RIAA robs student of life-savings.

[AngelBoy]

It was a search engine and there is absolutely nothing wrong with that. And if they are going to get him in trouble for all the mp3s on his computer, then they should have to get everyone else in trouble for it.

[shartley]

[MantisMag]

if the riaa's position is on such strong footing why don't they pursue any of their lawsuits any further? why do they stop at such miniscule settlements? why did they allow this guy to deny all allegations? don't you think forcing him to admit his wrongdoing as part of the settlement would serve their purpose better? they're bullying everyone with anything to do with file sharing. they want to scare everyone so that nobody wants to have anything to do with any sort of file sharing because they're afraid the riaa will come after them.

[shartley]

Originally posted by MantisMag
if the riaa's position is on such strong footing why don't they pursue any of their lawsuits any further? why do they stop at such miniscule settlements? why did they allow this guy to deny all allegations? don't you think forcing him to admit his wrongdoing as part of the settlement would serve their purpose better? they're bullying everyone with anything to do with file sharing. they want to scare everyone so that nobody wants to have anything to do with any sort of file sharing because they're afraid the riaa will come after them.

ahhhhh! Reallllllly?!?!?

Then I guess they are still getting what they want, right?

Ever hear the saying "There is more than one way to skin a cat." ?

And which way do you think costs them less? ahhhhhh! :)

[spacedtedybear]

First of all, if you are trying to say I may be a little slow? LOL Wrong man.

Of course not. I've seen some of the posts you've made, and frankly I'd be to scared to.:)

If it was truly JUST a search engine on the school?s network with NO direct intention of being designed and used for finding pirated music, than you can bet that he would NOT have settled out of court. You can not possibly win a case against a generic search engine because it may have been used to facilitate a crime?. it can be shown that its intent was to be primarily used for the illegal purposes. That would be like trying to sue GM because someone used one of their cars as a getaway vehicle after a robbery.

The problem is that if this were to drag into the court, the student would have to pay for his own legal fees which, if it were to drag on for an extended period of time, would most definately surpass $12K.
What RIAA did, was that they called him and told him that they would sue him unless he gives them his life-savings. The legal system in the US is not a tool, it's a weapon. Frankly there should be a system where the big companies would be forced to pay for a defendents legal fees for cases such as this.

But then again, didn?t I see someone trying to sue a gun manufacturer because their handguns were used in a crime?

This is from another discussion board I frequent.

Small potatoes, I say sue the Federal government for building the roads on which so many die each year because of excessive speed and poor driving habits.

P.S shartley you are SLOW!!!!!
*runs and ducks for cover*

[shartley]

Slow!?!?! I can move right along when I have to. Of course I usually need some BenGay after.

[Pokaris]

Originally posted by shartley

As a computer engineer I must disagree with you. As long as the search engine has a valid use, it is perfectly legal. Then why did the kid settle the case? Because there are very few individuals that have the time and money to fight a large organization like the RIAA. Your VCR can be used illegall and you dont see the MPAA suing everyone with a VCR do you? The legal precident was set, and now that the RIAA lost against people that could fight them, so now they are attacking those that can not.

What the RIAA did is the legal equivalent of me going out on the paintball field for a rec. game with my IR3 and bunkering and overshooting a newbie with a talon. It's a crime that they got away with it.

I'll go as far as saying you are a little slow because you've obviously missed the legal cases surrounding this issue. Please read the rulings of them, and then try again. As long as the search engine has one valid reason, and I can think of many for one a college network, it is perfectly legal. The people illegally sharing files are still breaking the law, but that doesn't make the search engine illegal.

Saying that schools need to be responsible for their networks so that nothing illegal happens. Is like saying Ford should be held accountable when someone breaks the speed limit. The school is simply and ISP, and quite frankly holding them responsible for their customers is foolish. Once a student pays for his connection, it's his/hers to do with what he/she wants, just as your car is yours to do with what you want. Making a company accountable for the actions of its customers would set a legal precident that I don't think any industry would be happy with.

[MagMan5446]

If I had mp3s, it's because I'm just too broke to buy cds.

But of course I have none...

::checks over shoulder for RIAA::

[Blazestorm]

Whenever I listen to music on the radio or online or on a video, I download it and see if I like the REST of their music, than I go out to the store, purchase the CD, and rip it onto my comptuer and store it in my music folder and delete my files that I downloaded. I'm not like some people who go out and have 10 gigs of files that they downloaded off the internet. Yes I have downloaded programs like photoshop and premiere, but the fact is, I'm 14, I need these programs, I've already purchased photoshop and premiere with the help of my father before, and now I'm buying the newer versions.

