RIAA Explains How to Catch Alleged Music Pirates

The RIAA Recording Industry Association of America used the same file-sharing software that online pirates use, an RIAA representative said during a private demonstration of how it caught alleged music pirates.

The RIAA uses LimeWire.The RIAA has a list of songs owned by the RIAA's members. Media Sentry, runs copies of the LimeWire program and performs searches for those copyrighted song titles, to see if any are being offered by people whose computers are connected to the LimeWire network. The software lists IP address of active file sharers. The names of the people associated with particular IP addresses are not public, it is easy to find out which IP addresses are registered to each Internet-service provider. Using public databases, Media Sentry then locates the name of the Internet-service provider and determines which traders are located at colleges or universities.

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Tampa RIAA USF Music-File-Sharing Case Update

A Tampa federal judge has refused to dismiss a counterclaim filed in federal court by a USF student who accuses the recording industry of using deceptive tactics against USF students named in music downloading lawsuits.

The Tampa students accuse the RIAA, the recording industry of hiring private investigators to invade private computer networks. They also accuse the industry of using the court system as an investigative arm and then extorting money from people, using private information gained from the courts to force settlements.

The record companies have sued more than a dozen University of South Florida students, accusing them of illegal downloading. The RIAA suits and the threat of suits have caused at least 64 USF students to pay off thousands of dollars to settle music piracy complaints with record labels.

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RIAA Refuses to Pay Defense Costs Fees

The RIAA is only willing to pay one tenth of what a victorious victim of a malicious RIAA prosecution is seeking. The RIAA called the $298,995 figure "excessive" and said that it should be drastically slashed to something along the lines of $30,000. The defendant argued "As the court has previously found, the proceedings were complicated, prolonged, and made more expensive by the plaintiffs' unreasonable tactics throughout the case."

The RIAA is accused of racketeering, fraud, deceptive business practices, and a host of underhanded tactics such as seeking to directly contact the defendant's then-eight-year-old daughter under false pretenses. The trial judge has previusly ruled: "[w]hatever plaintiffs' reasons for the manner in which they have prosecuted this case, it does not appear to be justified as a reasonable exploration of the boundaries of copyright law." Source: ARS Tecnica

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