"P2P Lawsuits"and "P2P Extortion," the 2007 yin and yang of the file-sharing debate

The RIAA’s P2P Lawsuits site will kindly take your money to settle your case, whereas the rebutting “P2P Extortion” site shows you how to “stick it to the man”.

P2P Lawsuits is the latest bit of hubris churned out by the execs at the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA), and P2P Extortion is the newly minted site from unknown sources that seeks to counter the fear created by its counterpart.

P2P Lawsuits would actually funny be if it wasn’t for the fact that people not only don’t get their day in court but, also that they are actually mocked after ponying up thousands of dollars for what is in all probability music that is worth pennies on the dollar. Have you ever listened to an album that was worth the average $20 bucks they like to charge? Aside from the classics like The Beatles, Pink Floyd, and the like, the one-hit-wonder new stuff just doesn’t cut it.

What’s particularly egregious is the Oreilly-esque “talking points” on the site that tries to answer people’s questions but, really only creates more in my mind.

Here’s an excerpt of a few:

Q: If I have Wi-Fi at home, how can you be sure it was me who did the downloading
A: The fact that a wireless connection is involved does not mean that the individual engaging in copyright infringement cannot be identified. Cases are routinely pursued where a wireless connection is involved.

Q: If the record companies negotiated a settlement with the P2P service I used, can they still sue me?
A: Yes. You are still responsible for your actions and the harm that you have caused.

Q: Can I avoid this lawsuit if I immediately delete the illegal music and file-trafficking service from my computer?
A: No. Furthermore, once litigation becomes a possibility, deleting music files or the P2P service from your computer would violate your obligation to preserve evidence.

First of all, if you are using a Wi-Fi setup at home its pretty hard for them to say with certainty who did what using a particular IP address as the potential for anybody and anyone to logon to your router and engage in the illicit activity in question is possible. Plausible deniability anyone?

Secondly, if the RIAA demands a settlement figure from illegal P2P services based on the overall number of copyrighted material that was exchanged, oftentimes a number that multiplies the damages for each instance beyond what the normal fee for legal usage is, then hasn’t the use of that same material been bought and paid for? Why do then the users of that service have to again pay for copyright infringement if the service itself has settled the claims of the use of copyrighted material on it? It doesn’t make any sense.

Thirdly, the notion of saving the music that they claim you pirated is just silly. What, is a person supposed to wait around for their turn in line? It may not be the most prudent course of action but, delete it and triple overwrite it I say.

The next part of their site that is sure to make your stomachs churn inside is the actual settlement portion of their site.

One starts by selecting the “Do You Want to Settle a Case Online?” tab, a picture of which is shown to the right.

Then you get to plug in the “Case Identification number” that you ave been issued. Kind of nice how that works isn’t it? Again, your day in court be dammed to make them prove their case against you. L:et’s just make their job as easy as can be right?

The real kicker comes after you pay up and settle the case, and it’s something which I still can’t believe for myself and I’ve read it a hundred times by now.

“Looking for ward to future business together.” %!$@#!!???

That’s right you’ve read it correctly, and its sarcasm is far from subtle. Imagine you just shelled out almost $4000 bucks for some music that is worth maybe a tenth of that. You held your breath and then sent the cash, perhaps even felt a tad relieved that now you would at least be left alone right? Well, what does the RIAA do? It kicks you right in the nuts with a smarmy “see you next time” sort of reply. Talk about punching a guy while he’s down.

Now that I’ve probably gotten you all worked up about the RIAA’s P2P Lawsuits site, it’s time to introduce you to the P2P Extortion site, the “yang” to counter the “yin.”

The site is a hilarious potshot at the RIAA’s P2P Lawsuits site, even referring to them as the “RIIAHA,” the Recording Industry Idiotic Ass Holes of America. It’s a bit crass but, the site really sums up what I’m sure everybody is thinking about the P2P Lawsuits site.

Here’s an excerpt of a few but, I encourage you to read them all:

Q: Isn’t it the RIIAHA that is suing me?
A: No. The Big Four who are in “The Family” know as Recording Industry Idiotic Ass Holes of America (RIIAHA), and the RIIAHA lets the members of the family find the next “opportunity” to support their dying business model. #

Q: I am a hard working college student, trying to get an education so I can contribute to the GDP, to help raise my standard of living, and increase the share of educated people in the US. Why are you going after me?
A: As it turns out, going after families, kids and grandmothers is bad PR. If we can go after individual college students who are notorious for using p2p applications, we save ourselves a little heat. Besides, your parents are most likely in a high income bracket, and they can bail you out. Targeting college students makes business sense.

Q: Why members of the Big Four trying to harm their potential customers?
A: Well, with The Family faltering business of failing to offer a better experience to its customers, it has to find other legal means necessary to make money. Even though we know deep down inside that not every download is a lost sale, playing ignorant to this fact is better for our business. Not to mention ignoring some basic principle of economics that most college students such as yourself have discovered on your own, such as ignoring the economics of non-scarce goods. People that make music because they have a passion might do it for free, but far be it from us to recommend to our client that their artist and labels that make music for a living should make their experience better or take less money for it. There is no law saying that we have to do that.

Q: How did you get the evidence need for this lawsuit?
A: We think we can get judges to believe that IP addresses are permanently attached to people. Don’t test us. We have more money than you and we can make it true.

Q: How do you think you can sew me when all you have is an IP address?
A: Basically, we strong-arm your ISP into giving us the name associated with the IP address of a subscriber who we think is downloading our sacred content that we know you thought was worth $20. Did someone else used your computer or your connection? We need pin this on someone, and we picked you. And don’t try to tell the judge we don’t have good enough evidence and make us pay your lawyer fees.

Q: What if I believe in sharing my internet connection over Wi-Fi?
A: We will just argue that our internet henchmen are so good at what they do that we can tell the difference between your computer (and your intentions) and the computer accessing the sacred content over Wi-Fi. Besides, when it is a slow day here at RIIAHA headquarters, we can find someone with Wi-Fi and blame you, you can say it must have been someone on your open Wi-Fi, and we can say tough shit.

Q: I’ll delete all of the music I stole from you and the p2p software. Just, please, leave me and my family alone.
A: Ha! Too late. Plus, if you do that, we gotta beat you some more because we don’t know just how much you stole. So just to make sure you pay for what you did, you get an extra beating until you pay up (or can we?).

Did this cheer you up any? I know I was, and it reminded me of the silliness of the RIAA and its legal henchman, who for when all is said and done are merely propping up a failed business model that died way back in 1999 thanks to Shawn Fanning and a little thing called Napster.

I guess it is like they say, “The more things change, the more they stay the same.” In any event, I’d like to say “RIGHT ON” to whoever is behind P2P Extortion and thank them for giving a voice to those of us who who shouted at our screens when we read what the P2P Lawsuits site had to say.

The coolest facet of P2P Extortion is that it also reminds or informs you of preexisting methods to obtain free music legally, or CDs and music content that is RIAA-Free. This way we we can all lend a hand towards not putting any more money in the pockets of the RIAA labels.

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SOULXTC: “walkin’ the streets of P2P”

Jared Moya
I've been interested in P2P since the early, high-flying days of Napster and KaZaA. I believe that analog copyright laws are ill-suited to the digital age, and that art and culture shouldn't be subject to the whims of international entertainment industry conglomerates. Twitter | Google Plus

“P2P Lawsuits”and “P2P Extortion,” the 2007 yin and yang of the file-sharing debate

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