(Image is in the Public Domain)

Today, I read an article that takes a look at the members of congress who are speaking loudly about copyright issues and noticing that most of them have had fairly significant campaign contributions from the RIAA and the MPAA (both well know organizations who attack individuals for alleged copyright infringement and supporters of the much hated DRM technology).

Bullies

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Here's an interesting discussion of how RICO might (or might now) apply to the RIAA. For those who don't know, RICO is a special statute that provides for harsher penalties and triple damages for plaintiffs as long as it can be shown that the defendant is a member of organized crime (look it up on wikipedia for a better description).

Anyway, I have always thought that the RIAA counted under RICO. They're an organization that is purposefully breaking laws, extorting innocent people, and has been doing it for years and years.

It's harder to bully people out of their money if they've been educated on their rights.

(Image is in the Public Domain)

Apparently, there's a new anti-RIAA force called the Digital Freedom Campaign.

With the DFU initiative, Digital Freedom wants to paint a bigger picture of copyright law for students, one that is not forthcoming from the movie and music industries. "The Digital Freedom University Initiative will fight to ensure that these thousands of college-age students, who represent future artists, innovators and consumers, fully understand their rights, and have a voice in the long- term solution."

In more good news, the RIAA has been thwarted in their attempts to seize a computer belonging to a relative of one of their lawsuit victims.

Download responsibly - which also means keeping your downloading habits private.

(Image is in the Public Domain)

Not too long ago, a good friend of mine did a lot of work in understanding how copyright holders (such as those represented by the RIAA and MPAA for example) act and react to Peer 2 Peer filesharing networks.

I managed to dig up his 20 page essay on the topic which provides an in-depth summary of the P2P issue including suggestions on how to avoid being identified on a P2P network.

This is a great resource for someone who needs historical information on the issue or who is interested in building a secure P2P app. Also see my article on avoiding P2P nightmares for parents for additional tips and tricks.

University of Nebraska

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In the continuing saga, the U of N is now planning to charge the RIAA $11 for each threatening e-mail sent.

"We're spending taxpayer dollars tracking down RIAA problems," Weir said. "Are we an agent of the RIAA? Why aren't they paying us for this?"

And their response:

In response to NU's request, the RIAA's Engebretsen said, "It is neither practical nor appropriate for us to entertain a reimbursement request."

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Wisconsin may have refused to help the RIAA, but the U of N actually took it all the way:

If there were any doubt that the university is really irritated by the RIAA's requests, it has requested that the RIAA pay the university to reimburse its expenses from dealing with this

That's so awesome 😀

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One of the victims of the RIAA's bullying who fought back won an important victory today. The judge on her case decided that the RIAA must proceed with a jury trial or declare her the victor in the suit (which would likely result in an award of attorney fees for her).

This is important because it may expedite further lawsuits making it more viable for regular people to resist their scam tactics and putting an end to the industry of settlements that the RIAA has created.

Oh no! The university isn't letting us bully people out of money!

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In the RIAA's ongiong bully-lawsuit campaign, it has sent "settlement" letters to numerous Universities to be distributed to "alleged" abusers. The University of Wisconsin has refused to do so without a subpoena. Innocent before guilty? Wow. Count on a University to remember our Constitution.