Downloading Music - Redux

No illegal downloads for me.
I use emusic.com - tons of top-shelf Blues, Jazz, Classical, Reggae, Soul - less so for other genres.

 

its only illegal if you "share". i mostly download vids but sometimes music. dom, is the certificate for itunes?

 

I don't believe that is correct. Hopefully the resident Fchat expert can give the full explanation.

 

Sharing and downloading are both violations of copyright laws.

 

i am aware that they both are in violation of the laws but they are only issuing sopoenas to users who share

 

ok

 

I would not bank on that. To my knowledge, the RIAA has not limited their subpeonas only to people who use sharing. The subpeona provision of DMCA 512(h) is not limited to situations of "sharing."

Assume that you illegally download music from a P2P system but turn the sharing function off. The RIAA can still track the illegal download activity and request a subpeona. They can and will do this. So, let's say that you download 100 songs over a 24 hour period and never again download. The RIAA only has a 24 hour window to catch you. If they are not looking during that period, they wont find you.

Also, there is an electronic marker on every song that comes from through a P2P system that allows the RIAA to differentiate an illegally downloaded song from a song that that you uploaded from a legally purchased CD. Case in point, a woman in NYC was subpeona'd and found to have over 1,000 songs on her system. Her defense was that she legally uploaded the songs from CDs she purchased and that she only used KaZaA as a media player and not to share or download (she was unaware that the sharing feature was activer when she used KaZaA). She tries to get the suit against her dismissed and the RIAA proivides proof that the songs she claimed to have legally purchased and uploaded were actually illegally downloaded as far back as Napster. In the face of $300,000 liability for each illegal song, she settled.

However, if the sharing feature is active on your P2P software, everytime the software is launched and you are online, it is possible that another user will download from your music files which the RIAA can trace very easily. Therefore, sharing merely increases your exposure to being caught. Also, sharing increases the number of infringing acys that can be claimed against a P2P user by the RIAA.

People will continue to illegally download and the RIAA will continue to catch and sue the offenders. A typical settlement with the RIAA has been ranging from about $3k to $7k. Add to that atty fees and it could cost you close to $10k in addition to the fact that you will be forced to sign an agreement that you will never illegally download again. I.E. the RIAA will be watching all the folks that they catch to see if they do it again and if they do, the RIAA will come down on them brutally.

Go ahead and continue to download, but you will get caught and you will be sued. It is just a matter of time. The RIAA filed over 500 more John Doe suits this week with more on the way. The DMCA subpeona provisions have been severly limited recently, but the RIAA will not have much problem getting legislation passed that will make it even easier to prosecute illegal downloaders.

 

BTW....I am an intellectual properpty lawyer, I am not giving legal advice and I don't work for the RIAA.

But, I have knowledge on this topic and think that anybody that is still ilegally downloading is asking for trouble.

 

I seem to have been mis-informed Sorry.


500 people? wow, that dorm is toast! (Jon Stewart quote, couldn't help it)

 

Sorry, did not mean to rant at you specifically. Actually, I think the RIAA could have handle the sitation in a manner that was more economically advantageous for them, but they have the right to go after the infringers. I am personally aware of the RIAA and MPAA notifying universities of students who have been using school networks to download. In addition to the RIAA and MPAA actions, the universities will internally punish the students for violation of the computer use policies as well as remove their computer use privileges.

 

Best music site I've found on the net:

www.allofmp3.com

Legality is dubious ... they claim that they're fully licensed in Russia, and that all of their music is legal. Whether or not that applies in the US is unclear (but doubtful).

Nonetheless, ya can't beat $0.01 / megabyte for semi-legal music with online encoding in any format you want (MP3, AAC, OGG, WMA, etc.)

 

The RIAA cant catch you if you download songs off another computer on a school network. So if you dont have a "shared" folder with anythihng illegal in it, you are fine if you are at a school.

 

The lizzy gizzy? Is that a legal term?

 

You a law student?

 

So how do you delete all the stuff off that has been downloaded? I heard even normally deleted stuff can be recovered through some recovery programs. I have a friend that uses an old pc that he's gonna through away after getting all his music, which seems like it would get rid of the evidence.

 

If you are just going to throw it away you can do something simple like take the hard drive out and give it a few good whacks with a hammer. If you are giving it away then there are a number of programs which will do a good job of erasing the harddrive. I don't download music but I always make sure my old computers are good and dead.

 

I know for a fact that this is NOT TRUE.

The RIAA can always obatin the IP address of the offending computer. What they will do, and what they have already been doing, is informring the scholol of the infringing acts and the IP address of the computer. They then threaten the school with a suit. The school will investigate and find out who was logged into the computer at the time of the infringing acts. The school will most certainly punish the offender under the schools omputer use policies. However, whether the school turns that info over to the RIAA is a decision that will probably be made by the individual school. Some schools will not eaily cooperate with the RIAA and some will.

You are playing with fire if you take the approach that you can't get caught if you use a school network.

 

File trading on a school newtwork is also dangerous. While the RIAA may or may not be able to obtain your identity and sue you (based on how resistant the school is to cooperate with the RIAA), the school will most certainly discipline you under their computer use rules. My wife has been working in university admin for many years and she has personally been involved in dealing with this issue on a few occassions.