USPTO & RIAA what a beautiful mess!!!

The U.S. Patent and Trademark Office (PTO) report "Filesharing Programs and Technological Features to Induce Users to Share" attacks P2P software for causing consumers to inadvertently share unintended files. Incredibly the report then takes another huge leap and claims that P2P then is also a factor in terrorism, child pornography, and identity theft.

The EFF provides a comprehensive analysis on this farce that I recommend. I've personally presented to both the U.S. FTC and Senate and so want to focus on two aspects.

First, the P2P industry has been responsive to government concerns. Commercial P2P software has been improved through a combination of voluntary company initiatives, P2P association standards, and government recommendations. These improvements have included a clear warning on P2P usage risks on software home pages, information web pages on how consumers can protect themselves, and child exploitation warnings and reporting.

Second, the report is three years late. The commercial companies that the report purports to study are out of business or substantially different due to RIAA lawsuits supported by favorable U.S. Congress legislation and Supreme Court rulings. The result is that the commercial companies that could work with the USPTO have been superseded by open source and international developers that are beyond the influence of the U.S. government.

Via: http://www.p2p-weblog.com

Suggestions to College Students Being Targeted by the RIAA

THIS IS NOT LEGAL ADVICE. HOWEVER, I DO ADVISE YOU TO GET LEGAL ADVICE, AND NOT TO TAKE YOUR ADVICE FROM THE RIAA, THE MPAA, YOUR SCHOOL, OR ANYONE ELSE WHO IS NOT YOUR LAWYER.

These are my suggestions to college students being targeted by the RIAA:

1. Join together with other students who are being targeted, pool your financial resources, and hire an attorney who is ready, willing, and able to (a) advise you of your rights and (b) fight the RIAA's "John Doe" cases when they are brought.

2. Bring to your college or university's attention my "Open Letter to Colleges and Universities"

3. Join or start campus charters of Digital Freedom and/or FreeCulture.

4. Remember that the RIAA does not presently have your identity, and that by calling them or visiting their web site you may be giving them your identity.

5. Read and learn about your rights.

6. Organize.

7. Organize.

8. Organize.

-R.B.

RIAA Lawsuit Decision Matrix

Thursday, March 29 12:00 AM ET
By Brian Briggs

BBspot has obtained secret documents which RIAA lawyers use to determine whether to file a lawsuit against a copyright violator. These documents give insight into the RIAA's decision-making process, and could help people avoid lawsuits in the future. We offer these documents as a public service.

University of Maine Refuses To Forward RIAA Letters to Its Students - WE LOVE YOU!!!

Following the lead of the University of Wisconsin, now the University of Maine has similarly refused to forward the RIAA's collection letters. See this report from The Maine Campus:

UMS refuses to hand student info to RIAA
Tony Reaves
Issue date: 3/26/07 Section: News

The University of Maine System has refused a request from the Recording Industry Association of America to produce names of students who allegedly downloaded copyrighted materials.

The system has also opted not to forward the RIAA's pre-litigation letters offering settlements to those students, although the schools those students attend will inform their students of the letters and give them a chance to pick up the letters if they so choose.

At the University of Maine, students with pending RIAA lawsuits were told on Friday.

"It's not the university's role to, in effect, serve papers on our students for another party," John Diamond, spokesman for the university system, said of the decision.

Diamond said the RIAA's request for student information asks the system to violate the Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act, which bars the UMS from divulging information not considered public.

Complete article

EZ RIAA: ShareNGo

RIAA has unveiled P2PLawsuits.com, its new online payment web site for pre-lawsuit settlement. If you're sued for copyright infringement, just enter your case and pay by credit card or check. The settlement amount is discounted if paid online.

RIAA has renewed its consumer lawsuit push in recent communications with ISPs and colleges. There is no word whether RIAA has also talked with P2P software developers to embed the online payment option directly into their file sharing software.

The site's FAQ does a masterful job in obfuscating the weak evidence of such lawsuits. For example:

What evidence prompts a lawsuit?

If you've been sued, it is because you have been identified as uploading or downloading copyrighted music without authorization.

Not true. If you've been sued it's because an IP address belonging to you was reported by your ISP. That's a long way from identifying the recipient of the lawsuit as the actual user that uploaded or downloaded the music.

If I have Wi-Fi at home, how can you be sure it was me who did the downloading?

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.

This is especially rich, RIAA indeed has pursued such cases. And lost.

Defendant Opposes RIAA Reconsideration Motion in Capitol v. Foster

In Capitol v. Foster, Ms. Foster has filed papers opposing the RIAA's motion for the Court to "reconsider" its decision granting Ms. Foster's motion for attorneys fees:

Defendant's Objections to RIAA's "Reconsideration" Motion*

* Document published online at Internet Law & Regulation

Via: Reordingindustryvspeople

P2Pextortion.com sends up p2plawsuits.com

An anonymous BB reader has created "p2pextortion.com," a send-up of the RIAA's p2plawsuits.com. He writes, "If you compare it to p2plawsuits.com, you will see that it is almost a sentence for sentence reinterpretation, with decoding of legalese and making worst case scenario examples, along with links to supporting posts by yourself, TechDirt, Lessig, and others. The 'Pay Us' link goes to the EFF donation landing page. I am a little worried about them coming after me, even though parody is protected speech, but you do not need to give me credit, just say it is anonymous."

