The move ends a controversial program that saw the Recording Industry Association of America sue about 35,000 people since 2003 for swapping songs online. Because of high legal costs for defenders, virtually all of those hit with lawsuits settled, on average for around $3,500. The association's legal costs, in the meantime, exceeded the settlement money it brought in.
The association said Friday that it stopped sending out new lawsuits and warnings in August, and then agreed with several leading U.S. Internet service providers, without naming which ones, to notify alleged illegal file-sharers and cut off service if they failed to stop.
It credited the lawsuit campaign with raising awareness of piracy and keeping the number of illegal file-sharers in check while the legal market for digital music took off. With two weeks left in the year, legitimate sales of digital music tracks soared for the first time past the 1 billion mark, up 28 percent over all of last year, according to Nielsen Soundscan.
"We're at a point where there's a sense of comfort that we can replace one form of deterrent with another form of deterrent," said RIAA Chairman and Chief Executive Mitch Bainwol. "Filing lawsuits as a strategy to deal with a big problem was not our first choice five years ago."
The new notification program is also more efficient, he said, having sent out more notices in the few months since it started than in the five years of the lawsuit campaign.
"It's much easier to send notices than it is to file lawsuits," Bainwol said.
The decision to scrap the legal attack was first reported in The Wall Street Journal
-
-
-
-
- synclaire
- added this
-
It's about time. Using new technology to basically steal an artist's songs is something that needed to be stopped. IMHO
-
-
-
-
- Inofuilwell
- 11 months ago
-
-
considering illegal downloads make up for more than 1/3 of internet traffic, i dont think isp's are going to be cutting into their customer base too much, if at all.
music industry cant do anything about it.
-
Corporations 1, Individuals 0
Again, this is but another way to bypass justice & the law. Since they never won a case in court with this. These corporations will just harass whomever they fancy without the need or obligation to justify anything. Way to go ?
Music fans may feel some relief that sharing music will no longer put them at risk of a lawsuit, assuming their ISP is one of those that has agreed to the plan.
However, the biggest beneficiary of the new deal is the RIAA itself, which has seen its investigative techniques questioned and suffered key setbacks in court while paying extensive attorneys' fees to pursue cases through the normal legal channels.
Due process has been prohibitively expensive for the RIAA. The organization has long sought a more efficient way to exert pressure on suspected file sharers, and these new agreements will grant that wish. The organization saves money and can pressure many more suspected file sharers, all without filing a single subpoena.
Normally, the RIAA normally must: A) Note a music sharer's IP address. B) File a "John Doe" subpoena with his or her ISP (or university) to find out who was using that address when the music was shared. C) Begin settlement proceedings once the name has been determined through these legal avenues. D) Sue the alleged file sharer if they refused to settle.
Yet despite all this time and money spent suing file sharers, the RIAA has never successfully sued a single alleged file sharer whose the case went to trial.
CHECK IT OUT...
http://blog.wired.com/business/2008/12/riaa-says-it-pl.html
http://www.g4tv.com/attackoftheshow/theloop/65920/Recording-Industry-Drops-All-L...-
-
-
-
- WhiteNoise
- 11 months ago
-
-
Overdue.
-
Everyone is doing it anyway so thank you for giving in finally A little Bit Torrent anyone?????
-
-
-
-
- Jeffnfun631
- 11 months ago
-
