RIAA vs. Students

Linda · 13 Jan 1966

http://www.dailytech.com/New+Bill+Threa ... le9629.htm

New Bill Threatens University Funding if Schools Don't Play Ball with RIAA

Tom Corelis (Blog) - November 12, 2007 3:14 PM

The College Opportunity and Affordability Act is a monster of a document, weighing in at 747 pages. The bill aims to amend the Higher Education Act of 1965, and buried deep inside is a nasty secret sponsored by the entertainment industry: universities would be required to help fight piracy or risk the loss of federal funding.

One section of COAA would force universities to publicly disclose their policies and procedures relating to copyright enforcement, and to develop plans for exploring “technology-based deterrents” and alternatives -- like Napster or the ad-supported Ruckus service. These requirements would be backed up with federal grant money, which would be authorized for the purchase and implementation of whatever programs a university may try to implement.

Another section of the bill is more familiar, as it bears a striking similarity to some additions attempted in the Higher Education Amendments of 2007. Under the new text, universities would be required to annually inform students of the “civil and criminal liabilities” of file sharing, provide a summary of the consequences for violating copyright laws, and provide a description of the university’s disciplinary policies if they’re caught.

Universities would also be required to tell students about the various countermeasures they may use to “prevent and detect” unauthorized file sharing.

University officials have been understandably alarmed, as the above provisions would put a potential $100 billion each year in federal aid at risk; failure to comply would cause the school to lose all of its financial aid for students, affecting even those students who don’t own a personal computer.

In a letter written on Wednesday and signed by the presidents of Stanford University and Penn State, and the chancellor of the University of Maryland system, university officials wrote:

Such an extraordinarily inappropriate and punitive outcome would result in all students on that campus losing their federal financial aid--including Pell grants and student loans that are essential to their ability to attend college, advance their education, and acquire the skills necessary to compete in the 21st-century economy … lower-income students, those most in need of federal financial aid, would be harmed most under the entertainment industry's proposal.

Officials also noted that while the higher education systems does indeed recognize the “seriousness of the problem of illegal peer-to-peer file sharing,” it noted that schools and universities represented only a “small fraction” of the overall P2P ecosystem.

University leadership is overreacting, said the MPAA, and noted that schools that actively implement P2P counter-measures see far fewer copyright complaints — sometimes as little as zero per month.

Geff R. · 27 Sep 2006

There was an article in today's paper, where "Donald Kerr", a Bush
intelligence stooge is quoted as saying in defense of Bush''s
wiretapping (I'm paraphrasing here) that American citizens need to accept
that in the digital age the definition of privacy is differnt then it
used to be, & it isn't good or bad, but just the way it is.

This is not a 100% irreversible necessity as the Bush stooge states.
What scares me here is that the American public & especially the media
are likely to buy this Orwellian crap hook line & sinker. It's double
speak, convince the people that unacceptable behavior is actually normal & what do you get.... "War Is Peace, Freedom is Slavery; Ignorance is Strength." (actually Bush is already actively using all 3 of these of you think about it)

I have a friend who predicted several years back that dubbya will indeed
never leave office; & she's basically a Republican. Be very scared if we
bomb Iran near the 2008 election.

Sorry this is a BIT :yay:

:twisted: off topic, but it's been on my mind all day since waking up to the article. Interestingly our middle of the road paper put it on the front page, but worded it very moderately as though it was nothing to worry about.

Stevie T. · **Joined:** 12 Jul 2006 **Posts:** 2006

If I'm recalling correctly from taking a glance at an article in my local paper about a week back, the University of Oregon here in Eugene is one of the schools which has decided not to be bullied by the RIAA. They will not report on things like this. I think the prevailing attitude here is that there's more important things for campus beaurocrats to worry about.

mtruslow · 24 Sep 2006

Oh Please............Fuck the RIAA. M.

Smiff · 10 Aug 2006

Geff R. wrote:

I have a friend who predicted several years back that dubbya will indeed never leave office; & she's basically a Republican. Be very scared if we bomb Iran near the 2008 election.

This should be inconceivable, but with his history--from being placed in the white house by the court to his complete disregard for the Constitution (wire taps, signing statements, illegal invasions)--it wouldn't surprise me if the thought has crossed his mind. Even if he tried to hold onto office, he couldn't pull it off. You need to have the support of the military to pull of a coup, and every poll I've seen indicates that even a majority of those in the military oppose his policies. One thing that would happen if he tried to stage a coup--a lot of gun control liberals (like myself) would all of a sudden love the second amendment.