I am being sued? By who?#
In this case the plaintiffs are the record labels and their affiliates and subsidiaries, otherwise known as the "Big Four." We are just their paid henchmen. We do whatever we can within our legal (not moral) means that are in our interest, and then say that it is in their interest.#

Isn't it the RIIAHA that is suing me?#
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. #

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?#
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.#

HELP EFF Support the FAIR USE ACT!!! NOW!!!

Reps. Rick Boucher and John Doolittle’s FAIR USE Act [PDF] would remove some of the entertainment industry’s most draconian anti-innovation weapons and chip away at the Digital Millennium Copyright Act’s (DMCA) broad restrictions on fair use. Take action now and tell Congress to help restore balance in copyright now.(bottom of page)

The FAIR USE Act would limit the availability of statutory damages for secondary liability and allow innovators to make more reasonable business decisions about manageable levels of legal risk. Meanwhile, copyright owners could still get injunctions and actual damages for harm suffered, putting them in no worse a position than civil litigants in most other areas.

The bill would also codify the Supreme Court's "Betamax doctrine" as it pertains to hardware devices, making clear that manufacturers cannot be held liable based on the design of technologies with substantial non-infringing uses.

Finally, the bill would loosen the grip of the DMCA, which restricts circumvention of digital rights management (DRM) restrictions even for lawful uses. The FAIR Use Act adds 12 exemptions, including the ability to circumvent for classic fair use purposes like news reporting, research, commentary, and criticism.

Broader DMCA and copyright reform remains absolutely necessary, but, if passed, this bill would be a big first step in the right direction. Take action to support it now.

RIAA Student Extortion Letters Online at p2pnet

RIAA Student Extortion Letters Online at p2pnet

The RIAA's new "Student Extortion Letters" are now available online. This is part of the big 4 record labels' attempt to get colleges and universities to act as their enforcers and collection agents.

Thanks to "alter_fritz" for the news tip.

Via: RecordingIndustryvspeople

RIAA uses p2p for video scam

p2pnet.net News Special:- Let me preface this with some background.

My name is Bill Evans. I founded the original Boycott-RIAA.com website in 2000. I later sold it and continued to run it for a couple of more years before I left. In that time, I did over 100 radio interviews, appeared on Tech TVs Music wars, attended conferences such as The Future of Music Coalitions Policy Summit, SXSW (South by Southwest).

In addition, I've met with Rick Boucher, his Legislative Aide for Internet Affairs at the time, and came to know people in and out of the business who were as concerned as I was with the state of music affairs, artist rights and consumer rights.

To me one of the highlights was when John Perry Barlow approached me after the Tech TV "Music Wars" special and shook my hand and told me � Keep up the good work�.

I�ve met Hilary Rosen face to face. I�ve met Cary Sherman face to face. I�ve had knock down drag out verbal fights with the RIAA�s �Internet Evangelist� at the time Karen Allen, to the point that it was considered a moment to remember by many in the industry. It was cordial, and humorous. My firsts words to her (after looking at her from head to toe and back) were "You don't look like the devil." She was all of maybe 5'1" tall and maybe weighed 100 lbs. (I'm nearly 6'2" and about 230.

They know who I am. Keep that in mind.

A while back p2pnet ran an article about �CampusDownloading.com� an RIAA propaganda web site. Needless to say the video contained on the website was of full of half truths, innuendo, and misleading statements of fact. The quality of the video on their website was laughable, (they really should have hired a video pirate to rip it).

As I result, I went to the Campus Downloading website and placed an order for the free DVD. The page on which you order the DVD implies its for use on campus. Well, I live in a college town (Virginia Tech) I didn�t represent that the DVD was for use on campus, but for personal use.

"I want to show it to my neighbors," I said.

This week the DVD arrived Priority Mail, along with twoi four-color posters, and a letter on RIAA letterhead. The address label had the return address of the RIAA. In addition to the cost of the DVD, posters, and letter, the postage was $4.05, plus a bubble pack envelope.

The RIAA spent at least $10 getting the Campus Downloading DVD to me, not to mention staff time. It was shipped from Washington, DC, and the letter, from Paige Ralston, is extremely interesting.

It gives me permission to use Campus Downloading DVD in,"the way you see fit, including making however many copies necessary."

It goes on to request that I stream the DVD video from my own site rather than from theirs. That'll save them a few bucks, and it'll also get me doing their work for them for free and paying their broadband costs too ;p

They claim, "If thousands of students log onto the site at once," they could, "experience difficulty in viewing the video". And wouldn't that be a crying shame?

Ironic isn't it? The very thing the RIAA doesn't want you to do with music, is the very thing they're asking you to do ...

... Copy it and share it.

I've included photos of the package to let you see what's in it. And wouldn't it be interesting if everyone ordered a copy of the DVD?

We'd could cost them a fortune.

I urge every student to order a copy.

Be honest, tell them it's for you.

If they run out, they need to get more made.

And the videos do have their uses.

They make very pretty coasters, great targets, and Shoot, you might even want to sell them on ebay as collector items.

And they really do have potential uses in classrooms - as examples of deceptive advertising and propaganda.

Bill Evans - p2pnet

Ms. Lindor Opposes RIAA Motion to Compel Production of Her Son's Computer

Ms. Lindor Opposes RIAA Motion to Compel Production of Her Son's Computer

In UMG v. Lindor, in Brooklyn, Ms. Lindor has filed opposition papers to the motion the RIAA has made to compel the production of her son's computer and listening devices:

February 7, 2007, Declaration of Ray Beckerman*
Exhibit A (February 7, 2007, Order and Decision in Capitol Records v. Debbie Foster)*

* Document published online at Internet Law & Regulation