HardRadio HardBoard

Wurm666 · Joined: 02 Feb 2001 Posts: 25 Location: Ocala Fl. USA

As reported by the Associated Press:

Girl, 12, settles downloading lawsuit

WASHINGTON - A 12-year-old girl in New York who was among the first to be sued by the record industry for sharing music over the Internet is off the hook after her mother agreed Tuesday to pay $2,000 to settle the lawsuit, apologizing and admitting that her daughter's actions violated U.S. copyright laws.

The hurried settlement involving Brianna LaHara, an honors student, was the first announced one day after the Recording Industry Association of America filed 261 such lawsuits across the country. Lawyers for the RIAA said Brianna's mother, Sylvia Torres, contacted them early Tuesday to negotiate.

"We understand now that file-sharing the music was illegal," Torres said in a statement distributed by the recording industry. "You can be sure Brianna won't be doing it anymore."

Brianna added: "I am sorry for what I have done. I love music and don't want to hurt the artists I love."

The case against Brianna was a potential minefield for the music industry from a public relations standpoint. The family lives in a city housing project on New York's Upper West Side, and they said they mistakenly believed they were entitled to download music over the Internet because they had paid $29.99 for software that gives them access to online file-sharing services.

The RIAA said this week it already had negotiated $3,000 settlements with fewer than 10 Internet users who learned they might be sued after the RIAA sent copyright subpoenas to their Internet providers. But lawyers negotiated those settlements before the latest round of lawsuits, and the RIAA had said any further settlements would cost defendants more than $3,000.

Even in the hours before the settlement was announced, Brianna was emerging as an example of what critics said was overzealous enforcement by the powerful music industry.

The top lawyer for Verizon Communications Inc., William Barr, charged earlier Tuesday during a Senate hearing that music lawyers had resorted to a "campaign against 12-year-old girls" rather than trying to help consumers turn to legal sources for songs online. Verizon's Internet subsidiary is engaged in a protracted legal fight against the RIAA over copyright subpoenas sent Verizon customers.

Sen. Dick Durbin, D-Ill., also alluded to Brianna's case.

"Are you headed to junior high schools to round up the usual suspects?" Durbin asked RIAA President Cary Sherman during a Senate Judiciary hearing.

Durbin said he appreciated the piracy threat to the recording industry, but added, "I think you have a tough public relations campaign to go after the offenders without appearing heavy-handed in the process."

Sherman responded that most people don't shoplift because they fear they'll be arrested.

"We're trying to let people know they may get caught, therefore they should not engage in this behavior," Sherman said. "Yes, there are going to be some kids caught in this, but you'd be surprised at how many adults are engaged in this activity."

It was unclear how Brianna's name - rather than her mother's - came to be listed as a defendant in this case. The recording industry said it named as the defendant in each lawsuit the person who paid for the household Internet account, but children typically aren't listed as account holders.

The RIAA said it did not investigate each individual's background before filing its lawsuits.

[b]Oh, come on now.[/b]

Mijarra · Joined: 28 Nov 2000 Posts: 1564 Location: Pennsylvania

Well, at least I know the 70-ish bucks a month I hand over to Verizon each month for phone and mobile phone service goes to the "good guys".

This is ridiculous. What can be done though? Boycott buying CDs? They have us by the ballz, as long as we want to listen to music.

Fatalcharm · Joined: 18 Dec 1998 Posts: 1973 Location: dayton,tx,usa

How are they determining if u have songs to download? Do they just look at your user info when u go online to kazaa or edonkey? I mean I know its done by ip addresses.

JosephC · Joined: 26 Apr 2000 Posts: 1074 Location: Middleton, WI

I have no problem with this. If you steal music, you should be held accountable for your actions. If you want to enjoy music, you pay for it. Just like everything else in the country, if you want to enjoy the benefits of something you pay for the service. Artists deserve to be paid for their work. If you have 1000 songs on your hard drive and are distributing them illegally, you are a thief and a criminal and you deserve to be prosecuted.

Mijarra · Joined: 28 Nov 2000 Posts: 1564 Location: Pennsylvania

Okay, but it's a little unfair for companies to sell CDs for $18 a pop when you don't even know what's on them. I hear a song on the radio, pay almost $20 for a CD with tax, and the other 11 songs on the CD may suck. I just paid $20 for one song. That's crazy.

If you ask me, stealing or otherwise, the record industry brings this on themselves by promoting sub-par artists at jacked up prices. I will gladly pay that price for a CD that I know I will like most of the songs on, which is one reason why I like metal, jazz, and classical over most pop music.