I've talked to a lot of people, and more than 75% of the people in my school use kazaa to sample music before they buy it. The RIAA already has tons of money, Instead of stealing 12 grand they don't need, they could ask this guy to change the network so people could not share .zips .mp3 .wavs or .wma which would make it so there would be no music sharing. And the fact is. How is this different from downloading music, burning it on a CD and sharing with someone? They didn't have a problem with that before. Next they're going to be targeting CD and DVD burners. What's the point of a DVD burner... they say its so you can make your own CD's... but the companys know that people are going to use them to download movies off the net and burn them to watch them.

I think that this whole sharing system is HELPING the music industry. They are too close-minded to understand that.

Eh whatever. I'll use it as long as I can... its free, and it lets me save my 10-15 bucks if I can.

[Pokaris]

Blazestorm you raise some good points. First, the RIAA did in fact try and block the release of CD burners to the public. You also raise the sampling point, which is one of the major reasons I have no problem downloading songs. THIS IS AN INDUSTRY THAT LOST A PRICE FIXING LAWSUIT. If they are willingly trying to screw me into overpaying, I'm gonna at least check and see if what I'm overpaying for is a decent album or if its 1 good song and 15 pathetic ones like so many recent albums. It was proven in court they were intentionally overcharging for what it cost them to produce CDs, and yet have you seen the price of CDs drop? It hasn't.

As for Photoshop and things like that, I disagree with your decision to pirate programs you use. Their are legitimate costs of software developement for these programs, they are professional grade programs, and they carry a professional price tag. There are more reasonably priced versions for consumer usage that fit the needs of most people that aren't in graphics design.

[Blazestorm]

It's still the fact for the work I was doing, other programs couldn't support what I was doing, I was making websites for companys and creating videos for my school. The fact is I already purchased it, but that was a much older version, Although I understand where you are coming from, I'm not ready to shove out that much cash at the age of 14 just so I can have the lastest version. They charge for upgrades which is stupid imo, we already paid 600 something bucks for your product, Is it that hard to send us a few files?

If I had a job, I would have no problem buying the hard copy from my local store.

Another thing is this has been the only program I have not purchased but downloaded. I have bought macromedia flash 6.0, and homesite 5.5 which I use for website making. I've bought XP (cost 20 bucks, dad works for microsoft) And I don't promote the people who have every thing on their computer pirated. I know its not right, but If I could afford to buy it, I would. I've used photoshop since I was 10-11 making images for my games than I went up and started making mods for halflife when I was 12-13 and websites for companies. I couldn't make my images or manipulate them with the older photoshop or paint.

[Miscue]

Originally posted by Pokaris


As a computer engineer I must disagree with you.

/me raises eyebrow and wonders what insight a 'computer engineer' would have over the rest of us... to bother mentioning the title.

As a male escort I must disagree with this position of authority in trying to prove a point.

[Pokaris]

Originally posted by Miscue


/me raises eyebrow and wonders what insight a 'computer engineer' would have over the rest of us... to bother mentioning the title.

As a male escort I must disagree with this position of authority in trying to prove a point.

Well, I coded part of a network search engine strangely enough for a college campus and I did some investigation into the legality of it, because I didn't want to be a victim of the money grubbing bastards that are the RIAA. According to the legal precident in the issue, a search engine alone should not be able to be the target of litigation.

That good enough for you? I have a decent understanding (probably more than the "rest of us") because this is what I do. Most people would assume a computer engineer would have more dealings with this type of thing than most non computer engineers, but apparently I counted too much on the "rest of us" having some mental prowess. You wanna show me the network indexing tool you wrote?

[Miscue]

You're trying to impress the wrong guy. I'm not going to tell you what I know or do not know about network programming - as it is a waste of my time and just turns into a pissing match.

Now... I'm not in disagreement with what you have said on the topic at hand, but rather the position of authority that you present in your argument.

[Pokaris]

Originally posted by Miscue
You're trying to impress the wrong guy. I'm not going to tell you what I know or do not know about network programming - as it is a waste of my time and just turns into a pissing match.

Now... I'm not in disagreement with what you have said on the topic at hand, but rather the position of authority that you present in your argument.

I believe I presented why it was relevant, if you still can't grasp that than obviously you have some sort of mental disability you need to have addressed. If experience in a field doesn't make you more knowledgable than those without experience in what ever world you are living in, I suggest you seek some professional help.