computers.net — 40,000+ students received a warning email. In short, stop illegal downloads, the RIAA is coming. And Purdue claims "it is not responsible for the accuracy of the identification or address to which notices are sent" while stating "Given that RIAA could be asking us to contact thousands of users, this could be a significant cost to the university."
Mar 26, 2007 View in Crawl 4
Closed AccountMar 27, 2007
Exactly. Why is the university even complying with these these thieves and bullies?
madcow333Mar 27, 2007
Umm..... Puck Ferdue
dickdelishMar 27, 2007
@boiljoeYou know, every time I hear one of those Wade Steffey jokes i'm just shocked...
luke16Mar 27, 2007
partially disable any peer to peer software? Done :D.....for the mean time >_>
kymikeMar 27, 2007
Actually, the way I read the letter, Purdue is being nice and intentionally - but quietly - offering a possible legal "out" for students by stating that it cannot guarantee the accuracy of the log information. Further evidence of this type of posturing is their statement about the cost involved in tracking down individual student access logs - a subtle "threat" that they may hit the RIAA with a large bill for all the work involved.So I think that Purdue is basically helping the students here, without putting themselves in legal jeopardy. You don't really expect them to state in public that they are going to purposely lose and/or mix up records, do you?Mike
sheslikeheroineMar 27, 2007
doesn't the government have better things to do, like send more people into Iraq?
standalonemattMar 27, 2007
As far as downloading music illegally - thats your call - I can't justify it. You really are not hurting the RIAA though - they will still have a virtual monopoly and most artists will feel they need to join one of the big labels. If you say that you don't like their tactics, and start buying non-RIAA labels - this will have a bigger effect. First smaller labels will be less inclined to join the RIAA, and if non RIAA labels and bands are doing well then other bands will not feel the need to join the bigger companies.As far as all your favorite bands being on those labels, it might be true - but is it true because there all the good bands, or those are all the bands you hear on the radio/etc. Piracy really isn't helping any of us - it keeps the market share for the RIAA labels the same and gives them firepower to use legislation to have laws ensure their market dominance.
standalonemattMar 27, 2007
Let me put it in another way - lets use the examploe of Microsoft Office.People say that by pirating MS Office they are sticking it to Microsoft - but that isn't true.There is only one thing worse for Microsoft than pirateing MS Office, and thats using an alternative. As long as MS has the dominant market share, they can refuse to follow standards, charge what they want, etc. When people start using open office then MS loses that dominant market share. A shift of 5-10 percent is all that will be needed and companies will have to put out documents in alternative formats. This would put pressure on MS to comply with a standard. If documents are in an open format, then there is less of a reason to buy MS Office.Truth is - you want to hurt these monopolistic corporations - you want to vote with your dollar. Don't steal their stuff, use an alternative.
axeswingerMar 27, 2007
As I understand the shakedown. RIAA gets an IP from the Internet that is supplying copyrighted material then files a "John Doe" complaint which compels an ISP to provide the contact information of the lessee of that IP. The complaint is then changed from "john doe" to whomever was leasing that IP at the time. However if you can show that it's reasonable to believe that you where not the infringing party they can not sue you for damages, well they could but the likely hood of winning should be small. An always on connection sure would seem to be reasonable proof it was not you. Also, should the RIAA continue to push they would be responsible for paying a computer forensic expert, of your choice to comb your PC. While it's true that you have to preserve any evidence once notified of an intent to collect damages hard drives fail all the time and I change my HD almost every year just as a precaution to avert data lose. I then wipe my old disk and destroy it.