Ask MetaFilter questions tagged with RIAA

Where can I store my files?

Nickel — Thu, 19 Feb 2009 22:31:54 -0800

Would online storage sites (livedrive, adrive, humyo, JungleDisk) monitor uploaded content and delete illegal or pornographic files? Which site is most stable and likely to last long term? After a catastrophic external hard drive failure, I am looking for a reliable online storage site for my (mainly media) files. Data backup would be a bonus feature, but is not necessary.

The problem is that some of the files I will be uploading have been downloaded illegally, and some are pornographic. I do not wish to distribute or share these files with anyone - this is purely for my own storage. Currently I am looking at livedrive, adrive, humyo, and JungleDisk.

My fears are:

a.) The RIAA will sue the site for a list of people with illegal content (as suggested in this thread about humyo),

b.) The site will see that I uploaded illegal content and delete the files or my entire account without notice. (Livedrive's Terms of Service scares me: "You may use Livedrive for lawful purposes only. Livedrive may remove any material for which you are not an authorised user of the material's copyright without notice.")

c.) The site will see the pornography and delete it (obscene content? I don't know, would they even care about this?).

d.) The site will close, taking all my files with it.

In terms of the main sites I'm comparing (livedrive, adrive, humyo, and JungleDisk), does anyone know anything about the content allowed on these sites, and how apt the sites are to delete illegal or pornographic files? Do you know how stable they are and which is most likely to last, well, forever?

Eu tu, AT&T?

SpacemanStix — Thu, 29 Jan 2009 15:22:56 -0800

There is talk about how ISP's are going to be cooperating with the RIAA to curtail piracy (warning letters, shutting off service, etc.), in lieu of the RIAA taking people to court. If ISP's refused to be involved without a court order previously, why are they getting so involved now? It's a crazy amount of extra work, it gets into the privacy of its users, and it creates the potential for false positives and a LOT of negative press that used to go to the RIAA. I can't figure out the upside.

Are they getting a money cut somewhere? Are they being strong-armed into it? Or do they see it as a lesser evil to agree to these terms than to be forced to hand over customer information on a regular basis, due to court orders?

My blog is in leetspeek! Reading it constitutes a breach of the DMCA!

explosion — Tue, 30 Sep 2008 18:57:31 -0800

What is the difference (legal or otherwise) between "decoding" and "decrypting?" I understand that for purposes of making more money and whatnot, the MPAA and RIAA would like "decrypting" their media to be illegal.

What I wonder though, is what is the difference between "decryption" and mere "decoding"? Music is encoded on a CD, and a CD player or computer decodes it back into music, right? So why, when on a DVD, is the movie considered "decryption"?

Is it seriously possible to make something legally "encrypted" just by ROT13ing it, and is there a legal distinction between the two concepts?

How much overall do the major record companies pay to artists?

johnsu01 — Wed, 09 Jul 2008 13:52:49 -0800

What portion of major record label gross income goes to pay artists and how much does the average American spend on music each year? A few years ago I heard that (1) the major record companies paid 4% of their income to the musicians, and that (2) the average American spent $20 a year on music. I've tried and failed to find these figures again. The first seems especially difficult to find (or maybe I'm just being dumb). There is plenty of information about what the average contract gives to the artist, but I'm not interested in that -- I'm looking for aggregated figures. Help? .

Ignorance of the law...?

uaudio — Wed, 02 Jul 2008 10:17:01 -0800

If I run an open wireless access point using DHCP, is there a way for anyone to identify which PC or device in the IP range is receiving or sending traffic? If I run a shared connection and someone does something unlawful, is it my problem or theirs? I'm using the latest Airport Extreme with 802.11n. I don't run any filtering software or anything like that. I just received a letter from my provider (Cox) saying that someone was sharing unauthorized content, but it wasn't me. I'm going to discuss this with the folks who share my connection, but my questions are:

1. Is it my liability if the **AA decides to sue?
2. Can they see who it actually was, like MAC address or computer name?

I understand the easiest solution moving forward is to close the access point, and running the connection open is probably in breach of Cox's TOS, but I'm more concerned about what happened already.

This Nightmare of Listening Freedom is Almost Over!

tmcw — Fri, 20 Jun 2008 11:09:16 -0800

So which P2P networks garner the most RIAA lawsuits? The lawsuits are, of course, a sort of cloak and dagger affair, but isn't there some data on this kind of thing? (disclosure: my school just got reamed by the supreme court. I #1 live off-campus, #2 don't download much)

Tell me more about the RIAA...

derekb — Thu, 10 Apr 2008 12:45:51 -0800

How'd the RIAA become so powerful, yet so villified? Does anyone (I may have heard of) have anything *good* to say about the RIAA? MeFi and the Googles have provided a piles of info and opinions. But so far, no one addresses those specific issues. I'd really love relatively recent sources that are ummmm research-paper worthy. A Historical Perspective - perhaps a Timeline of important RIAA-centric events would be exceedingly cool, too.