Just the fact that this topic merits serious discussion is pretty scary though.

Dr. Chris Evil · 26 Jul 2006

Stevie T. wrote:

If I'm recalling correctly from taking a glance at an article in my local paper about a week back, the University of Oregon here in Eugene is one of the schools which has decided not to be bullied by the RIAA. They will not report on things like this. I think the prevailing attitude here is that there's more important things for campus beaurocrats to worry about.

That's a good thing. But like all Big Evil Corporation Representative Entities, they've got enough government bought off. Yeah, in the age of terrorists and al qaeda, we need to crack down on those renegade downloaders. :evil:

Screw drug dealers, pedophiles and illegal aliens running rampant - we gotta stop downloading kids before our soveireignity as a nation is compromised any further! This is why America is so screwed up now!! Well, part of it anyway.

God, I'll be glad when idiot and his regime are out of office in January, 2009. Of course, that won't stop the RIAA from buying up government with their lobbying efforts, but I just wanted to say that anyway. :ohyes:

Geff R. · 27 Sep 2006

Smiff wrote:

Geff R. wrote:

I have a friend who predicted several years back that dubbya will indeed never leave office; & she's basically a Republican. Be very scared if we bomb Iran near the 2008 election.

One thing that would happen if he tried to stage a coup--a lot of gun control liberals (like myself) would all of a sudden love the second amendment.

Much as I hate to admit it, I might also resemble that point!

Smiff · 10 Aug 2006

Geff R. wrote:

Much as I hate to admit it, I might also resemble that point!

Spoken like a true Bruce Cockburn fan. Now if you only had a Rocket Launcher :lol:

Geff R. · 27 Sep 2006

Smiff wrote:

Quote:

Much as I hate to admit it, I might also resemble that point!

Spoken like a true Bruce Cockburn fan. Now if you only had a Rocket Launcher :lol:

It's really sad that song is more relevant today then when BC wrote it.

Smiff · 10 Aug 2006

Quote:

Spoken like a true Bruce Cockburn fan. Now if you only had a Rocket Launcher

It's really sad that song is more relevant today then when BC wrote it.

Yeah, the one that resonates for me is The Trouble With Normal.

Geff R. · 27 Sep 2006

I've also been thinking about that one lately.........

For those who aren't familiar with BC, the chorus is "The Trouble With Normal is......... IT ALWAYS GETS WORSE!". Referencing politicians, dictators & corporate heads

Linda · 13 Jan 1966

Some Colleges See Massive Spike in RIAA Copyright Notices
University IT departments baffled by sudden, inexplicable increase

Tom Corelis (Blog) - May 2, 2008 2:32 PM
http://www.dailytech.com/Some+Colleges+ ... e11673.htm

Observers are reporting a large increase in the number of DMCA copyright notices sent to colleges by the RIAA, and institutions like Indiana University are reporting a “20-fold increase” – sometimes as many as 80 per day.

University administrators note that there has not been a recorded increase in file-sharing activity, and – unlike in the past – many of the RIAA’s notices don’t have any corresponding activity in university traffic logs.

“We are not sure [whether] what we have is an allegation of copyright infringement or an allegation of possible future illegal behavior,” said IU associate vice president of IT Mark Bruhn. “The whole thing is very concerning, to be frank. We don't know why they are doing this and I'm not sure they know what they are doing.”

The Chronicle for Higher Education reports similar increases from George Washington University, which is now seeing over 120 notices per week, up from the usual “five to 10.” Wired’s Threat Level confirmed a surge with the University of Chicago.

The RIAA, when questioned about the increase of letters and Indiana University’s findings regarding their accuracy, said there were no changes in its procedures. “We are always making an effort to more effectively and efficiently detect infringing activity on the Internet, as we are continuously looking for ways to improve our ability to find and act on incidences of theft online. Having said that, there's been no change,” said RIAA spokeswoman Liz Kennedy. Follow-up inquiries, sent by Wired were not returned.

