be substantially more. In addition to damages, you may also be responsible for paying the legal fees we incur in order to pursue these claims, and are subject to having an injunction entered against you prohibiting you from further infringing activity.
* preserve evidence that relates to the claims against you. In this case, that means, at a minimum, the entire library of recordings that you have made available for distribution as well as any recordings you have downloaded, need to be maintained as evidence. Further, you should not attempt to delete the peer-to-peer programs from your system - though you must stop them from operating. For information on how to do this, you may visit www.musicunited.org.
This is a serious matter and to the extent you have any questions, we strongly encourage you to contact us to ask those questions. Finally, if you would like more information regarding music downloading/file sharing and peer-to-peer networks, please visit www.p2plawsuits.com.
IF WE DO NOT HEAR FROM YOU WITHIN TWENTY (20) CALENDAR DAYS FROM THE DATE OF THIS LETTER, THEN WE WILL FILE SUIT AGAINST YOU IN FEDERAL COURT.
We are not your lawyers, nor are we giving you legal advice. We urge you to consult with an attorney immediately to advise you on your rights and
responsibilities.
Sincerely,
Donald J. Kelso
This might be a good time to think about making the March Boycott the RIAA campaign, permanent. And lawyers representing RIAA victims, students or otherwise, might also like to check out the transcript from Beckerman’s deposition of an RIAA ‘expert’.
Stay tuned.
(Thanks, Jazz, as usual)
Also See:
volunteer your name - RIAA college settlement plan, ,February 28, 2007
Herald-Dispatch - Marshall students could owe hundreds of thousands in RIAA suit, March 2, 2007
RIAA ‘expert’ - RIAA expert Jacobson: full text, March 2, 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!
March 3rd, 2007 at 9:58 pm
Unlike Professor/DoctOR Jacobson, I am a human without a doctorate, that understands a) what an IP address is, b) understands that the DEVICE MAC address DOES identify the device, and can’t wait for this to come to trial, so the ENTIRE RIAA can be LAUGHED out of COURT… THIS IS UNBELIVABLE testimony, and I am only on page 63 of 164.
Gotta tell you. My wife is sitting next to me, and I have to tell her EVERY time I read a new page, that I an ENJOYING reading the BS (and YELLING at the monitor as I read what) this so called professional is handing the court.
Thanks for keeping this free and AVAILABLE!
March 5th, 2007 at 3:57 am
Read the digital copywright infingment act,which is eighteen pages long. It is illegial to upload,(share). It is not illegal to download. No reference is made as to such. Don’t believe laweryers or the RIAA.
November 19th, 2007 at 7:53 pm
this is fucking bullshit. i paid for mu limewire (that i NEVER use) and am still being sued $3100 for songs that i was apparently “sharing”. and im almost positive that the people who are in charge of this scam are downloading music right now. really get a life besides scamming people for their fucking money.
December 20th, 2007 at 4:01 pm
So is this all a scam or are they trying to fucking screw up my life!!!!