What do you think the RIAA's next move will be?

[Lord_of_the_Dense]

I got this off of an older (12/19) TechTv newsletter. As of today, this is how people have voted:

Apologize and stop suing
21%

No subpoenas, but more lawsuits
23%

Appeal to Supreme Court
57%


I voted for the second one. I believe this to still be a valid question as although there have been several events since the original poll, I am sure there will be several more "next moves." Even if there is only one more move left, the question can still be asked as to what their final move will be.

[Omyn]

Well if they dont appologize it will only get worse.

As long as they keep being idiots, running around like crazy suing everybody in sight the hate will contine.

Even if they do appologize there will still be people that will continue to hate them and never buy any of their products ever again, but I think it may actually boost their music CD sales if more of the money goes to the artist instead of in their wallets.

Not like they have a bunch of artists with any talent to begin with.

[shawners]

Their going to strike fear in websight owners, as well as trying to close many websights who are based on filesharing.. .They will make everyone so paranoid that users will turn on each other, and in the end.. we will destroy ourselfs..

[Killawat]

i'll Have to stick with
D: going for infants
and shawners has a nice plan also

[MikeHunt]

...when you can't win...you play dirty.
Look for plenty of new P2P viruses...nasty ones....promoting FUD and Tv propaganda pieces.

[fireforce555]

I think they will go to the top and try to get their right to threaten back. They need it, if they dont have it their "scare factor" goes away and any one who was afraid to share will do it again because they will know they are nearly untouchable.


They may launch a few lawsuits at people who are massive servers of data but I dont see a person with say a couple pop albums getting one. It just doesnt make financial sense.


What they did before WAS smart, it created a sense of fear in many people and they targeted not just college kids, or highschoolers but grandpas and everyone else that falls into various demographics. It made the fear cross borders a bit, no longer was it they were only after teen to young adult "warez cyber thieves" but it was now the grandpa down the street who was turned overnight into an accused felon.

Its better to just have people afraid to piss you off than to go through the effort to get everyone. Same way schoolyard bullies are, they whoop a few people and then everyone else doesnt mess with them for it.

[method77]

apologise

ha!

[Malicious Intent]

What about subpoenas with judges signature?
The supreme court wont overturn the decision becuse it was right.

[method]

I think they're going to start to put pressure back on the ISPs to take responsibility over p2p-activity.

Y'know how they seem to be able to re-write the law...

I think they (RIAA and it's senator friends) will try it again, rather than one infringement to one IP they'll track total number of infringements, arguing that 1000's of copies of illegal media were traced to Verizon or whoever.

I hope it doesn't work out that way, but if I was as much of a persistant pain in the ass as the RIAA is.. I'd probably opt for that tactic!!

[shawners]

in the mean time while they are trying methods plan.. we are devoloping smarter p2p apps where their is no possibility for them to sue us, and get us off the networks.

[method]

Heh.. ya right.. I shouldn't give them any ideas!!!

Well.. it may finally look like we need to do both the big two p2p protection ideas..

- encrypt p2p traffic
- proxy-routing for anonymity.

Peace!! :)

[cheapprick]

That was Hard TO read.

[cjules13]

That was Hard TO read.
Heh... remember people, punctuation is your friend... love the period, love the comma... :blah

RIAA next move? method posted a realizable move - maybe. The reason I think it may be right is now the new effort that the RIAA has to go through in order to obtain your information for a lawsuit. I would really like an idea of the cost difference between simply supeona'ing someone's info direct, vs having to file suit first in order to obtain.

Do we have any law students/lawyers here (prolly not eh?) who could post a ballpark idea?

I'm thinking it's at least 10x more expensive... So, we might see the ante raised on the next round of suits. Meaning what took $3000 in the past to settle (that was the average settlement) turn into a $30,000 settlement. That'd be bad. I could personally afford ~$3000, but I sure as shit couldn't pay $30,000. Then what? :green

Or, like method, they may decide to go after the ISPs again. I'm sure they've got their law team poring of the law books and scouring the DCMA for any reason whatsoever to hold the ISPs responsible. I know they've appealed the decision made last March when the p2p tools were ruled legal. I think that's going to be a very closely watched appeal as even the original ruling judge was quoted as saying that his own decision "...did not sit well with me."

I think the p2p networks themselves could find themselves defending their legality again.

