Speak Out Against RIAA- Only 30000 left

Not many people may look for hamlet, but it's out there. A student or a teacher may want to find it. That is like asking it of a bookstore. Ask any manager of a bookstore why they carry hamlet and it seems like a proposterus question, but why is it normal to ask it of a p2p network? The eff petition simply asks for fair and just treatment and tracking down of criminals and for a fair and just look at the issues presented. It doesn't present any solutions to the current p2p problems. All we want is a fair and just evaluation of the problems at hand and then a good and balanced solution to the problems at hand. the petition doesnt mention wether p2p is good or bad, just how the RIAA is catching pirates. You wouldnt want somebody searching your house wiuthout a warrant or reason? If you do, move to indonesia or share your music library.

All I'm asking is that you take a fair and balanced look at the problem adressed in the petition and then decide wether you want to sign it or not. This is about how the RIAA violates our privacy, civil rights, civil liberties, and our security.

It seems to me that a major part of the problem is the failure to clearly distinguish between CRIMINAL law and CIVIL law?

As I have mentioned, over here we have the Trading Standards Office, the Police, and the Customs & Excise (don't confuse them with US Customs, our guys have more sweeping powers than your IRS :eek: ) enforcing the criminal side of things, with quite a lot of success. This deals with the piracy/smuggling/counterfeiting side of things. Cases are presented by our Crown Prosecution Service (something like your DAs I think?).

If a body such as the RIAA interfered in this, they would be spending time in "the big house" with bubba :D Obstructing the course of justice, witholding evidence and conspiracy are also criminal offences here.

On the civil side of things, when you buy software or an entertainment product, there is small print that constitutes the contract that you have made with the producer of that item. That is CONTRACT law. There are also laws to protect the intellectual property of artistes/producers which is COPYRIGHT law.

Copyright cases are invariably between artistes/producers and involve stealing eachother's ideas.

So that leaves us with Contract Law. Now, in England you have to be 18 years old to enter into a legally binding contract...................but anyone with the money can go and buy a CD. The only way to enforce the contract would be to refuse to sell the product to anyone under 18.........it would be an interesting way for an entire industry to commit suicide?

You must bear in mind that in England, the parents are NOT responsible for the actions of their children in these matters, and any contractual rights were waived when the product was sold to someone of non-contractual age.

Now, about P2P..........I believe that stands for "person to person", like if I send an e-mail to a friend with a song attached. When someone uploads thousands of items and invites any Tom , Dick or Harry to come and help themselves, that is not P2P..............that is taking the p1$$

If you are 18 or over, you could be taken to court under CONTRACT law, but it would be a civil court and would have to be conducted as such. There would be no law enforcement involvement.

It seems to me that the RIAA are attempting to obtain quasi law enforcement powers, and that is what the petition is about? They are after all, a commercial, civilian organisation.

Just my slant on it

I signed the petition because I'm tired of seeing crap like this:

http://www.theregister.co.uk/2004/06/04/biometric_drm/
http://www.theregister.co.uk/2004/06...drm_interview/
http://www.theregister.co.uk/2004/04...st_price_hike/

And what I find amusing is that the RIAA believes these things will work somehow. What if you use a small stamp to press the play button on the iVue and then basically give the iVue and stamp to a friend so they can listen to the music too. That's gotten around the music sharing problem on the iVue platform itself and all anyone has to do is build a coupling device for the iVue that will stream the music into a computer and then record it as a .wav file and encode it as an .mp3, at which point the DRM is effectively defeated. It's like they decide to take fancy new technology for a whirl without actually knowing how to implement it. They just don't understand that the market is now different. If people are going to be able to get music for free and you can't trace them or hunt down who gave them the music, you have to offer incentives for them to purchase music. iTunes is a great example of this type of thing and I strongly support the HYMN (Hear Your Music aNywhere) project which allows people that have legally purchased music from the iTunes store to listen to that music on the platform of their choice. I actually don't buy that much music, nor do I use any p2p clients. The only 'illegal' thing I've ever done is record the audio output from my tv into my computer for a few songs that I particularly liked. However, I do buy merchandise from those groups, which I feel more than recoups the loss of me not buying a CD for the one song I wanted to listen to. I'd rather record a bunch of songs from a band off of a broadcast and send them $20 than buy a CD (i don't know who gets that $20). However, the MPAA is now making moves to make it illegal to have copies of broadcasts, and civil action could be taken against you by the broadcaster (even if the material is in the public domain). Blech at that.

The only problem with this petition is that they're only getting 100,000 signatures. Let's see...in the US, there's close to 300 million people. So, 100,000 represents about 1/3000 of the population of the US. Let's say that only half of the US is affected by this, that still only makes a representation of about 1/1500, not statistically significant by any means (well, unless you're doing a gallop poll for presidential elections :P)

there are 60 MILLION p2p user in the US alone, im sure atleast 40 MILLION of tjhem would sign it, but the problem is THEY DONT KNOW ABOUT IT. Im starting a ad-campaign, to get the message out. The 100,000 is small, but it cant make a difference, EFF has had petitions that are small or the same size that have made a difference. If we could get 40 MILLION to sign a petition we would strike gold! The only problem is that people need to know about it. If anybody is WILLING to donate adspace on the web, on a magazine, in a book, on a radio/tv broadcast etc. PLEASE tell me, just send me an IM or a PM.
AIM:setidude321
YIM:alexunit321
MSN:[email protected]
We have 60 million potential signers, what are we waiting for?

I am not signing it because the idea is simply stupid. People will download, RIAA will bitch, people will scream invasion of privacy. While the fight might be fair and just, to me is a waste of time.

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Originally posted here by unit321
Im starting a ad-campaign, to get the message out.

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Good for you... just remember that AO isn't a place to advertise.

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If we could get 40 MILLION to sign a petition we would strike gold! The only problem is that people need to know about it.

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Sorry to burst your bubble, but you are not likely to get 40 million people to sign anything. Heck, it's hard enough getting them to sign a simple ballot paper over here, and then they only have to put a cross on a piece of paper. I can't think of many issues where 40 million people would be willing to actually stand up and protest against them, and the RIAA stunt certainly isn't one of them.

there are (reportedly by the EFF) 60 MILLION p2p users... why wouldnt they sign this petition?

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Originally posted here by unit321
there are (reportedly by the EFF) 60 MILLION p2p users... why wouldnt they sign this petition?

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There are 60 million people in the UK, why wouldn't they vote? (ok, so not all of them are on the electoral register but even then turnout is usually below 50%). Two reasons: apathy and laziness, most people who fileshare probably don't give a damn about either the RIAA or the EFF. You are unlikely to get two thirds of them to do anything as a whole.

im just curious but is this like some kind of way for the RIAA to get even more people down...you know, you sign and they might think ur suspicious and so they go after ya?