Downloading

Wanderlust88 — Fri, 15 Feb 2008 11:14:26 -0800

I'm looking for a complete or brief history of downloading. Starting out with Napster preferably, or even before if its interesting enough. The evolution of downloading, from p2p to bitorrent, etc. I'd like to see when the RIAA and the MPAA first started suing people, and when controversy really began.

If you were trying to explain the entire ordeal to a layman what would you be sure emphasize?

IF YOU DO NOT RESOLVE OUR CLAIMS AGAINST YOU WITHIN

Anonymous — Fri, 11 Jan 2008 20:26:10 -0800

It appears my sister is being sued by the RIAA. My sister showed my a letter she received from [some law firm], via her student email account from her school, stating that they are filing a lawsuit against her, and that she has 20 days to respond in order to settle outside of court, else be sued for everything. I've read that the law firm likes to target college students at schools like hers (on the smaller side, wealthier kids) because of the assumption that the defendant's parents have a lot of money. We do not. We are in debt, massively. She hasn't told my parents yet. Right now, we're trying to figure out what to do.

Does anyone have any experience with something like this? What can she do? What are our options here? Does she settle? Do we fight? Given that they (seemingly) tracked her through Limewire, do they actually have real proof against her?

Has anyone ever been sued for downloading music?

squarehead — Mon, 31 Dec 2007 07:57:31 -0800

Has anyone ever been sued for downloading music? It seems to me that I keep hearing about people being sued for illegally downloading music, but it seems like it always turns out that they are actually being sued for making music files available for others to download because they are sharing them on a P2P network. Is it just that people are either sloppy with language or don't understand the difference between downloading and sharing, or has someone actually been gone after for downloading?

Help me figure out a good way to word my speech statement...

zacharyseibert — Thu, 18 Oct 2007 17:47:19 -0800

Help me figure out a good way to word my speech statement Ok, so I have to write a speech for my public speaking class. It is a persuasive speech, and I have to submit a statement that describes what I am trying to persuade the audience to do. So, I have decided to make my speech about the negatives of the RIAA, DRM, and buying music from major record labels in general. I'm having a hard time putting this into a proper statement. I keep coming back to something like "You shouldn't purchase music because....". I don't want to sound like I hate music and musicians in general, I just can't figure out the right wording.

Hive mind I need your help!!!

I can't share but I can buy?

doorsfan — Tue, 09 Oct 2007 08:37:09 -0800

Downloading/Sharing vs. buying used CD’s…What’s the difference? Obviously money is changing hands in the second instance but isn’t the argument the music artist’s are not getting the money for their work? Isn’t the used CD market worse since money is changing hands and the artist’s get nothing.

Is the resale market considered OK because it has been done for so long?

I have never understood how this is not mentioned when we hear about these cases on TV.

Will the RIAA tear us a new one?

milarepa — Tue, 22 May 2007 12:11:38 -0800

My friend and I have amassed a large collection of live dj sets (e.g., think sven vath live from Ibiza). We were thinking of making this collection available to the public through a website where the sets could be downloaded free of charge. How wary of the RIAA should we be? Like I said, everything we'd be hosting would be from a live set or freely released podcast. We would not host anything you could buy anywhere.

Will the RIAA tear us a new one?

Will my money get to the musician, or all end up with the record label?

intermod — Tue, 22 May 2007 05:46:31 -0800

Help me make sure that my money gets to Handsome Dick Manitoba: downloading vs buying music, and how to find out if an artist actually gets money from their own album sales? Having recently heard the The Dictators' album Blood Brothers and realizing that they are a blind spot in my collection, I'd like to buy some of their stuff. This album is a classic and in print so I'm sure that I can buy a copy, however I also have access to a free download of it. These days I'm, uh, flush enough that I can afford these things and so I'd rather just buy the record and support the band, however it occurs to me that little to none of the money may actually end up in the hands of the original artists.

Is anyone aware of any resources to tell if a particular musical artist gets more or less of the money from the sales of their own records? Say, Artist A got a crappy contract and gets pennies on each sale, vs Artist B who held their ground during negotiations and gets dollars.

This seems like the kind of information that probably exists out there somewhere, perhaps in a wiki or otherwise community-contributable form.

