Movement Growing to Support Victims of Ludicrous Exclusive Rights Policy

(Forwarded from Pho list.)

-------- Original Message --------
Subject: pho: Reuters: RIAA - Lawsuits, not Licenses
  Date: Fri, 12 Sep 2003 01:43:41 -0400
  From: Kevin Doran <[email protected]>
    To: [email protected]


Backpedalling has begun as Lamy attempts a more subdued response to
Oppenheim's "Screw the little bastards" (uh,  I'm paraphrasing there pholks)
approach and feels compelled to dismiss blanket licensing as part of the
pitch - because  it would 'have to' include all media and territories.

So, because of the RIAA's own tactics, licensing is now front and center.

Gee, who coulda guessed?

Got 'em right where you want 'em, alright, Cary.

k

http://www.usatoday.com/tech/news/techpolicy/2003-09-11-riaa-girl-support_x.htm
Posted 9/11/2003 5:15 PM

Music firms, DJ offer to pay 12-year-old's fine

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Several Internet music services and a disc jockey
have offered to  reimburse a New York woman who paid $2,000 to settle
charges that her 12-year-old daughter  illegally copied music online.

A coalition of several "peer to peer" song-swapping networks said Thursday
it trying to locate Sylvia  Torres so it could pay the legal settlement she
reached with the Recording Industry Association of  America on Tuesday.

Rochester, New York radio disc jockey Brother Wease also offered to pay
Torres' legal bill, and online  music retailer MusicRebellion.com said it
would allow Torres' daughter, Brianna Lahara, to download  $2,000 worth of
free music from its industry-sanctioned site.

However, the would-be benefactors all said they would not extend their
offers to the 260 other  individuals who face RIAA lawsuits for copying
music through Kazaa, Grokster and other  peer-to-peer networks.

An RIAA spokesman declined to comment on the offers.

Lahara, a Manhattan honor student who offered Madonna's Material Girl and
some 1,000 other songs  through Kazaa, has emerged as something of a poster
girl for those who denounce the RIAA's legal  campaign as heavy-handed.

"Out of all the millions of people who have downloaded, some girl in a
housing project in New York  City has got to come up with two grand?" said
Wease, who offered to help through his charitable  children's fund.

"I just feel that these people are bullies," said Grokster president Wayne
Rosso, a member of the P2P  United trade group, which offered to pay Torres'
bill. "They're like the show-business version of the  Taliban."

RIAA spokesman Jonathan Lamy said the recording industry was not targeting
12-year-olds. The  only information it had when it filed the suits was the
name and address of the Internet account  holder, he added.

"The objective of this campaign is not to win a popularity contest, but to
communicate a message of  deterrence so people realize there can be
consequences to this illegal behavior," Lamy said.

Rosso said the industry should try to work out a solution with Grokster and
other peer-to-peer  networks so record labels can be paid for the billions
of songs downloaded monthly. One solution could  be a flat, per-song royalty
rate similar to that paid by radio stations and Webcasters, he said.

Lamy said a flat-fee approach would be impossible because it would have to
encompass movies, books  and other copyrighted material traded online, as
well as take foreign users into account.

Traffic has remained steady on peer-to-peer networks since the lawsuits were
filed, officials at the  networks said.

RIAA members include Universal Music, Warner Music Group, Sony Music, BMG,
and EMI.

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