Two wrongs do not make a right
The story of the RIAA and its pursuit of justice
The best way to combat criminal activity is not with more criminal activity.
While it is easy to glance over a story about file sharing, piracy and the Recording Industry Association of America’s lawsuits and think it’s a good thing someone’s doing something about such illegal activity, there’s more to the story than meets the eye.
The tactics used by the RIAA, while technically legal, border closely on extortion and blackmail.
The lucky recipients of the letters get a piece of paper that says, essentially, proof exists that they have been illegally sharing music.
In order to avoid being taken to court and forced to pay exorbitant damages, they must enter into a contract stating they owe the RIAA a smaller amount, usually between $3,000 - $4,000, that they agree peer-to-peer sharing is wrong, as well as something they will no longer do and that they are in no way legally indemnified from further legal action.
It means, in short, they are demanding money not to sue you but anyone else from the recording artists themselves to the producers of the album can sue you if they would like.
All of the people who didn’t give in to the pressure and have taken the RIAA to court, however, have either seen their cases dismissed or have won.
Recently they’ve even filed countersuits and forced the RIAA to pay their legal fees. Why does it happen this way?
It’s because the RIAA has little evidence tying the people it accuses to any actual crime.
The sum and total of their evidence is a series of screen captures from a technician’s computer showing the name of a file downloaded from a username on a peer-to-peer service and the IP address associated with that username.
There is no legal proof that the file is what the name claims it to be and no legal proof that the recipient of the letter was the person to whom the IP address was assigned at the time of the alleged copyright violation.
All that can be proven, with the information the RIAA has is that the recipient has, at some point, paid for Internet access from the company in question and the IP address they logged as illegally sharing files was, at some point, assigned to them.
Whatever success the RIAA may have had stems entirely from a lack of understanding of the technical and legal details involved, the confusion generated by their letters and the guilty consciences of the people who receive them.
They are not fighting the good fight against pirates, they are not attempting to uphold the laws of our country, they are simply trying, and unfortunately succeeding, in scaring money and compliance out of anyone they can.
Anyone who actually gets one of these letters should keep in mind the evidence the RIAA has gathered is barely enough to bring a suit against them, let alone win it in court, and there is no need to fight it alone.
Make it public; show the world what the RIAA is trying to do and gain the support of the people. Everyone loves an underdog.
Bear in mind, however, nothing written here is attempting to justify piracy or argue moral points of theft or even the economic impact peer to peer sharing has on the music industry.
It simply seeks to shed light on the often overlooked side of every round of RIAA lawsuits, something especially important as the newest one is aimed directly at college students.
Stephen is a senior studying computer engineering.
Columnists' opinions do not necessarily reflect the views of The Spectrum