Some think the RIAA’s actions may be politically motivated: “Public universities are in a unique position since the industry puts pressure on us through state legislatures to try to impose what are widely considered to be draconian content monitoring measures and turn us into tech police forces in support of a specific industry,” said University of California at Berkeley CIO Shel Waggener.

The content industry is pushing initiatives that compel public schools to action after a threshold volume of notices is met, said Luker. Such legislation is currently working its way through a number of states, including Illinois and Tennessee.

“The number of DMCA notices that are sent to a university vary wildly from one day to the next, and no one, including the federal government knows how they send them out or what criteria they use,” said Luker. “It is not reasonable in any way to use those counts as a basis for government actions.”

Dr. Chris Evil · 26 Jul 2006

The RIAA is throwing itself in the way on an oncoming train, yet continues to move closer and closer to the site of the inevitable train wreck. They're hastening their own demise and don't see it.

Linda · 13 Jan 1966

http://arstechnica.com/news.ars/post/20 ... oenas.html

RIAA doubles settlement cost for students fighting subpoenas

By Nate Anderson | Published: June 11, 2008 - 11:05PM CT

Challenging RIAA subpoenas can be costly, and not just because college kids have to dig deep into the sock drawer to pay lawyers of their own. Ars has learned that the RIAA's legal campaign against students is now built on escalating penalties; if you force the RIAA legal team into action, then end up settling, you could end up paying more than that initial $3,000. A lot more.

When college students are fingered by the RIAA's "pre-litigation letters," most schools pass the letters along and let students make their own decision about challenging the issue in court or settling for around $3,000. That's not cheap, but the RIAA has recently been making it far more expensive for students who try to fight. If a student doesn't respond to a pre-litigation letter and the RIAA has to go to court to get the name, the settlement fees goes up to about $4,000. And if a student decides to challenge the RIAA's subpoena or otherwise delay a trial, the price jumps dramatically to $7,000 or $8,000.

We spoke with a legal consultant for the RIAA who handles much of this litigation, and he explained that the music trade group has always seen legal challenges to its tactics. In the last year, though, RIAA lawyers have seen a serious uptick in the number of students who have attempted to quash subpoenas that would allow them to learn the students' identities. In some cases, this takes the form of filing a motion to quash, then waiting for the RIAA to file a counter-motion, then filling a motion to suppress the counter-motion, then waiting for the RIAA to respond, then... well, you get the idea.

When you're paying the RIAA's rates for legal help, this sort of thing costs serious money, and it leads to delay. Over the last six months, the RIAA has begun a concerted campaign to limit what it sees as frivolous litigation of this kind, as it says no defendant in the history of the RIAA enforcement campaign has successfully battled such a subpoena (although it should be pointed out that there are some motions to quash that are still pending).

In order to strike fear into the hearts of students everywhere, the RIAA has adopted a sort of anti-Wal-Mart model where it passes the costs on to you. In fact, the RIAA tells us that it is actually acting in everyone's best interests through this escalating costs approach. Because most students end up settling anyway, fighting the subpoenas generally just raises the amount of the fee they end up paying. It also costs them more in legal fees, it ties up the courts, and the whole process appears to bore RIAA lawyers to tears.

The legal consultant tells Ars that this has nothing to do with bullying people into staying silent and paying up. "We have no qualms with individuals exercising their rights to litigate real issues," he says. "[But] the issues being raised in these motions to quash are issues that have been resolved time and time again in the RIAA's favor."

Students sometimes think they can simply fight the subpoena and the case as hard as humanly possible, then simply drop it and settle down the line. The RIAA wants to get the word out, though: those choices have consequences that can be measured in beer money. Lots and lots of beer money.

We weren't surprised to find that the Electronic Frontier Foundation has a different perspective, but the gulf between the two sides is positively Grand Canyon-like in size. I spoke to EFF attorney Corynne McSherry, who argued that the copyright infringement claims at the basis of these lawsuits aren't always as strong as the RIAA would have people believe.

McSherry points to recent court decisions that cast doubt on the idea that simply making a file available is the same as actually distributing it to the public, and she points out that the MPAA has been wildly misguided in its own analysis of collegiate file-swapping. Given these issues and more recent questions about the limits of automated P2P enforcement, McSherry argues that it is "especially inappropriate and unfortunate" to punish people for trying to defend themselves in court. The "judicial process is important, and it's particularly important now when there seems to be real questions for the factual basis for these claims," she says.

