AfterDawn: News

RIAA loses another case

The Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA) cannot force Charter Communications Inc. to supply them the identity details of subscribers it alleges to have distributed copyrighted music through P2P networks, a U.S. appeals court ruled. A federal judge issued the subpoenas in 2003 but the appeals court said the Digital Millennium Copyright Act (DMCA) doesn't allow the RIAA to subpoena Charter for user information because the files at issue aren't stored in the company's computers. The RIAA is currently on a campaign against illegal filesharing, suing thousands of music sharers in the United States.

"Because the parties do not dispute that Charter's function was limited to acting as a conduit for the allegedly copyright protected material, we agree that the 1998 act doesn't authorize the subpoenas", U.S. Circuit Judge Kermit Bye wrote in the majority's opinion released today. However, as always, the RIAA had nothing but tough words to utter after this defeat. "For the past year, we have successfully utilized the 'John Doe' litigation process to sue thousands of illegal file sharers," the RIAA said in a statement. "Our enforcement efforts won't miss a beat."



Source:
Bloomberg

Written by: James Delahunty @ 5 Jan 2005 9:00

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• 26 comments

• Nephilim

  Good.

  5.1.2005 10:46 #1

• Toiletman

  Have they suceeded a lot in major cases? This seems like a minor case that they lost. It would be great if they lost the whole case against LokiTorrent and other sites, as that might mean BT may make a courageous return.

  5.1.2005 11:34 #2

• vudoo

  I subscribe to Napster To Go and I thought cool I can download ANYTHING. Suprise Suprise when I entered Styx Cyclorama it said BUY ONLY. I was pissed. This is the SHIT that the labels do to us. I called Napster and they said soon their may be a ruling forcing the labels to allow subscribers to listen to anything. Hope this happens cuz they are ripping off subscribers left and right. When I pay the $14.95/Mo for a Music service I don't expect to get the bait and switch routine. It is more than dishonest treatment from the labels. I don't mind paying for Music monthly but don't treat me like I am some dumbass little kid. So instead I'll go to Limewire Pro and get it for FREE. So again these dishonest people will lose. I suggest if you subscribe to a legal music service and don't get what you paid for that you threaten the RIAA with a suit. After all this is FROAD.

  5.1.2005 11:42 #3

• Pop_Smith

  Thats a good thing that they lost this case, now to get the s*** heads to stop suing other companies internet users as well :)

  5.1.2005 11:59 #4

• cat5

  suck my big co*k RIAA

  5.1.2005 12:07 #5

• ag22

  I dont have much h8 for the RIAA cuz it is illegal to download copyrighted music... but that doesnt mean I wont celebrte a loss :-D

  5.1.2005 12:31 #6

• Pop_Smith

  @ag22 Yes, it is but, they are also against our right of backing up our legally owned Music CDs.
  
  Isn't that right Neph?

  5.1.2005 13:49 #7

• demonhawk

  In the end it is just another means of control that failed... And I am happy in that....

  5.1.2005 14:06 #8

• daemonzx6

  And you can't forget that they completely support forcing consumers to watch 30+ minutes of previews on DVDs they own and should be able to do what they want with. And then it's illegal to crack its protection and make a copy without previews.

  5.1.2005 16:10 #9

• rondack

  GOOD!!! A few more victories like this(for us) and I'll start buying CD's again.

  5.1.2005 16:33 #10

• dlc2000

  charter has always refused to give up the names of their customers and im glad they stuck to their guns and beat these rip off artists .
  

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  5.1.2005 16:49 #11

• vudoo

  Well at least SBC and Charter are going against the RIAA. Charter is more than just a cable TV company. SBC is more than just an Internet company. Fact is that SBC own part of Dish Net which is connected to GM way down the line. So screw with the companies that are not richie rich snobs and see what happens to you. SBC is for the everyday person and so is Charter cuz they even have Charter in Coats NC which is so small you can ride a bycycle through it in less than 10 minutes.

  5.1.2005 17:19 #12

• hijacker

  HA HA! Fu*ckin Losers! RIAA sucks! I hope they go broke like mchammer.

