njdionysus Posted May 5 Report Share Posted May 5 Recording industry warns file swappers via IMWed Apr 30,12:12 PM ETBy Joris Evers, IDG News Service MacCentral Expanding its battle against online piracy, the recording industry is using the instant messaging (news - web sites) feature in file-swapping software to tell users that sharing copyright protected music is illegal.Recording industry groups, including the Recording Industry Association of America (news - web sites) Inc. (RIAA), the American Federation of Musicians and the Christian Music Trade Association, started sending long messages headlined "COPYRIGHT INFRINGEMENT WARNING" on Tuesday, according to an RIAA statement.In the message, file sharers are told they are not anonymous, that they risk "legal penalties" and their actions hurt songwriters, musicians and all music industry employees.Sending these messages is part of the recording industry's "educational efforts," the RIAA said. Many users of applications such as Kazaa, Morpheus and Grokster may be under the mistaken impression that anything they do on these systems is legal, the RIAA said. However, some users may never get the recording industry's message, as it is simple to turn off messaging in Kazaa.The messaging action comes in the wake of a court ruling last week that two providers of free file-swapping software can't be held liable for the copyright infringing actions of their users, a major setback in the recording industry's fight against file sharing.The industry appears to be stepping up its actions against individual file swappers, even though analysts have said that suing individual users may backfire. Earlier this month the RIAA sued four students who allegedly ran file-sharing networks on their school's local networks.The RIAA and other entertainment industry organizations have been battling online piracy in court for years. They compare online sharing of copyright protected music, movies and software to shoplifting.The full message sent by the recording industry reads:COPYRIGHT INFRINGEMENT WARNING:It appears that you are offering copyrighted music to others from your computer. Distributing or downloading copyrighted music on the Internet without permission from the copyright owner is ILLEGAL. It hurts songwriters who create and musicians who perform the music you love, and all the other people who bring you music.When you break the law, you risk legal penalties. There is a simple way to avoid that risk: DON'T STEAL MUSIC, either by offering it to others to copy or downloading it on a "file-sharing" system like this.When you offer music on these systems, you are not anonymous and you can easily be identified. You also may have unlocked and exposed your computer and your private files to anyone on the Internet. Don't take these chances. Disable the share feature or uninstall your "file-sharing" software.This warning comes from artists, songwriters, musicians, music publishers, record labels and hundreds of thousands of people who work at creating and distributing the music you enjoy. We are unable to receive direct replies to this message. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
liqidtouch Posted May 5 Report Share Posted May 5 those 4 students ( actually i only heard about 2 of them)were definatly hti with some MAJOR fines-they were both in NJ colleges if i remember correctand one in particualy was so involvedand has such an enormus count of shared mp3sthat he was fined ovre 500 thousand dollars in damages( that amount might have been just a # in the beginning)and the courts might have wanted to actually settle for lesser amountbut this just goes to show that this file sharing is totaly out of control-i mean yea- its just like when ppl were coping cassette tapes and passing them around but MY GOD how many did you actually pass out?i think it should just be moderated more and less traffic of mp3s alowed on the net- Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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