And taking a bigger-picture look at the entire issue, McSherry says that there's "no reason to believe that any of this is stopping file-sharing or helping the RIAA or the artists that it represents to get paid."

Colleges are simply "scapegoated because they're easy targets," she says, pointing out that schools do far more to educate their network users about copyright, fair use, and file-swapping than any commercial ISPs in the US. The schools are easier to pursue than individuals because they are uniquely vulnerable to government pressure (in the form of grants and aid money), while at the same time they possess unique punishment powers that commercial ISPs lack.

UHF · 04 Feb 2008

I read an article where the record companies are making money (in some countries) from blank tapes, cdrs, downloads, and of course fines. It seems they been relcutant to share the money with the artists they claim are not being "compensated" for their work. Some things never change.

Geff R. · 27 Sep 2006

UHF wrote:

I read an article where the record companies are making money (in some countries) from blank tapes, cdrs, downloads, and of course fines. It seems they been relcutant to share the money with the artists they claim are not being "compensated" for their work. Some things never change.

That's correct. there are taxes added to cassette tapes & "consumer" cdr's in the USA (& I believe other countries) that go straight to the RIAA. & now that you mention it, I've never heard of artists getting a penny of the money.
:evil:

AMW · **Joined:** 26 Sep 2006 **Posts:** 4543

Geff R. wrote:

UHF wrote:

I read an article where the record companies are making money (in some countries) from blank tapes, cdrs, downloads, and of course fines. It seems they been relcutant to share the money with the artists they claim are not being "compensated" for their work. Some things never change.

That's correct. there are taxes added to cassette tapes & "consumer" cdr's in the USA (& I believe other countries) that go straight to the RIAA. & now that you mention it, I've never heard of artists getting a penny of the money.
:evil:

If I remember correctly, it was the songwriters that managed to weasel a surcharge out of every blank audiocassette sold in the U.S.

Geff R. · 27 Sep 2006

As long as the tax is low, I don't have a problem with reimbursing artists & songwriters. Much more fair then the crap the RIAA keeps pulling.

I don't know if anyone remembers the days when "consumer" cdr's for standalone machines were over $5 per disc. I don't know the whole story pn that; i ASSUME the original tax started high & then shrunk year per year? Today, the "consumer" discs are only a few cents more then pc cdr's & of course very few people use standalone cd recorders anymore.

I still like mine for transfering LP's, but since I've become more knowledgeable on how to do it right, I do most of my LEGAL FAIR USE cd backing up on my pc.

Linda · 13 Jan 1966

Walter P · 20 Sep 2006

Dr. Chris Evil wrote:

The RIAA is throwing itself in the way on an oncoming train, yet continues to move closer and closer to the site of the inevitable train wreck. They're hastening their own demise and don't see it.

Chris...er Dr. Evil...Excuse my ignorance, but I don't understand your comments here. What is the train wreck? What's going to happen to the RIAA? The way things are set up now, I don't see where they lose.

Dr. Chris Evil · 26 Jul 2006

Walter P wrote:

Dr. Chris Evil wrote:

The RIAA is throwing itself in the way on an oncoming train, yet continues to move closer and closer to the site of the inevitable train wreck. They're hastening their own demise and don't see it.

Chris...er Dr. Evil...Excuse my ignorance, but I don't understand your comments here. What is the train wreck? What's going to happen to the RIAA? The way things are set up now, I don't see where they lose.

Sales are declining - CD sales, that is - and they are alienating their customers. And the generation that's downloading certainly isn't going to want to patronize an industry that's suing them. The train wreck is the extinction of the CD and they seem to be doing everything they can to hasten it.

Walter P · 20 Sep 2006

Okay...but I guess I still don't see this being a train wreck for the RIAA. Music is always going to exist and one way or another, it's going to be a business, whether it's CD, downloads or whatever. More than likely, the RIAA or some other body will still control it. I will grant you that I don't particularly care for their tactics, but the RIAA is doing what it thinks it has to do to protect the interests of artists. I will say this...their methods will be effective at some point, if they're not already. When I send my oldest to college in a couple of years, instruction number 1 as they walk out the door will be "NO ILLEGAL DOWNLOADS!" I don't want to have to deal with that nasty fine on top of everything else.

RIAA vs. Students

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