2008 Woodie Awards
University should not succumb to RIAA's strong-arm tactics
Kyle Kernan
Issue date: 12/3/07 Section: Soap Box
I was accused of having two IP addresses. I'm aware now that one of these addresses could have been from a wireless router. This means that I will be responsible for whatever songs these individuals download through the wireless connection I am linked to.
I am an avid music fan. I've spent probably $500 on CDs, and have purchased many albums based upon artists' songs I downloaded on LimeWire. This is even more upsetting because many bands elect to put their music on YouTube or MySpace for people to listen to for free. How is LimeWire any different?
There are many ways to make an example out of someone, but what the RIAA is doing is unjust. College students' futures could be in jeopardy from this. Some are forced to file bankruptcy - all because they decided to download Kanye's slammin' new jam. Shame on you. If the music is distributed by a downloader, charges could go up to the million-dollar range in damages.
In the book "A Civil Action," a true-life story, families sued W.R. Grace for causing their children to die from leukemia and other illnesses because the company had knowingly polluted the town's water supply by dumping toxic chemicals in local ponds and sewers. Each family was given less than $500,000 dollars for the settlement, after small-firm lawyer Jan Schlichtmann had lost everything. How do the deaths of children compare with downloading music illegally in a civil court room?
There is something undeniably wrong with our justice system. Companies like the RIAA are affluent enough to hire the most expensive lawyers, which gives them enough freedom to brush past our due process rights. I cannot stand for the RIAA breaking our rights and calling for outrageous sums of money from college students, and universities should not either.
Kyle Kernan is a second-year English major.
I am an avid music fan. I've spent probably $500 on CDs, and have purchased many albums based upon artists' songs I downloaded on LimeWire. This is even more upsetting because many bands elect to put their music on YouTube or MySpace for people to listen to for free. How is LimeWire any different?
There are many ways to make an example out of someone, but what the RIAA is doing is unjust. College students' futures could be in jeopardy from this. Some are forced to file bankruptcy - all because they decided to download Kanye's slammin' new jam. Shame on you. If the music is distributed by a downloader, charges could go up to the million-dollar range in damages.
In the book "A Civil Action," a true-life story, families sued W.R. Grace for causing their children to die from leukemia and other illnesses because the company had knowingly polluted the town's water supply by dumping toxic chemicals in local ponds and sewers. Each family was given less than $500,000 dollars for the settlement, after small-firm lawyer Jan Schlichtmann had lost everything. How do the deaths of children compare with downloading music illegally in a civil court room?
There is something undeniably wrong with our justice system. Companies like the RIAA are affluent enough to hire the most expensive lawyers, which gives them enough freedom to brush past our due process rights. I cannot stand for the RIAA breaking our rights and calling for outrageous sums of money from college students, and universities should not either.
Kyle Kernan is a second-year English major.
Viewing Comments 1 - 5 of 5
Ray Beckerman
posted 12/08/07 @ 11:31 AM EST
I agree with you Kyle. I've detected a pattern, too. The RIAA is trying to stay away from places where they might get resistance. I just submitted an article to Slashdot on that theme:
http://slashdot. (Continued…)
ryan
posted 12/09/07 @ 2:40 AM EST
Oh poor boy. You broke the law. You knew you were breaking the law. And you are getting due process. It's a shame the university isn't going after you for violating the conduct code. (Continued…)
Jacob Powers
posted 12/12/07 @ 12:00 PM EST
The RIAA is after us. They are losing a lot of money on account of the internets rise in popularity in the past decade. The dam broke a long time ago. (Continued…)
Jacob Powers
Jacob Powers
posted 12/12/07 @ 12:02 PM EST
The RIAA is after us. They are losing a lot of money on account of the internets rise in popularity in the past decade. The dam broke a long time ago. (Continued…)
C
posted 12/13/07 @ 2:53 AM EST
The RIAA has been proven to use cheap tactics when combatting the "threat" of online piracy, threat in quotations because they still make in a single hour what I will the rest of my life doing something thats actually productive and conducive for living in society. (Continued…)
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