[rit]

more to follow

[Bikers4Bush]

Good.

[Flux Capacitor]

Outstanding. They've sued their last 12 year-old girl.

-Dan

[mhking]

Just damn.

If you want on the new list, FReepmail me. This IS a high-volume PING list...

[gipper81]

Free at last, free at last, thank God almighty, free at last...

[shadowman99]

Metallica is deeply saddened.

[BeerSwillr]

HA-HA

[zook]

To celebrate, I think I'll go download something.

[1Old Pro]

RIAA should be dismantled and an industry group with vision should be formed.

[mylife]

The RIAA has been barking up the wrong tree for ever. Rather than trying to stop file sharing they shoud have embraced it.
They should have just asked for limitations on the quality of files.
Presently most files swapped dont approach the quality of the original product.

I dloaded all of the BBC's "coupling" episodes off file sharing, and they are good qaulity, but they dont approach the quality of the DVD's I purchased!

You see dloading the episodes was legal (fair use) and I liked the show so much I wasnt satisfied with the dloaded versions and sought to purchase the DVDs. That seems to be a win win approach.

[Johnny Gage]

In a related story on Yahoo news:

Dutch Court Throws Out Attempt to Control Kazaa
By Marcel Michelson and Bernhard Warner

AMSTERDAM/LONDON (Reuters) - The Dutch supreme court on Friday threw out an attempt by a music copyright agency to put controls on popular Internet file-swapping software system Kazaa, a ruling the music industry attacked as flawed.

The decision is a fresh blow to the media industry, which has fought to shut down file-sharing networks they say have created a massive black-market trade in free music, films and video games on the Internet.

"The victory by Kazaa creates an important precedent for the legality of peer-to-peer software, both in the European Union (news - web sites) as elsewhere," Kazaa's lawyers Bird & Bird said in a statement.

The decision by the Dutch court, the highest European body yet to rule on file-sharing software, means that the developers of the software cannot be held liable for how individuals use it. It does not address issues over individuals' use of such networks.

The International Federation of the Phonographic Industry (IFPI), the music trade group representing independent and major music labels including Warner Music, Sony Music, BMG, EMI and Universal Music, criticized the ruling as "one-sided" and vowed to continue its legal crusade elsewhere.

"Today's ruling on Kazaa by the Dutch Supreme Court is a flawed judgment, but still leaves no doubt that the vast majority of people who are using file-swapping services like Kazaa are acting illegally -- whatever country they are in," the group said in a statement.

TARGETING INDIVIDUAL KAZAA USERS

The music industry in the United States, feeling the pinch of successive years of declining CD sales, has begun suing individual downloaders, many of whom are Kazaa users. The IFPI has said a similar legal campaign could be launched in Europe.

The Supreme Court rejected demands by Buma Stemra, the Dutch royalties collection society, that distribution of Kazaa cease and that future versions be modified so that copyrighted materials cannot be exchanged over the network, lawyers representing Kazaa said.

Kazaa and other new breed peer-to-peer networks have argued they have no centralised servers and therefore cannot control what is exchanged by their users, a defense the IFPI and other media organizations challenge.

The IFPI maintained Kazaa could be modified to filter out copyrighted works. They also demanded the company warn Kazaa users that unauthorized distribution of such materials was illegal.

The supreme court upheld a March 2002 ruling in which an appeals court ruled in favor of Fasttrack, the Amsterdam-based firm that developed Kazaa. Fasttrack later sold the technology to Sharman Networks Ltd of Australia.

The media industry has launched a similar suit in the United States against Sharman, which many see as the crucial legal showdown for determining the legal future of file-sharing.

Kazaa has become the undisputed king of file-sharing networks. In October, Kazaa registered over 17.5 million European and American users, according to Internet measurement firm Nielsen//NetRatings.

In the Netherlands alone there are 3.6 million users.

"This is a historic victory for the Internet and consumers," Niklas Zennstroem and Janus Friis, the founders of Kazaa, were quoted in the lawyer's statement as saying.

[July 4th]

Good news!

[MadelineZapeezda]

The judges were probably guilty of downloading music themselves!

[RabidBartender]

I can understand why people pirate now. I went to the local music/video store at the mall to get a copy of Toy Story 1 or 2. The price for each was $29.99. My Lord, what are they thinking. The other DVDs I wanted to check out (T3, Bruce Almighty, others) were all $21.00 or more.

I then went to a pawn shop and bought Toy Story for 5 bucks.

[Stars N Stripes]

One less Big Brother...

[LurkedLongEnough]

Ding, dong, the witch is dead!

[Tribune7]

Good. The courts finally get one right.

[richmwill]

As someone said earlier- Good news. No more suing 12-year-olds. I'm sure Metallica will be deeply saddened and depressed by this- as they sleep in their luxury bedrooms of thier multi-million dollar homes, while a 10-year-old downloads "Happy Birthday To You". Oh- that would just KILL them, I feel SO sorry for them (sarcasm off).

Rich

[brownsfan]

Why are these greedy old men at the RIAA so stupid. The equation is very simple:

Who downloads, (generally)? - Kids. Usually kids who don't have the money to spend on a lot of CDs. Many kids who I know that download would STILL buy CDs.

Who buys music? - People with enough money to do so. Generally, (I know, generalizations are flawed), people with enough money to buy music don't have time to download, sort, and burn. (ME). I know how, I can, I choose not to.

Net effect of the RIAA Draconian measures? - Many, (including me), refuse to buy new music. I go to the "Record Exchange" and buy used CDs. Screw the RIAA. And, they have managed to make music pirates look like sympathetic figures.

Nice job RIAA - how does it feel to be the modern equivalent of the dodo bird?

[ClintonBeGone]

Excellent. Bunch of punks. Imagine if the government went after their personal data? These Hollwierd sissys would be whining to no end.

[Destructor]

Great! Now I can start buying CDs again. It's been a long four months.