Comments on: RIAA dumps evidence-gathering firm

Recording industry trade group reportedly drops the company responsible for gathering evidence against those accused of sharing copyrighted music.

[D3vildog699]

RIAA gets pwned... again

[Willbost]

Revision3 should be happy :)

[tm_anon]

You're happy now, but I'd wait and see just how bad it can get first.

[sharmajunior]

RIAA dumping these previous policies makes me wonder what they have in store for us next.

[daimajinbuu]

The RIAA are a bunch of TEABAGGING, GREEDY, BASTARDS. THEIR INDUSTRY WILL GO THE WAY OF THE DODO IN 3 YEARS. Welcome to the 21st century, boys!

[abcd9009]

daimajinbuu, I completely agree with you. ISPs (especially Comcast) being as GREEDY as RIAA - I hope they continue to stay GREEDY in this matter as well and suck the blood out of RIAA with ridiculous amount of money for them to monitor the network, making this deal almost non-negotiable leaving RIAA in the water.
Assuming this happens (highly unlikely but lets hope it does), RIAA might have to think of raising the price for song downloads and thanks to Jobs (THANK YOU FOR FIGHTING FOR US) the songs will remain @ 99 cents. This would force RIAA to think of something mutually beneficial to the industry and consumers - I HIGHLY DOUBT THIS WOULD EVER HAPPEN BUT FEELS GOOD TO THINK ABOUT SUCH A POSSIBILITY!!!
COMCAST and all the other ISPs - PLEASE STAY GREEDY.

[HlLLARY CLITON]

I detect a new wind

[anthony f wood]

Whoops sorry, baked beans, steak & onions.

[Sam Papelbon]

this feels like one of those zombie movies where a small group of people is holed up in some kind of makeshift shelter and they can hear the zombies beating against the wall and all of a sudden the racket stops.

maybe they've given up... or maybe...

[SJ2571]

Zombie analogy = spot on! And LOL! :)

[daimajinbuu]

Or mabey they are using the window in the RIAA's bellybutton, so when their heads are up their a$$, the light of day can still be seen.

[mikestatic1]

You have to love the comments from the people who download all of their music for free. Apparently they think artists should record their music without getting paid for it. Think about it - an artist will let you play their song anytime you want, anywhere you want, for the rest of your life - for $1. And you can't see fit to pay it? Do you think you should bag peoples groceries and not get paid for it?

Pay for your music, losers. If you don't, that's all you are. A loser. I guess living in your mom's basement without a job for years WILL do that to you.

[Imalittleteapot]

Have you actually seen the statistics. Digital music sales are through the roof. Maybe people just wanted digital content, but the music industry kept trying to fight it. However now that services like Amazon, iTunes, and whatever they call the Zune version are around people are paying to download like crazy. Many people aren't pirates. They're perfectly willing to pay. They just wanted to get their stuff digitally is all which the RIAA fought against because they kept wanting to live in the past.

[pointmanzero]

You have to love the comments made by people like the last guy. They seem to think that you are supposed to pay every single time you listen to a piece of music. Start up the pay-elevators, kenny-g is going to be rich.

Seriously, music should be free. Absolutely free. I am musician who has recorded in the studio and made several albums, I wish I could let that music become available for free to everyone, that way I could make a ton of money off of concerts, t-shirts, special events, private engagements, autographed singles (live just for you the rich guy singles) , etc... there is plenty of ways for me to bring in the dough, I just need to get people to listen to my music.

The record label makes all of he money off of my c.d. sells, so I need people to show up to my concerts so I can make a dime.

Trust me sir, you have no Idea what you are talking about.

[wired_x]

And who do you think pays for studio time, the backup musicians, the promotions, photographers, printers, concert venues, t-shirt makers etc? Are they supposed to give their services to musicians for free just because music is 'absolutely free' in some people's minds?

Without the record companies' efforts to make the audience aware of a musician's work, who would recognise the musician well enough to want to buy his concert tickets and t shirts? At the end of the day, music still needs to operate like a business to keep things going.

You want free music, there's plenty if you look around. Download those instead and attend their concerts. But my guess is, the kind of music you probably want to listen to are mostly not free.

[MSSlayer]

The band or singer pays for all of that. The record label may front the money, but they recoup it + a ton more.

You buy a CD and the band is lucky to get a quarter for it.

The record companies are the thieves.

[wired_x]

So the solution is to download their songs for free?
If the record companies don't do their jobs to make people aware of the band, who will attend the concerts?

[mikestatic1]

Apparently daimajinbuu can't afford to buy his music. Ever hear of survival of the fittest? You shouldn't be allowed to listen if you can't afford it.

[D3vildog699]

Yes only people with money should get things in life... that worked so well in the middle ages, your an idiot

[daimajinbuu]

What I can, or cannot afford, is a moot point-and none of your business. NOW, if you wish to discuss antiquated business models, then you have a right to comment. And what do you know of "Lex Talionis", punk.