  5.1.2005 17:59 #13

• philipman

  Thats why I have comcast internet they do not give out any info on your downloads f the RIAA they need to just live with the fact that peer to peer will never die and shut the hell up.

  5.1.2005 20:47 #14

• DVDeviant

  Best news all day.

  5.1.2005 20:55 #15

• kleenr

  I am so glad I'm on Charter right now. I'm gonna go download a bunch of stuff I don't even want just to celebrate.

  6.1.2005 00:09 #16

• tfourl

  I use internet radio. No need to burn when the music is there free and legal. I haven't bought any new releases since the artist union began sueing everyone.
  I have a link to a story about the artist and how they are not neccessarily in favor of this approach. I hope I can find it to post here. The real rip off is when they jerked portions of the Microsoft ME version software I purchased. ME stands for Music & Entertainment. The place where the RIAA needs to concentrate is exactly here> Those who subscribe to the music download services and rip songs from CDs they have purchased and then share them at these sites.
  [Rather than those who download music from the sites and share them untouched to other subscribers]. The other part of the rip off occurs when the RIAA rips copies of songs add virus and then share them at these
  sites. Or irq to the targeted user and hack the video drivers out of their computers. The government nees to order them to stop this practice. Most of the music downloaders are kids and those who are financially disadvantaged. [I have a link to this info source as well should you want proof]What better way to teach the kids that hacking is okay. After all the government sanctions the practice. All in all I see the artist and their biggest fans being hurt the most.
  If you belong to a legal music site be sure to follow the rules. And if the rules are you must have at least ten songs in your share file to chat then chat somewhere else it's a trap.
  TfourL

  6.1.2005 02:44 #17

• vudoo

  I only hope for the RIAA is that if they are hacking peoples video drivers is that they hack someone from some country say Palestine and in return the hacker or hacking group puts the sting onto them by hacking their IP addresses which in return leads right to their house and then their wife gets sexed and loves it and their children get harassed to the point where they are too paranoid to step foot out of the driveway. Then pizzas get ordered to their house at 3 O’clock in the morn and maybe someone routes their phone to a party line where its about $10/Min and then sets up an 800 number to that house and gives it out to all their friends from the party line at 775-533-6612. Then they will see what continues harassment feels like. Believe this crap and me I’ve been hacked before was done to me so I know what I am talking about. They will someday play around with the wrong person and the kid gloves will be off. These teen hackers from the UK also mean business and they are just itching to find a reason to go off on the US companies just to see their code names in the news. Remember the Commodore days. Remember a hacker named Keven? Well yes he went to prison but not before he brought a Japanese firm to its knees for messing around where it should not. And why do you think that Long Distance is finally a flat rate after years of overcharges and torture? Its because a few phone phreakers (Yes not freak) decided to start a war on the land line and cellular industry by publishing the Cellular Phone Hackers Bible and a few other dandy tools. The Music industry and their little cronies are no different. Think your losing money now? Just wait till a world wide revolution happens. Now once again may I remind you I PAY FOR NAPSTER and got RIPPED OFF. We will not stand for this you fraudulent fools. So take this advice. Straighten up RIAA or someday there will be absolutely no mercy and any band or artist that believes in the RIAA you will soon see what technology will do to you. I prey for your families that you don’t p off the wrong person. Because there are some who are psychotic as hell and determined enough to carry out whatever their little voice in their head says to carry out.

  6.1.2005 09:11 #18

• mattF099

  YAY!. on an off topic note : how long do i have to be a member to not be labeled a newbie? it seems like a while...

  6.1.2005 10:51 #19

• cmmnsense

  Let's look at it this way. Nomatter what they, the Gov't RIAA etc, do they will never stop file-sharing, copying etc. For example, someone I know got so fed up with the mod-chip/swapmagic PS2 deal, he simply modified his computer to play PS2 burned or real games. I cannot fathom how, but being a computer programmer something something he managed to do it. RIAA can't do jack, they way to stop illegal downloading and copying is to ban DVD burners and shut down th internet, which isn't possible. It's just a good chucle when they try stuff like this. I haven't bought a CD since Metallic went apeshit either.

  6.1.2005 14:14 #20

• GrayArea

  "a campaign against illegal filesharing"
  
  Illegal?!?!
  
  Since when?

