RIAA reaches stumbling block in attacks on filesharing
The RIAA’s heavy-headed approach to suing students accused of filesharing is once again under scrutiny. Three recent court cases have thrown the “making available” argument under the spotlight.
The “making legal” argument has been one of the main weapons used by the RIAA in its clampdown on students accused of filesharing on campus. These recent cases have asked whether or not it is enough that students made tracks available for filesharing and whether the RIAA must prove that tracks were copied and downloaded onto computers.
Don’t hold your breath, because filesharing legend Jammie Thomas still ended up being convicted despite the same issues being raised.
The three court cases each came to slightly different conclusion, leaving the door open for more revisions to come in the future.
If the RIAA were forced to prove that tracks were downloaded and copied, then the ball games changes completely and we may start to see some changes in the way students are sued left, right and center.
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Sachin 09Apr08
I think he’s mostly right, arguing that some legal enforcement of copyrights against P2P users is necessary to prevent a drastic shift in copynorms and destroy P2P networks from the inside out by causing users to download and never upload.
Free Music Download Websites 15Apr08
I just find it sad that the RIAA is suing students left right and centre when they are actually the driving forces behind the music industry. The RIAA is loosing touch with reality in my opinion.