Is this the end?

fleurya · Dec 30, 2007

http://www.engadget.com/2007/12/29/riaa-suing-citizen-for-copying-legally-purchased-cds-to-pc/

Well, the RIAA has finally done it. They're suing someone for copying their own CD's on their own computer; no sharing or burning, just copying onto their computer. If they win the case, I may have to leave the country, or do something drastic. It's this kind of news that makes me want to start stealing music just to stick it to them. If the government can trash our bill of rights, maybe the RIAA can get away with trashing fair use laws.

I thought this comment made by someone was brilliant:

Um, so why isn't the RIAA sueing George W. Bush? We know that he has unauthorized copies of songs. When his iPod play lists were made public (a year or 2 ago), The Beatles were listed. Since you can't buy Beatles' songs on iTunes the only possibility is that they were "converted" to .mp3 from a CD.

walmartconnect · Dec 30, 2007

Glad to know that I risk my life for these kinds of people.

dtravis7 · Dec 30, 2007

Oh My. They have gone way too far. Sorry. They being the RIAA. Have they totally lost it? If this does not get stopped, iTunes is next.

rman · Dec 30, 2007

Looks like they don't have anything better to do.

Frattimonde · Dec 30, 2007

Even Microsoft wouldn't go that far.

mac0s9user · Dec 30, 2007

First of all the RIAA is going too far. What, did they get tired of suing 12 year olds? And how did they know he had his own CD's on his computer?

You could pick 10 random computer users and all 10 of them will have their own music on their computers

nukemm · Dec 30, 2007

I'm so going to jail for this, lol... over 60gig of legal music (ripped from my & my wife's cd's)...

fleurya · Dec 30, 2007

I know that whenever I go somewhere and hear music, I plug my ears and hum so I can't get sued. If they can go this far, why not as far as that?

nukemm said:
I'm so going to jail for this, lol... over 60gig of legal music (ripped from my & my wife's cd's)...

Uh oh, you just messed up, buddy! You said you listen to your wife's CD's. You should expect a call from the RIAA soon. Probably on New Year's when all the normal people who actually enjoy their lives are having fun.

nukemm · Dec 30, 2007

Oh noes! I guess maybe that is illegal... but the iPod is so much more convenient than the cd changer in the trunk, especially when I spend 3+ hours a day in my car.

baggss · Dec 30, 2007

fleurya said:
I know that whenever I go somewhere and hear music, I plug my ears and hum so I can't get sued. If they can go this far, why not as far as that?

Be careful what you hum. If it is copy-righted and the legal owner has not authorized you to hum it the RIAA may come after you for that.

dtravis7 · Dec 30, 2007

Again Baggss makes me laugh!

I don't know of one person with a computer who has not ripped some of their music there to play it.

What is the RIAA going to do? Sue Apple for allowing iTunes to RIP CD's for iPods and computer play back? Then they would have to sue Microsoft for WMP, and all the other music programs that make ripping music to your computer.

cheesybanana · Dec 30, 2007

This is good. It will only drive public support away from the RIAA. They are kicking themselves. More and more musicians will refuse to be associated with record companies if they back this kind of action. More artists that go independent, the less power the RIAA will have...

It is kind of like...
Huckabee '08!

Shannonb · Dec 30, 2007

Hopefully they'll be amnesty for those of us that move to Canada to avoid getting sued. If only Gerald Ford was still alive.

fearlessfreap24 · Dec 30, 2007

walmartconnect said:
Glad to know that I risk my life for these kinds of people.

Ditto

louishen · Dec 30, 2007

This is from people who sue dead people and 12 year olds

It's just playground bully tactics, pick on a few unlucky individuals and intimidate the rest of us

riscy · Dec 30, 2007

^^ Agreed, louishen.

I just hope that I don't get sued for singing in the shower - just gone visual on the RIAA busting in on me on the shower (not a pretty sight).

iKitten · Dec 30, 2007

dtravis7 said:
... What is the RIAA going to do? Sue Apple for allowing iTunes to RIP CD's for iPods and computer play back? Then they would have to sue Microsoft for WMP, and all the other music programs that make ripping music to your computer.

Ack, don't give 'em ideas!! ;P

Brown Study · Dec 30, 2007

This is Part I of the Howell case. Because the RIAA won, it's going to the next level with the second prosecution.

There are tons of stuff with a search for
"Jeffrey Howell" riaa

Brown Study · Dec 30, 2007

The federal Conservatives in Canada have a new copyright bill in the works, thanks to the pigopolist lobbyists and their high-speed money-printing presses.

Further, informed sources are getting steamed already. In his blog, copyright lawyer and litigator Howard Knopf is predicting that the bill will “put digital locks on our computers, cellphones, iPods, other gadgets and tools and, ultimately, our culture,” just like the DCMA does. He goes on to speculate that the bill would make it a copyright infringement (as it is in the United States) to try to remove Digital Rights Management and Technical Protection Measures from your computer, such as the infamous Sony anti-infringing technology of a few years ago that was based on a very dangerous hacker’s tool called a “rootkit.”

This is more than simply a clone of U.S. legislation. It would increase the existing tax on blank media that is supposed to go to artists but instead falls into the record labels' cash-devouring black hole. And it would make illegal the downloading of songs, the Canadian Recording Industry Association (CRIA) twice having been told by federal courts to get stuffed.

Typically, the Conservatives, astonished again that most of the population knows how to read, were apparently were taken aback by the public backlash against the bought-and-paid-for bill by the RIAA's shill, the CRIA.

"Word is that the minister had no idea that this would be such a big deal for Canadians," he wrote. "Word is that the minister and his advisers are scrambling, rethinking the entire matter because of the public outcry."

Michael Geist, the Canada research chair of internet and e-commerce law at the University of Ottawa, has led the charge against the bill and has accused Prentice of caving in to lobbying from U.S. entertainment companies, who are seeking to curtail digital copying in all its forms. He has also accused the minister of ignoring the wishes of regular Canadians and for not including the public in his consultations.

Geist started a Facebook group to protest the bill a week ago, which more than 12,000 people have so far joined. On his blog Monday, Geist wrote that the group has resulted in hundreds of letters and phone calls to Prentice and other MPs from every political party.

"Something exceptional happened this past week. Fair copyright in Canada found its voice," Geist wrote. "It will be silent no more."

louishen · Dec 30, 2007

It seems the UK authority is a little more sensible

Peter Jamieson, chairman of the British Phonographic Industry, said 'consumers would only be penalized if they made duplicates of songs for other people.'"

source: http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/entertainment/5053658.stm