Is there such a thing as singles anymore? I remember they had cassette singles, but do they have CD singles? That might solve some of their problems right there.

Jake · Joined: 02 Mar 1999 Posts: 4963

There are still cd singles. Look in the singles section of your cd store. Tower records and Sam Goody have them.

HardRocker · Posted: Thu Sep 18, 2003 4:56 pm Post subject: RIAA hijinks

CD singles are going the way of the dodo bird.

A couple of articles appeared today on the issue of paying for a full length CD and getting only one good song. As well as the value of alternate buys such as DVD's.

[url=http://www.denverpost.com/Stories/0,1413,36%7E78%7E1626541,00.htm l#]http://www.denverpost.com/Stories/0,1413,36%7E78%7E1626541,00.html# [/url]

[url=http://www.audiorevolution.com/news/0903/03.wea.shtml]http://www. audiorevolution.com/news/0903/03.wea.shtml[/url]

JosephC · Joined: 26 Apr 2000 Posts: 1074 Location: Middleton, WI

quote:
Originally posted by Mijarra:
Okay, but it's a little unfair for companies to sell CDs for $18 a pop when you don't even know what's on them. I hear a song on the radio, pay almost $20 for a CD with tax, and the other 11 songs on the CD may suck. I just paid $20 for one song. That's crazy.

If you ask me, stealing or otherwise, the record industry brings this on themselves by promoting sub-par artists at jacked up prices. I will gladly pay that price for a CD that I know I will like most of the songs on, which is one reason why I like metal, jazz, and classical over most pop music.

Is there such a thing as singles anymore? I remember they had cassette singles, but do they have CD singles? That might solve some of their problems right there.

Check out the artist's website, generally there are samples for many songs from a new release on the website. That should prevent you from buying a CD with only one song you like. And if you can't legally access stuff you are planning to buy, then just don't buy it. Trust me, there are many other alternatives out there worth your entertainment dollars.

I too think that CD prices are too high. But it's not my right to use that as an excuse to steal something. I think guitars cost too much money too, but I can't justify the thought of walking into my local music shop and walking out with a free PRS because I think the $3000 price is too high. For me it's simple, if I have to pay too much money for something I want, I just don't buy it. Worse comes to worse, my entertainment dollars end up getting invested and I'm all the better for it.

JosephC · Joined: 26 Apr 2000 Posts: 1074 Location: Middleton, WI

quote:
Originally posted by HardRocker:
CD singles are going the way of the dodo bird.

A couple of articles appeared today on the issue of paying for a full length CD and getting only one good song. As well as the value of alternate buys such as DVD's.

[url=http://www.denverpost.com/Stories/0,1413,36%7E78%7E1626541,00.htm l#]http://www.denverpost.com/Stories/0,1413,36%7E78%7E1626541,00.html# [/url]

[url=http://www.audiorevolution.com/news/0903/03.wea.shtml]http://www. audiorevolution.com/news/0903/03.wea.shtml[/url]

Good articles that pretty much sum up the frustration of most (including me) regarding this industry. I've said it a million times, these guys are trying to run their business like it is still in the 70s and they are failing miserably. In business, especially the entertainment industry, you have to adjust to the times or you are dead.

One of these articles talked about the dual DVD-audio. If people haven't figured this out, DVD-audio is the latest big scam from the music industry. Notice how Universal is going to drop the prices of some of their CDs to under $10 bucks, but you can bet the dual packaged CD/DVD-audio won't be a penny cheaper. Then, instead of dropping the prices of CDs like they should (see economics 101), they will just transform everything to this new format and use that as a justification for keeping the music prices where they are...when in the big picture it doesn't cost them anymore to do the new format. I was kind of interested in checking out the DVD-audio format but currently I am boycotting it. The more you look into it, the more of a scam it appears to be. It just looks like they are slapping the "DVD" label on it so they can justify charging as much as a regular DVD costs. Once again, if this is their long-term strategy, they will lose even more customers because of it.

But just because I think the record industry sucks, that does not give me the right to steal from them. Take shoes for instance, shoe companies make a set of shoes for $2 in a sweatshop in Asia, and sell it for $100 in the USA. Is that fair (??????), but I'm sure many people will steal music left and right but they have no problem with dumping $100 on a $2 pair of shoes. Bottom line, there are injustices when it comes to situations like this, but the consumer still has the ultimate power. If you don't like the price, don't buy it.