http://news.mywebpal.com/news_tool_v2.c ... 11575&on=1

[quote] A Rockmart family is being sued for illegal music file sharing, despite the fact that they don’t even own a computer.

A federal lawsuit filed this week in Rome by the Recording Industry Association of America alleges that Carma Walls, of 117 Morgan St., Rockmart, has infringed on copyrights for recorded music by sharing files over the Internet. The lawsuit seeks an injunction and requests unspecified monetary damages.

The lawsuit states, “Plaintiffs are informed and believe that Defendant, without the permission or consent of Plaintiffs, has used, and continues to use, an online media distribution system to download the copyrighted recordings, to distribute the copyrighted recordings to the public, and/or to make the copyrighted recordings available for distribution to others.â€

Ive just finished an assignment on Copyright. They can still be sued if they distributed the files on a computer they dont own. Its unlikely that the court will award damages in cases where the defendant has not recieved a financial gain. Most of these cases end in just an injunction, that is, to cease and desist.

The RIAA is using this as an alternative form of income. They threaten family with substantial legal bills ($5,000 or so) and then offer to 'settle' for a mere $3000. So, basically, it's extortion. Just hand over $3000 and you save $2000 on legal bills! What a deal!

Bastards. People are slowly fighting back, at long last. Hopefully someone gives these fuckers the legal slapdown they need to stop the scare tactics. Someone ought to RICO their asses since this practically is extortion.

I hope the family countersues for damaging their good name. And I hope some judge sees this as proof that RIAA evidence is appearently too shoddy to be used in a court case. If they have "proof" that a computerless family has done illegal filesharing, how can you believe people with a computer did do something illegal?

Man, you'd think someone would have sued the crap outta organizations like the RIAA years ago...but I guess the big companies are more important than 'regular' ppl huh?

not only that, but Congress keeps passing new laws to make the entertainment industry even more powerful.

link

And thanks to the EU, we'll see similar laws in Europe within a few years.

It's not thanks to the EU, it's thanks to the big companies pressuring politics into 'protecting' them; domestic or European. Ppl seem to blame the EU for everything these days.

The only difference is that with the existence of the EU laws such as these are more rapidly applicable to all members; instead of the companies having to lobby each country seperately...in this case that sucks, but in general I'd say such efficiency is great. If used for the right things, obviously...but that goes for a lot of things.

Things can get véry ugly if you don't use a spoon for the right thing, too.

It is because of the EU. It would never become law in the Netherlands, unless it becomes a EU law first. And you must agree with me that the EU is hardly democratic, and very open to stupid lobbying by big companies, just look at the attempts to get software patents here. It's only a matter of time before they succeed.

software patents, trademark law, patent law, trusted computing, DRM, it's all horrible crap the bastard corporations are shoving down our throats against our will. I wish the government would wake up and realize they're supposed to serve the people, not the corporations. Or I wish the people would wake up and assert their power over government.

Well yeah, that's what I said, kinda...it does get easier for the companies to pass such a law because they have one "central" point to address instead of several nations. That's a trait of the EU that also has its advantages in other, less criminal, cases.

In terms of efficiency and time needed I mean.

wtf? How did the quotes get fucked up again?

Because you let them?

Corporations would have a harder time lobbying such laws in the Dutch government, because that's closer to the people. It's democratic. Corporations have no hard time at all lobbying in the EU, since it lacks a lot of democratic checks.

I like the idea of the EU and the Euro, but it's failing on too many fronts at the moment. And it's not like Norway and Switzerland are doing badly outside the EU. So what's the big succes?

I don't disagree entirely with what you say about the difference between a national government (Dutch one in this case) and the European government. But I think the difference is overrated...I don't see how they differ much.

They both are in a places where you can't just walk in and listen to the lobbying, they both have elections and they both have opposing parties. The only real difference I see is that a supranational government is less in touch with the specific needs/wishes of people in this or that area in this or that country. That's an important difference, true, but I wouldn't claim it as HUGE difference...I mean, how much is a national government in touch with those needs? They're all old, ugly, two-faced dudes, often from well to do families. How much are they in touch with my reality? I'm young, devilishly handsome, straightforward and from a middle class family. They don't know any more than the EU what I want, or you want.

Erh...I digressed at the end there. But you catch my drift.