RIAA suing P2P users for profit $100Million

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-- RIAA suing P2P users for profit $100Million

Posted by Porky on Apr-05-2006 07:26:

RIAA suing P2P users for profit $100Million

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Posted by ctrlc in News, Editorials (Friday March 31, 2006 at 4:17 pm)

As of today, an estimated 18,337 Internet users have had suit filed against them by the RIAA for the alleged distribution of copyrighted materials.

I get these figures from a Janurary 2006 article at Slyck.com, in which Slyck states that as of January 31st there have been 16,837. Since then, in the month of February and the month of March there has been 750 more sued for each, resulting in the number at the top.

Most RIAA lawsuits against individual file-swappers result in the defendant settling with the RIAA to avoid going to court and possibly losing against the multi-billion dollar organization.

Generally, these suits are settled at $3,000 USD to $6,000 USD. I have seen in the past few years a $2,000 or a $7,000 every now and then, but for argument�s sake, we will say the average settled lawsuit is $5,000, since this appears most frequently.

Let�s say all 18,337 USA citizens sued have settled for $5,000 USD each, to avoid going to court and possibly losing their homes. That would give the RIAA massive profits of $91,685,000! The RIAA has profited nearly $100million by suing individual who are too helpless to fight back, since their �sue em� all� campaign began, years ago.

Despite Music Industry studies which indicate that P2P users are more likely to purchase music, and P2P does not damage music sales, the RIAA continues to sue the magic number of 750 people a month.

Since the beginning of the RIAA�s sue-em-all campaign, file-sharing has only increased in the United States and globally. This proves that the RIAA is completely inaffective in deterring users from downloading music �illegally�.

Therefore, there can only be one true motive lying behind the lawsuits, that being monetary gain, of course. With their campaign proving inaffective, their profits higher than ever, and domestic studies proving P2P does not damage sales, the RIAA continues to sue to make mass-profits for their own pockets.

Nearly $100 million stolen by the hands of the RIAA, and our government standing by idly, allowing it to happen.

Posted by Clovis on Apr-05-2006 08:22:

And the artists aren't getting shit out of it.

Posted by Nsonic on Apr-05-2006 12:39:

Can the RIAA just pick on people like that?
Surely theres something against a big organisation using the legal system like this...

Posted by Sykonee on Apr-05-2006 12:53:

Perhaps not, but the internet still has so many grey-area laws that if someone actually tried to defend themselves in court, the legal costs would outweigh the lawsuit in a hearbeat.

Until someone writes up some sort of law that implicity states "Filesharing without profit is 100% legal", the RIAA is going to be able to keep doing this. Of course, I'm sure the RIAA has plenty of lobbyists to prevent such a thing from ever happening.

Posted by Trance Nutter on Apr-05-2006 12:56:

quote:
Originally posted by Sykonee
I'm sure the RIAA has plenty of lobbyists to prevent such a thing from ever happening.

Well that and the fact it is actually stealing.

Posted by Mag1k on Apr-05-2006 13:40:

idiots... instead of adapting, they are still choosing to fight it.

Posted by Sinnica Hax on Apr-05-2006 14:07:

agree with Mag1k, this will solve nothing, except that RIAA is trying to get some money

Posted by dami2550 on Apr-05-2006 15:27:

cash is always good.

Sure, I'd sue somebody for $100 mil if I could.

As they say, in US, anybody can sue anybody for anything.
This is very similar to DirecTV lawsuits where they were extorting money of supposed hackers. Somebody filed a class action lawsuit against direcTV for extortion. Don't remember what happened, but they (people) probably lost.

Damn corporations! Keeps me from downloading free music