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Monday, 15 December 2008 10:59 |
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Boston University grad student, Joel Tenenbaum is being sued for $1,000,000 for downloading seven songs which the RIAA wants $160,000 per song for. Luckly for Tenenbaum, Harvard Law School has something called the CyberOne Program which has taken steps to countersue in an attempt to stop the abuse of the legal system by the RIAA.
According to the CyberOne website, found here, this case is being done not for the purpose of recovering compensation for actual damage caused by Joel’s individual action, nor for the primary purpose of deterring him from further copyright infringement, but for the ulterior purpose of creating an urban legend so frightening to children using computers, and so frightening to parents and teachers of students using computers, that they will somehow reverse the tide of the digital future.
Joel seeks damages to compensate for the actual damage RIAA has done to him and his family. He claims the right to trial by jury including the right to offer proof and argument to the jury about what is right and what is wrong on both sides of this case. In the face of the onslaught the plaintiffs have imposed and are continuing to impose upon him he seeks justice from both judge and jury. At core his defenses and counterclaim raise a profoundly conceptual question: Is the law just the grind of a statutory machine to be carried out by judge and jury as cogs in the machine, or do judge and jury claim the right and duty and power of constitution and conscience to do justice.
The below is excerpted from their defense of their counterclaim against the RIAA and the music companies that back it, and gives a pretty good idea of the stakes involved, and what Joel is up against
Other schools are also helping thoes students that are in trouble, earlier we reported the Internet and Intellectual Property Justice Project by the University of San Francisco School Of Law |
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Monday, 15 December 2008 10:33 |
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Recently Axl Rose had a chat with the guys over at mygnrforum.com (unable to find the original link) but information on it and part of the transcript is posted over here at imperiumi.net. In it Axl talks about what we like the most, Piracy , among other things.
He also agrees that piracy cannot be stopped. “And it's too rampant and widespread. It's simply too huge a mess for the courts to deal with and in that with those #'s and the expense and manpower involved necessary at this time to curtail it... obviously there are more serious crimes for society to focus on”.
Axl says that neither the industry or the fans cares about the artists. “Besides, fuck musicians right? If they didn't make enough already then they probably suck anyway rt? "I ain't cryin' for no rich dude." Whatever”.
His interesting comment is how would the album have done had the illegal downloads been counted as sales. “”What are our #'s on the torrent sites for this album? I don't know. So I don't know how or if it's affected us in terms of sales this time around. Maybe not but w/the economy and the core of our market I'd think there's a possibility it has had a negative effect. Anyone?”
You can read the summary here at imperiumi.net |
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Monday, 08 December 2008 16:21 |
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Buyer Be Smart
Recently Microsoft Corporation has taken a stand against sellers of pirated software at online auction websites like ioffer.com. The 63 legal actions are taking place in 12 countries, including 16 in the United States, 12 in Germany, 12 in France and 7 in the United Kingdom, as well as proceedings in Argentina, Brazil, Canada, Colombia, the Dominican Republic, Japan, Mexico and New Zealand. These cases are a timely reminder to consumers to be vigilant during this holiday season to avoid falling prey to fakes when shopping online for good deals on software.
The article on microsoft’s website mentions “Windows XP Blue Edition” which, I have never seen before except for on one site which appears to be a haven for those selling warez, ioffer.com.
“Dishonest auctioneers are too often using these online auction sites to sell counterfeit and illegal copies of Microsoft software, taking advantage of unsuspecting customers around the world,” said David Finn, associate general counsel for Worldwide Anti-Piracy and Anti-Counterfeiting at Microsoft. “These dealers are peddling bogus products that can put customers and their personal information at serious risk.”
This comes right after the BSA launched a similar campaign against those selling pirated software both in the United States and the United Kingdom.
“By taking legal action against these and other alleged counterfeiters, Microsoft is helping ensure that consumers around the world are protected from those who sell counterfeit software over the Internet,” Finn said. We are also continuing to arm our customers with the information they need to keep from falling victim to counterfeit software. Consumers should be aware that the so-called ‘Blue Edition’ software is nothing more than low-quality counterfeit software burned onto a CD.” |
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Sunday, 07 December 2008 15:26 |
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I get a lot of questions regarding people in the present and past that were involved with the warez community in one way or another. I have put this database together to answer those questions. The goal of the database is to be able to search by Real Name, Group Name, or Nickname, and to be able to find out what happened to that person, his sentencing, and to read court documents if available.
I have spoken too many of the people on the database and they all agree with me: getting involved with warez is just not worth it. That is the entire point of this website. Companies get paid millions of dollars to lobby the government to go after the warez community. This is very real and it’s not going away any time soon. It’s just not worth it.
You will notice some very interesting cases in the database. Foe example, a supplier for a warez group might get a lesser of a sentence then a person who just downloaded for personal use. Or a trader gets jail time but the leader of a very large music group gets off with probation.
If you are in this database and wish to be removed, please email
This e-mail address is being protected from spambots, you need JavaScript enabled to view it
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Bugs in the database:
1) no way of starting a new search, for a new search keep pressing your BACK button or just go back to www.piracyisacrime.org.
2) Missing a lot of people, I have some 170 people added but am still missing a lot more. This gets very expensive to find a document (and download) court documents. Give me some time, will be here soon =)
3) Speed. (slower then I would like)
TO USE THE DATABASE LOOK ON THE RIGHT HAND SIDE OF THE WEBSITE ->
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