  6.1.2005 14:51 #21

• Pop_Smith

  It all depends on whats being shared, if your downloading music you don't own, its illegal, if you download public domain, non-copyrighted material, or music you own (one down per song only, correct me if i am wrong) then it is perfectly legal.

  6.1.2005 15:23 #22

• daemonzx6

  vudoo, I'm almost positive that if that happened, the RIAA would just fall down and cry. If that happened to the leaders of the RIAA, and if it served as a warning to all artists supporting them, this could all stop. Those that don't give any attention to the warning would get that treatment until they are forced to live in fear, or until they give up. Now THAT, would be revolution at its finest.
  
  mattF099, your status only gets higher if you post a lot and help people out. I was a newbie for a long number of months because I never posted, but then I suddenly decided to help everybody I could, then my status changed to Junior Member, and within a week or so, it was at Member level.

  6.1.2005 15:38 #23

• mattF099

  thancks

  6.1.2005 18:18 #24

• Dhavid

  I was downloading and burning MP3's well before I heard of Napster. Napster blew up in popularity when Metallica and Dr. Dre decided to come out publically against it. That made national CNN news, top stories on Yahoo, and all the internet sites, etc. The artists basically gave Napster (and all P2P for that matter) a zillion dollars of free advertising. You could not have paid for better placed advertising than Metallicrap gave P2P.
  
  Okay, this past Christmas, a record number of DVD burners were sold in the world. The numbers were especially high in the United States. The hottest single item the day after Thanksgiving was a dual-layer DVD burner. Office-Max, Staples, Office-Depot, Best Buy, Circuit City, Micro Center, CompUSA, etc, all sold out of their discount drives within 45 minutes. Then, the next week, they got another shipment. The same thing happened again. I heard on some tracking site that over 10 million DVD burner stand-alone units (not bundled with a PC) were sold this past Christmas. The biggest sellers? OptoRite, LiteOn, Sony (Ding Ding Ding)... Was that Sony? The same company that is participating in launching attacks against BitTorrent sites for illegally distributed movie files? What the hell do they think people are buying burners for? To burn 9.4 gigs of family photos? Give me a break, people are buying these burners for the most part to back up or copy DVDs and to burn downloaded Xvid and Divx rips.
  
  Do they not see the trends like most human beings? I'm just a semi-college educated, support technician with a wife and a little boy... I can see downloading trends. For some reason, a multi-billion dollar industry like the MPAA cannot grasp the fact that people seem to enjoy the fact that they can stay at home, download a movie, and burn it WITH THE FEATURES THEY WANT. It's this newfangled eCommerce idea that may take off someday... heh. Grasp the idea idiots... Do what the RIAA has done and license your material out to legal movie download sites.
  
  Stop suing people.
  
  Create an avenue for people to get the stuff legally (digitally), but don't waste your time suing people. People that want material illegally will always be able to get it. The file sharing scene was underground for YEARS, and if pushed hard enough, the big players will go BACK underground and be undetected by Big Brother.
  
  Choice: Either grasp the new technology and get some form of legal movie downloading (like the RIAA has done), or you'll spend millions (maybe billions) fighting file sharing, only to have a final decision handed down like the Sony-BetaMax case which allowed the VCR to be sold without complaint by the MPAA.
  
  Oh BTW, for any of you people using DVD Shrink or Clone DVD to backup your DVDs and you run into issues on an occasional DVD with some "unreadable sectors", DVD Decryptor works perfectly. Just an FYI, most Sony discs are going to have this protection in the future.
  
  One last note... How f'n stupid is Sony? They're a big g'damn company and should have learned from the BetaMax case about what the end result is going to be. They make their own portable MP3 player, their own DVD burners, their own burning software, and everything else to enable people to copy stuff, yet publically they come across as "The Man"...
  
  NOTE TO SONY: It's killing your PR... give up the fight, you know how it's gonna end.

  31.1.2005 18:19 #25

• daemonzx6

  Sony should be the first to step down from their high chairs and act like adults about this. They need to accept that copy protection doesn't prevent shit, and that it most likely adds to the motivation to copy it. I know the crackers just see it as a new project for them to conquer.

  1.2.2005 13:55 #26