RIAA goes crazy: mp3 ripping is illegal

**Nøz** · #1 (**permalink**) 01-01-2008, 05:18 PM

effrey Howell of Scottsdale stands accused of placing 54 music files in a specific “shared” directory on his personal computer that all users of KaZaA and other “peer-to-peer” software could access — pretty standard grounds for an RIAA lawsuit. However, on page 15 of a supplemental brief responding to the judge’s technical questions about the case, the RIAA’s Phoenix lawyer, Ira M. Schwartz, states that the defendant is also liable simply for the act of creating “unauthorized copies” — by ripping songs from CDs. “I couldn’t believe it when I read that,” New York lawyer Ray Beckerman told the Washington Post. “The basic principle in the law is that you have to distribute actual physical copies to be guilty of violating copyright. But recently, the industry has been going around saying that even a personal copy on your computer is a violation.”

In other words, according to Schwartz’s logic, every single person who’s ever “ripped” a CD for portable listening on an iPod or other MP3 player could be liable for astronomical damages. Apple itself estimated earlier this year that only 4 percent of music on iPods worldwide had been purchased through iTunes, implying that most of the rest had been ripped from CDs. In October, Jammie Thomas, a Minnesota single mother, was ordered to pay the record companies $220,000, or $9,250 for each of 24 songs a jury found she’d shared online. Are these twats totally out of their mind? Putting a lawsuit against someone who legally bought a CD and then ripped it to mp3 so he can listen the songs on his mp3 player, that’s the last proof of how idiotic this bloody company is…

Source: Fox, Washington Post

**HeartAttack** · 01-01-2008, 06:07 PM

They're at it again.

And they'll probably fail this time around, as well.

**Opunaya** · 01-02-2008, 12:07 PM

Yeah, because the music industry is collasping in on itself in the first place.

You know what? Let's just quit buying the music all together! Becuase next, you're not even gonig to be able to listen to the radio for music because you didn't pay for it! These are some of the dumbest fucks ever.

**Arcángel** · 01-02-2008, 01:11 PM

Foquin assholes...go figure...

It's funny how even when we buy music legally, they come up with some shit to tell us what we can and cannot do with shit that we buy!

I'm tellin' you, someone in RIAA was on that good shit when they thought this up.

Quote:

Becuase next, you're not even gonig to be able to listen to the radio for music because you didn't pay for it! These are some of the dumbest fucks ever.

Damn, like they don't get enough money from CD sales and royalties from radio and so-called legal MP3 downloads.

krnjason · 01-02-2008, 01:42 PM

didnt the riaa get sued for using and changing copyrighted coding?
....its getting ridiculous

**Opunaya** · 01-02-2008, 01:59 PM

We should sue them for being pricks.

**Arcángel** · 01-02-2008, 02:06 PM

Shit, we'd be suing everyone there I suppose lol

**Opunaya** · 01-02-2008, 02:16 PM

Well, only the rich pricks. So, all of Hollywood.

**Arcángel** · 01-02-2008, 02:19 PM

Tha's a lot of money right there man. Shit, that'll pay off my bills and then some LOL!!

Static · 01-02-2008, 02:49 PM

I'm usually against theft and all that shit, but in this case, I think people should steal as much of that shit as they can, movies, music, ebooks, anything that's out there online that you can get your hands on, steal that shit. Do you really think 50 Cent deserves another $15 million for his music, or any of those other jackasses? I realize that stealing the media hurts the little guy more than it hurts 50 Cent's wallet, and yeah, I do feel bad about that, but you know what, I feel worse about paying $15 for a CD, then not being legally able to rip it onto my comp, so FUCK YOU BUDDY! Howbout suing the artist for the ridiculious amount of money he's making, or howbout apple for developing the ipod FOR THAT EXACT FUCKING REASON! Sure you can download the music off of itunes, and that's what they want, but if the product supports music not from itunes, that makes apple more money, so hey, fuck it. These assholes should be suing the artist or apple, not the little guy like you and me. If I ever got caught for anything like this, you can bet your ass it'll be a cold day in hell before I ever fork over any amount of money.