[gsekse]

Funny, before "Technology" allow artists to sell copies of their art, they had to produce it themselves and work each day. A musician PLAYED for his daily bread. An artist PAINTED each day to make a living. A stage performer would ACT each day. They STILL can make money doing this. EVEN IF COPIES of their work is out there.

I do respect people's right to their creations, but many artists use items manufactured in other contries that steal from ENGINEERS everyday. We all do, but because they are a bunch of Dilberts instead of famous beautiful people, their rights aren't nearly as important. Thomas Edison's family should still get the lion's share of recorded sound property, cause he thought of it first. It's all about the bleeping lawyers, this problem didn't exist until it became profitable to make this problem exist.

The joke also remains that when I ask people to truthfully say how much of their pirate music they listen to, MANY say, "oh, probably 10 or 20%, the rest I downloaded, but just never got around to". So when you hear about the HUGE piracy problem, it may really only come down to 10 or 20 % of the number you hear. The harddrive manufacturers probably love all this useless storage being taken up though. Hmmm maybe the RIAA should sue the storage medium people for profiting off of all this pirated stuff that is being stored on drives and discs??!! Keep Smiling 8)

[Imalittleteapot]

So, as see from the bottom "The RIAA said it would replace MusicSentry with DtecNet Software ApS--a." We see they're just switching one company out for another one to get away from all the screw ups MediaSentry has done. That way any defendant that plans on attacking MediaSentry's methods in court has to start collecting evidence all over again to debunk the RIAA's investigating tactics.

It doesn't mean they're going to stop collecting evidence and doing things the same exact way they are now. From this link. http://blog.wired.com/27bstroke6/2008/12/no-isp-filterin.html
We see the RIAA's new plan is to send a notifications to ISPs that you are sharing files and have you kicked off line.

Exactly how would they go about that without a company to log your IP number? They have to have someone hunting around the Internet for shared files or else they couldn't send a notification to your ISP could they?

This doesn't mean the RIAA is changing their tactics. All this is, is a move to trip up anyone that would attack MediaSentry's methods in court. That's all this is. I don't care what company they use. I don't care if it's MediaSentry or Mickey Mouses's piracy detective agency. It doesn't matter what company they use.

[inachu]

Chronic users..... I would call it chronic if your only reason to use your isp is strickly for bit torrent use and nothing else.
The only positive side from this I hope my World of Warcraft sessions stop lagging.

[lordmorgul]

Hah, more likely you will be seen as 'moving bit torrent-like traffic, and therefore suspect of pirating copyrighted materials'... while updating your copy of WoW. It is widely known the Blizzard updater runs torrent-enabled to reduce their update dispersal bandwidth.

If the RIAA gets away with convincing the ISPs to 'reduce connectivity' you are more likely to get your ports blocked from the ISP than to get a smoother connection.

[boboberg]

This is the beginning of the end for the blood-sucking appendage of the dying music industry, the RIAA. We gleefully dance on the graves of the recording industry as we celebrate totally free music!!! Die music industry!! Live free music on the web!! Mark Montgomery [e-mail]

[gerrrg]

If you use PeerGuardian, then you know just exactly how busy Media Sentry is.

Come to think of it, there are a lot of busy companies and governments out there just lurking around P2P networks, aren't there?

[3rdalbum]

By the name "Media Sentry", it sounds like the company was set up solely for the purpose of finding filesharers for the RIAA.

I don't condone downloading music without the artists getting something for it unless they explicitly offer it for free. Otherwise it's theft plain and simple. There is no way anyone can justify this behavior period. That being said the record industry's knee jerk reaction to music sharing is also over the line.

The irony here is that if the record industry had just followed the lead of the online adult industry they'd have probably seen the piracy level out after the initial interest died down, enabling them to factor the costs into the business model and move on (much as the online adult industry did). Instead they inflame the very customers they seek to attract as well as driving up interest in the illicit activity.

Once again the Gordon Geckos of the world decide "greed is good". Wrong Capitalism is good, greed is immoral...

[MSSlayer]

Wrong, downloading music( from unofficial sites) is copyright infringement.

Sorry I was not clear in my statement, yes downloading can be legal (i.e. iTunes, etc), but by in large unless the musicians offer it for free OR you purchase it LEGALLY from a LEGAL download site you are stealing, PERIOD. A is A, theft is theft, etc. Next you'll be telling me it's ok to walk up to a yard sale, take an item and leave without paying. Last I checked that would get me free room and board courtesy of the local police force. Difference is nobody cares about an intangible object such as electronic music so the police are less likely to care.

Now because the RIAA took such a hard stance, they alienated their consumer base and thus encouraged the piracy, when in fact if they had just left it alone, and then factored that into their bottom line they most likely would be making even more money than before the stink.

No matter how you slice it you cannot justify theft.

[hassan_bin_sober]

Good Idea! Professional assassination is the highest form of public service.

[MSSlayer]

Just download a CD off pirate bay and send the band $1. That is up to 10x the amount they would get if you bought the CD.