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RIAA busts university students -- seeks $150k per song

7 April 2003 15:22 by Petteri "dRD" Pyyny | 11 comments

RIAA has busted four individual university students in three different U.S. universities, claiming that they've distributed thousands of illegal MP3 files using their dorms' Net connections and P2P networks. RIAA is seeking for a very moderate compensation, mere $150,000 per distributed song, for damages.

Otherwise the cases are pretty clear, some of the students sued in this instance, were running Direct Connect P2P clients, distributing the MP3s over the DC network. But at least one of the students was running a search engine that would allow users to search shared files within the campus network, not a P2P client. And as far as we know, running a search engine -- whatever it happens to find -- is perfectly legal, otherwise Google would've been busted for a long time ago.

RIAA's take on the issue is obviously somewhat different: "Differences are irrelevant from a copyright perspective," said RIAA Senior Vice President Matt Oppenheim. "All of these are networks created for one purpose and are being used for infringement."

Source: News.com

Permalink to this article

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Discuss this article!
msb5150 (Member) 7 April 2003 16:37
They charge a specific student for the distribution of 652,000 songs, and at the maximun (federally defined) charge of $150,000 the student, if the case is lost, would be liable for $97.8 TRILION, more money than 326 times the ammount of cash currency the US has in the world. [ + quote]
Ketola (Admin) 7 April 2003 17:35
Actually $97.8 milliard (or billion), but that's still quite a heap of dough to scrape up. Jari Ketola Administrator http://www.AfterDawn.com [ + quote]
msb5150 (Member) 7 April 2003 18:56
Naturally I can't count but its this much 97,800,000,000 This is an amazingly imformative site with many places to find information and help. Please support it. [ + quote]
seanbyrne (Member) 8 April 2003 1:29
It's still hard to say if Search engines are legal or not depending on what content it is designed to search for. For example, I doubt Google would get away if they stuck in a 'Audio Track' option, as they have for 'Images'. Assuming the average MP3 track is 3.5MB, it would be interesting to know how that student distributed over 2 Terabytes of music across the network without getting in trouble with the University's staff first. One would need ~3510 CD-Rs to even store that much music. [ + quote]
Ghostdog (Senior Member) 8 April 2003 3:39
Altavista.com doesn�t seem to be in trouble, and they have a MP3/Audio search aswell as a search for video-files. Now the RIAA has to sue Altavista aswell. [ + quote]
jumpjet (Newbie) 8 April 2003 5:35
MMMmmm $97.800,000,00 ! Do you think they will take AMEX as payment? [ + quote]
girlroade (Inactive) 8 April 2003 8:01
The RIAA needs to look at why they are losing money instead of harrassing people. Stop blaming everyone for the fact that you sign pop artists to $100 million dollar contracts but sign other artists and put them in debt to pay for it. And let's not forget the consumer who is now spending roughly $20 for a new cd. Maybe if they spent alittle less time pampering certain artists or sueing people and alittle more time actually doing their job (promoting music), they just might stay in business[but, I doubt it]. [ + quote]
FatMan24 (Newbie) 8 April 2003 13:39
Well Well now I know how bush plans to finance the war on iraq. 652 000 mp3's must of been a lot of crap shared with anything worth listening to. Once again protection is the winner for the monopolies running the music scene, thus proving there is no such thing as a true free market. [ + quote]
Pio2001 (Moderator) 8 April 2003 14:12
Why would they think about why they loose money, since some trials here and there can put dollars in their pockets again ? [ + quote]
Lucid (Inactive) 9 April 2003 11:28
Jumpjet, and just think if they did take Credit Card.. think of all those Airline Miles you could get! course.. airlines are going bankrupt anyway =/ Any intelligent fool can make things bigger, more complex, and more violent. It takes a touch of genius -- and a lot of courage -- to move in the opposite direction. Albert Einstein (1879-1955) [ + quote]
Smitty_0 (Newbie) 28 April 2003 16:54
The Riaa Are A Bunch OF Scumbags!...who the hell sues a student 97.8 billion dollars. You have to be a lot of crack. I Hope The Riaa loses this case, and they all go to hell! I HATE THE RIAA [ + quote]