[kita]

Ninjas! Definitely Ninjas

[origin]

well lets see, what will there next move be? a tough question indeed. This is what I think in the near future within a few years we can definitely expect to see more of the RIAA's light headed tactics on dealing with issues by sueing the people that are still remotely interested in there media, and settle for the most of the amount X that they see in there bank acct so who is really robbing who here? In anycase I think the RIAA will continue to try to get to the top and have the most power over suing file swappers but it will not be a easy rode nor a completly sucessfull one. Hopefully the riaa will reach a point where the gov's gonna be like STOP thats enough you are not the law I am the LAW!. lol
Everything comes in due time, Lets just be patient and see what is ahead of us. :)

l8

[crackerjacker]

hmm obviously they will take their fight to the supreme court.
I will be honest though just because the supreme court will hear this case they more then likely will not rule in the favor of the riaa.
Instead they might say that the dmca is to vague and that the law needs to be changed.

If a new law was to be enacted, it would have to be clear and concise on the grounds to what copy right infringement is, whose responsible to monitor the users etc.

In the past the internet providers were not liable and I still think that the case can be thrown out, or some words would be changed to make it seem like the supreme court gives a damn about this case.

I do think that they should throw it out. lol

[tamarisk]

Remember in USA there are elections this year therefore for votes there MIGHT be some lobbying. And MAYBE organizations MIGHT take advantage of this scenario.

[que-em]

Force Makala (wrong spelling, I know) to leave the lame duck she's with and hook up with me and they will force Sumi Das to leave MSNBC and come back where she is loved. At least that what they should do. And force Kat to go back to her old hairstyle -- she was cuter and more innocent looking. Get Erica Hill back too, CNN isn't taking advatage of her properly. Oh yeah bring Chris back too.

[Class316]

They have to return ALL the money they sent!

Also notice that the media didn't utter a word regarding the ruling that said they can't issue subpoenas.

They don't want people to return to p2p because it hurts their cause!

But when lawsuits were coming in, ALL the media flooded.

Goes to show you the unity among them.

[Afn]

Riaa will do three things:


1. Keep pushing it's agenda. Copy bad, Industry good.

( P2P's response: Copy Good. Industry Wrong. )

2. Use fear to sell senior congressmen that if you let p2p sharing continue, you will cause a great GREAT depression and you will be blamed by this, thrown out of office, dishonored.... and with the riaa/mpaa re-write of the dcma (dcma2 the empire strikes back.) you will be saved, given riaa-mpaa industry jobs when your term expires, save the world, create world peace. ect...

I think the riaa could use the economic issue as a key point to pressure anyone to dismantle p2p and police it ike it's 1951 and they are the KGB.

3. Use the courts and legal system to force a mass change of consumer behavior. (doubtful)

The RIAA\MPAA could be marginalized by the system that says intelectual property in an information age must be democratic and forced complance is illegal under the truth and spirt of the law, citing that people have a right to see what is produced by society, and no secret industry MPAA\RIAA controlling for usery, tribute, bribe, protection money and preventing people from access because they did not pay this protection money to the intelectual property protection syndicate is illegal. (you get the point) .

Learn to make movies profitable with out copy protection, or go out of business.

[Malicious Intent]

They have to return ALL the money they sent!

Also notice that the media didn't utter a word regarding the ruling that said they can't issue subpoenas.

They don't want people to return to p2p because it hurts their cause!

But when lawsuits were coming in, ALL the media flooded.

Goes to show you the unity among them.

I think the media enjoy action and trouble rather than being in eachothers pockets.
Everyone getting sued was exciting for them. They published a load of bad stuff about the industry as well. Now we are in the eye of the storm.

[Lord_of_the_Dense]

Yayyy! I win! I chose #2!

Oh wait..

:finger Those damn bastards. :finger

[rainbowdemon]

What they could do is this. Declare bancruptcy, fire all of the employeees, go out of business. Lock the doors, go home and forget all about it. But that isn't vey likely!!

[Wolfie]

What they could do is this. Declare bancruptcy, fire all of the employeees, go out of business. Lock the doors, go home and forget all about it. But that isn't vey likely!!

Yep, I agree. They'll end up like the guys playing the instruments in the movie "Titanic" all the way to the end, while the ship is sinking under them.

[Siskabush]

Im guessing the RIAA will purchase a few F22 Raptors, declare war on vanutu, and do a "Shock and awe" on the Kazaa headquarters.

And then the US will become a third world nation...

[Stownplayer]

They don't really have a choice. Man, i hope they don't catch me. I would owe like 3.1 million at 100 dollars per song. I would hate to think of anything higher... holy shit 31 mil

[neoufo51]

They will MOVE their heads farther up their asses.

