i'm not a criminal

[Tommy BOO]

i'm not a criminal! hooray!
i always thought that sharing mp3 files on internet is illegal!
then a friend of mine told me that it isn't illegal at all... but i'm still not sure if i should believe him or not! anyway, i usually buy all the music i like, i just love those little booklets, but i want to listen to the songs first. and if i like it what i hear, i buy it.

no need to watch my back in library anymore when i send mp3's to my friends!
no need to hide my "own compilation cds" under my coat anymore when i bring them to the post office and send them!

because
it is not illegal

fuck off big record companies!
you're just cheating people and trying to make as much money as possible! and you're killing music, you feckin' morons!
_________________
"Tommy Boo has played a pivotal role in my life. I've looked up to him since I was a kid and he has inspired every note of music I have ever written. The man is a fucking genius" -BC

[Setareh Juventina]

It depends on your country, in Sweden, at the moment, it isn't illegal if it's for personal use. But in the USA I think it's illegal.

Love and Peace
_________________
Man is the only animal clever enough to build The Empire State Building and stupid enough to jump from it.

[Tommy BOO]

i don't think it is illegal, unless you make profit out of it... or something. kazaa and the others wouldn't exist anymore if they were illegal.
well, i don't know... and to be honest, i don't care.
_________________
"Tommy Boo has played a pivotal role in my life. I've looked up to him since I was a kid and he has inspired every note of music I have ever written. The man is a fucking genius" -BC

[PrincessPunkRock]

found this guideline on the recording industry association of america's website...

===============================
In cyberspace, the RIAA’s team of Internet Specialists, with the assistance of a 24-hour automated webcrawler, helps to stop Internet sites that make illegal recordings available.

Based on the Digital Millennium Copyright Act’s (DMCA) expedited subpoena provision, the RIAA sends out information subpoenas as part of an effort to track and shut down repeat offenders and to deter to those hiding behind the perceived anonymity of the Internet. Information subpoenas require the Internet Service Provider (ISP) providing access to or hosting a particular site to provide contact information for the site operator. Once the site operator is identified, the RIAA will take steps to prevent repeat infringement. Such steps range from a warning e-mail to litigation against the site operator. The RIAA then uses that information to send notice to the site operator that the site must be removed. Finally, the RIAA requires the individual to pay an amount designated to help defray the costs of the subpoena process.

Every year, by assisting in criminal trials and initiating civil litigation, RIAA wins hundreds of guilty pleas from, or convictions of, music pirates, plus scores of settlements and judgments. RIAA is also pioneering copyright enforcement on the Internet. Since 1998, RIAA has settled five lawsuits against Internet music pirates that violated federal copyright laws by reproducing and distributing copyrighted sound recordings.

Although RIAA vigorously pursues those intentionally breaking the law, it prefers to educate all citizens so they know what is legal and illegal. New technologies have spawned new laws, so this effort is more important than ever.

Because piracy has no national boundaries, RIAA announced a new initiative with the International Federation of the Phonographic Industry in the Fall of 1999. As part of this coordinated global strategy, recording companies and associations worldwide will work together to ensure that music piracy does not escape detection by crossing borders.
=====================================

sounds to me that unless you run an illegal mp3 site and distribute hundreds of tracks a day, you're pretty much in the clear. it would take them the next 50 years to find all of us anyway.

x

[CiaranMac]

When I first saw this thread, I thought Tommy had been put in jail or something.


FREE TOMMY BOO
_________________
www.myspace.com/storkboychoons

[paulwhite]

a prison with internet access!!!

i could put up with that!!

pd

[billycasper]

[paulwhite]

[PrincessPunkRock]

oooooh, the continuing saga of the evil riaa... stick it to the man, brave downloaders!!

================================
ANOTHER FAN ATTACKS RIAA LITIGATION
The backlash against the RIAA's legal attempts to identify the people it
believes are guilty of "substantial" illegal downloading continues. Last
month one music fan questioned the RIAA's definition of what warranted
"substantial". Now another defendant is claiming the trade organisation
violated her constitutional rights by tracking her web activity and in doing
so shouldn't be allowed to know her true identity. The woman, identified in
court as "nycfashiongirl", is accused of making over 900 tracks available
via the web. But she is blocking legal attempts to secure her identity from
her ISP by claiming that - with no official connections to a law enforcement
agency - the RIAA had no rights to track her online activity.

The RIAA, needless to say, is not impressed describing her argument as
"surprisingly shallow". A spokesman for the trade body said her claims that by tracking her online activity the RIAA had violated her constitutional
rights reflected "a fundamental misunderstanding of how the internet works".

Whether the court is impressed remains to be seen - but if any one of these identity defenders is successful it could start a barrage of expensive and time consuming legal activity by music fans to, if nothing else, prolong the RIAA's efforts in identifying "substantial" downloaders.

[Guest]

A good website for more information on the evils of RIAA:

http://www.boycott-riaa.com/