[Flipside]

http://recordingindustryvspeople.blogspot.com/2006/04/on-importance-of-elektra-v-barker.html

RIAA claims that simply having a Shared Files folder on your computer is breach of copyright. These people are losing the plot in a Jack Thompson kind of way...

[Unknown Target]

Good news is this seems like a make or break case for the RIAA; if they win, they shut down the web. If they lose, they have no more legal basis for their attacks on us.

[Kosh]

I don't think I need to bother explaining how stupid this is. So does anyone still want to defend the RIAA?


Defending the RIAA is the same as defending Atilla the Hun.

[Jetmech Jr.]

Who the hell defends the RIAA without actually being employed by the RIAA in some manner

[redsniper]

I'm tempted to just make a new folder named 'Shared Files' in protest.

[Ford Prefect]

I actually want to make a folder called "Files That Are Definitely Not Shared".

[redsniper]

You know, I remember being taught in kindergarten that sharing was a good thing. I guess the RIAA folks missed that day.

[Turambar]

You know, I remember being taught in kindergarten that sharing was a good thing. I guess the RIAA folks missed that day.

i think they overlook that mostly, thats the only explanation.

sharing is clearly a communist idea and works against the capitalist society.  they should stop teaching it in schools, along with logic and sex education (those two just conflict with the bible, and we cant have that)

[Nix]

So you're telling me that each and every copy of windows is in breach of copyright?

OMG! It's a FOLDER!  And it's named SHARED FOLDERs Inside it, it says SHARES!  EVEN OPEN FILES!  EVERYONE MUST PAY!

Can you imagine one of the kooks pulling something like this??

[Fragrag]

I actually want to make a folder called "Files That Are Definitely Not Shared".

Gonna name the folder in which I'm seeding and downloading my Bittorrent files that, it's a given.

[TheCaptain]

Oh. My. F***in. Gawd.

This is going to be an insane case. I mean, seriously, can the RIAA hold up that argument in court? And do they have any chance against such big name internet interests? I mean, the internet cannot seriously be at risk, even in the United States, because of some bunch of fascists sittin back in their high towers lording over the music industry... can it?

Damn insanity...

[Flipside]

Well, if they don't then the US government will.....

http://news.com.com/2100-1028_3-6064016.html

[achtung]

Damn insanity...

Hey now!  Don't go insulting insanity!  The RIAA's members are not insane, just incredibly stupid.  Even daring to say that they are insane is an insult to mentally insane people.

[TheCaptain]

Well, if they don't then the US government will.....

http://news.com.com/2100-1028_3-6064016.html

wow... well, the US should just get it over with and form a secret police force. Then they can go that one step further, and just establish a psuedo-Christian dynasty in the White House, for good. To heck with this democracy BS, it only slows down Republican 'progress'!

The fun, carefree times online seem to be coming to an end for a lot of folks, and that'll probably continue to grow greater if that crazy bill passes through. RIAA is probably going to get their way whatever happens, way I see things. One hand washes the other and all that crap. Congress must have been 'encouraged' right by the Association's lobbyists.

A goodly portion of folks are going to get mighty paranoid mighty fast if that goes through, and it might just spread if the Americans go that way. Crap

[Taristin]

America sucks.

[Kosh]

Well, if they don't then the US government will.....

http://news.com.com/2100-1028_3-6064016.html

Why exactly are they doing this again?

[NGTM-1R]

Because they were pa-I mean, were generously given campaign contributions.

[Kosh]

Here's a couple of quotes from the article about what they are planning to do:

• Permits wiretaps in investigations of copyright crimes, trade secret theft and economic espionage. It would establish a new copyright unit inside the FBI and budgets $20 million on topics including creating "advanced tools of forensic science to investigate" copyright crimes.

• Amends existing law to permit criminal enforcement of copyright violations even if the work was not registered with the U.S. Copyright Office.

So why are they treating copyright violators the same as people who plot to kill presidents and bomb embassies?

The second one just opens up the flood gates for massive abuses. Anyone anywhere can suddenly says that anything was "theirs" and start filing suits (and maybe even win, knowing the legal system).

EDIT: I just remembered something that is somewhat related to this I found a couple of months ago:

http://arstechnica.com/news.ars/post/20060121-6025.html

Big Content would like to outlaw things no one has even thought of yet

Bye-bye innovation........

[TheCaptain]

Well, that post was pretty ominous - but Big Content? Never heard of it, so I don't quite get the context of the article. What do they do?

[NGTM-1R]

• Amends existing law to permit criminal enforcement of copyright violations even if the work was not registered with the U.S. Copyright Office.

On the one hand, this is bound to provoke insanity in the current Age of Litigation...on the other, it could also give one legal recourse against somebody who hijacks your fan works. Which is a good thing, though minor, from where I'm sitting. Now if only it didn't have the rest of the implications.