Students Settle W/riaa On Song Swap Sites

[Jibbler]

Isn't it funny how the math works out? Personally, my only real problem with this case, is that the RIAA and the students agree that they were not sharing songs. They created an online database to search for files that were already connected on the network.

So basically, the RIAA won a battle against some brilliant computer programers, but not against any filesharers.

[RealitY]

Well that won't be the way it plays in the media!!
People (pussies, little girls and lion from the wizard of oz) will start shakin in their bOOts,
and begin to unshare their folders, running from the phantom boggyman with a...
**plastic knife** as they scream "I don't have no 12 grand".

[Jibbler]

Yeah, that's true. The media has a wonderful way of putting a spin on anything. However this is more human nature than news bias. Just remember, video killed the radio star.

[RealitY]

Originally posted by Jibbler@4 May 2003 - 01:35
Just remember, video killed the radio star.

Ah, The Bugles...
Those guys lOOked like "commy freaks".

[TIDE-HSV]

As I told Reality earlier, the settlement approximates what the kids' legal costs would have been, even had they won.

[RealitY]

Logic here is simple...
If I have a 1000 files in MSF and get caught,
then my fine would be $25.
Cash , Check, Charge, or Pay Pal Sir (scum bag, me, the file sharing bad guy).

[RealitY]

Originally posted by REALITY@4 May 2003 - 01:31
People (pussies, little girls and lion from the wizard of oz) will start shakin in their bOOts,
and begin to unshare their folders, running from the phantom boggyman with a...
**plastic knife** as they scream "I don't have no 12 grand".

Damn honey, there goes the neibourhood, leeches are moving in across the street.
Can you believe it, next door to the fakes and those guys from the music biz.
We gotta move, and cut our losses babe.

[Switeck]

The reason the students settled was probably because although they would be able to get the charges dropped for probably everything they WEREN'T sharing, there still probably remained at least a handful of infringing files that at $150,000 fines each would still bankrupt them for the rest of their lives.

After all, they were probably sharing SOMETHING themselves...

On a fast uni network, at 100 Mbps, download times would be so low that it wouldn't matter as much if 90% of everyone was a 'leech'. There could be a single computer off in the corner of every other computer lab that has files on it that 'nobody knows how they got there...' and that could keep everyone happy.

[TIDE-HSV]

Actually, even with today's stiffened bankruptcy laws, they can bankrupt and, in a few years, they can start all over. That is, unless they're "trust-fund babys," who can't afford to lose their interest in trust if they bankrupt.

[clocker]

I'm wondering if the offer to settle might have come from the prosecuting side.

The RIAA got the media attention that had to be a major goal of this whole affair, and didn't have to risk a protracted and potentially alienating trial.