[CCSDUDE]

Stop suing in exchange for 'offenders' allowing a 'copyright infringment protection' chip to be implanted under their skin. Right next to the eyeball so they can 'patch in' and protect their copyrights.

Least that's what S. Green keeps telling me... *

*Note: I doubt anyone will get this bit of humor...so don't bother asking about it*

[crackerjacker]

i am hungry :)
but what i think the riaa will do is the same crappy thing. they will still use scare tactics.

haha
the riaa with harness the web and distribute music fairly * heh me says that sarcasticaly*

and lord of the dense
i kick u but :P

[Slycktom]

The RIAA doesnt care how much people hate them. In fact, the RIAA is designed so you DO hate them. They want you to hate them. They will continue to use every avenue they can to pursue file-sharing.

One of the RIAA's functions is that it acts as a buffer for those they represent, such as Sony Music, BMG, etc, etc, etc; so the individual companies don't have to do the dirty work, such as suing thier customers.

Would you buy a Sony DVD player if you knew they were suing their customers?

[tackdaddy]

i think they will somehow get congress to have a new law the will give people mandatory jail time for filesharing.i can see it now your cellmate asking what you are in for and you say filesharing then the next thing he tells you is pull down your pants boy.

[Potato]

Is the RIAA really suing their customers if they're suing file sharers? I keep hearing that... the RIAA is suing their customers... and every time I think to myself, "But a lot of these people AREN'T customers...."

[Miniver]

they'll do a lot more of what they have been doing. Practically squat! File-sharing isn't going away. Bandwidth and file sharing are set to increase exponentially and there's very little that anyone can do about it. Information wants to be free! It needs to be free! It will be free.

<----like the new avatar?

[fujow]

The average cost to file a suit is $214.
The problem is not filing the suit it's using ouside counsel. The RIA has it's own lawyers and it uses outside counsel. The counsel's they hire charge anywhere from $250 to $700 an hour thats where they are losing millions.
I do legal research in a Law firm.
Did you know that the RIAA tried suing RIO the mp3 player makers Stating the device will be used for copyright infringement, they lost. See 29 F supp 2d 624

[Miniver]

quote: "See 29 F supp 2d 624"
What?! give us a link we don't speak legalese! Like this one:
http://www.wired.com/news/politics/0,1283,20235,00.html

[fujow]

Sorry Mini no link to the case I just have the reporter cite of the decision, i can only send as a doc.

[Miniver]

Sorry Mini no link to the case I just have the reporter cite of the decision, i can only send as a doc.

I wouldn't touch that with a ten foot pole that i'm hovering with my telekinetic abilities ;). There are too many macro viruses out there that hide in Word docs.

[thewhitrbbit]

they gotta explain now why they are not a gang under federal law.

[thewhitrbbit]

http://www.virtualrecordings.com/diamond.htm

RIAA vs Diamond Multimedia

[endersgame21]

Yea but hopefully the ISPs will be smart enough to fight the RIAA tooth and nail. Cable ISP's owe most of their userbase to filesharing. I can't see any reason to continue paying 50 bucks a month to Comcast if I can't make up the money in free songs and movies. Honestly I don't mind surfing the web at 56kbps...I only switched to cable for gaming and downloading and I can't justify paying 50 bucks a month just to play online games either.

[Afn]

Yea but hopefully the ISPs will be smart enough to fight the RIAA tooth and nail. Cable ISP's owe most of their userbase to filesharing. I can't see any reason to continue paying 50 bucks a month to Comcast if I can't make up the money in free songs and movies. Honestly I don't mind surfing the web at 56kbps...I only switched to cable for gaming and downloading and I can't justify paying 50 bucks a month just to play online games either.


Cable ISP's pay franchise fees to cable companies, and have extensive agreements for every cable channel.

Cable is profitable, and with the consolidation of ISP's owned by cable and phone interests, it is going to become easy to switch people or prevent people from fair choice. They can restrict choice (make p2p apps impossible to run) So they can to sell tiered packages of selected content for a premium price. "ala' disney channel' and other nonsense entertainment for 50 dollars a month.

p2p in 10 years may be so bandwith hogging with legititmate apps that if they do not force the technology back into the pre-digital model the whole world will melt down.

Besides, content production is trivial. The Library of Congess recieves about 600,000 new submissions a year. That is how much new knowledge is growing.

The argument that they have to protect content because it will not be produced is not the real problem. The real problem is technology makes the cartel obsolete and unprofitable.