I was going to let this just slide into the linkblog, but I think it’s unbelievable enough that it deserves attention from my main blog. There is currently a court case taking place (Elektra v. Barker, pending in Manhattan federal court before Judge Kenneth Karas) in which the RIAA has made the following claim:
merely having a ’shared files folder’ on one’s computer, and thereby ‘making files available for distribution’, is in and of itself a “distribution” and a copyright infringement
OH … MY … GOD. They have flipped their lid to put it politely. They basically just said that all computer networks, including the internet, are illegal. When are these insane accusations and pathetic cases goint to stop being waged. What is it going to take to make the Recording and Movie industries stop treating their very customers as criminals. *sigh*
2 Comments
They want to make the entire act of info exchange marginally criminal… then they can fry the big offenders and put the fear of God in everybody else. This is a last desperate move of a dinosaur industry.
Amen.