RIAA lawsuit in plain english

BlackRose — Thu, 10 May 2007 16:20:43 -0800

Is there a place to get the RIAA lawsuit summaries in plain english? I've been extremely interested in the legal path that the RIAA is following. I know of The Recording Industry vs the People, Ars Technica and P2PNet, however, I often find them referencing ongoing or old cases. Often the links go to the actual legal documents, which are confusing for me as a lay person. I'm looking for a place that has the issues, facts and stories laid out neatly and without the legalese.

allofmp3 legality

mzurer — Wed, 17 Jan 2007 11:53:46 -0800

Is using allofmp3 any more or less legal than downloading from an open server that lives somewhere under explicit RIAA coverage? What about an open server in Russia?

Alternative to IP rights?

vizsla — Tue, 02 Jan 2007 02:47:46 -0800

Has anyone written about what a world without (or with very limited) intellectual property rights would be like? Alternatively, are there other models for encouraging creativity without IP rights? There has been a lot of resentment towards the big content producers like the RIAA and MPAA regarding their enforcement of copyright. How do the (key) people who resent the Napster and Grokster decisions envisage creators making a living? Would we have all the technology and entertainment choice now, if it weren't for IP rights? Interested in what has been written about this. I'm familiar with some of Lessig's work but I am not sure he actually paints a realistic alternative?

The Beatles "White Album" Just Means They Were Too Busy To Do It

unixrat — Wed, 27 Sep 2006 11:32:05 -0800

So I'd like to start a site where people can submit/dl alternative album art for music. More inside? Yes, please. I've always hated the album art on Trip Shakespeare's Lulu and now that iTunes had that snazzy album-art viewer thing it began to drive me nuts. So, I created a different cover, one that I thought better represented the album. (All my own work - no copyright infringment, natch. But it had the band name and album name on it.)

That got me to thinking: "Wouldn't it be great if there was a site where people could share homemade album covers?" My very next thought was "Man, the RIAA would sue them into the ground." But would they?

So here's the question: "Would a homemade album art ul/dl site be legal?"

The RIAA at La Grange (aka Mitch Bainwol Left Chicago)

joecacti — Mon, 14 Aug 2006 10:30:11 -0800

I own a copy of Tres Hombres by ZZ Top. I'd like to get it into mp3 format so that I can listen to it in the car, etc. The problem is that the copy I own is on a record. Assuming I download with bittorrent, and then the RIAA comes after me, can I use the defense that I actually already owned it, so downloading could not be considered criminal? Would it be different if I owned a record rather than a CD? In other words, can you legally download the mp3 of an album you already own?

What powers to ASCAP/BMI have in regards to independent/original music not in their catalog?

loquacious — Wed, 12 Jul 2006 12:08:33 -0800

Can ASCAP/BMI sue you or levy fees for original music not in their catalog? A) For live public performance of said songs?
B) For recorded public performance of said songs?
C) For offering for download/streaming of said songs?
D) Or other forms of distribution and performance.

I ask because I've heard all manner of nightmares instigated by ASCAP/BMI, from simply playing the radio in a coffee shop (Not covered by "original music in their catalog" directly, but could be for a theoretical all-indie college/public station) to the newer dranonian rules on webcasts, to offering downloads.

Where does their self-given power to hassle the little guys end?

Where can I find the most comprehensive attacks on RIAA/DRM/Music Industry

Lockeownzj00 — Mon, 03 Apr 2006 18:42:41 -0800

What are the most frank, telling criticisms of issues like RIAA/DRM/Music Industry that you've read before? It can be 'heard' before too. All I'm looking for is essays, books, websites...I read about the issue all the time, and can say I know a fair bit about it, but I really need to concretely acquaint myself with it. Most accurate, most fact-checkable, most well-written treatises, really.

Though I doubt it will get answered as often in the replies (my follow-ups never seem to), I ask the same question about the War in Iraq and the Bush Administration--same idea; been reading critiques and such since it all started, but I want a really good...symposium I suppose.

PS: Though I know a few, websites for news and updates would be useful as well.

MP3 download site legit?

a_day_late — Tue, 14 Feb 2006 14:03:33 -0800

Is this music download site legit? I've seen it mentioned here and elsewhere but nothing definitive as to legality and/or safety regarding submitting a credit card number. It's in Russia. The site says it's legal, your credit card info is safe, etc. Believable? Here is the FAQ.

Fighting the Man

trinarian — Sun, 17 Apr 2005 02:53:54 -0800

Has anyone tried to fight the RIAA and Movie Studios by arguing that copyrights can be interpreted laterally instead of just horizontally? A 128kbs mp3 carries around 10% of the original data density of the source material – we’re loosing all but the basic foundations of the song. What’s the difference between posting that and 20 seconds, full fidelity, of a 3-minute song (which is legal)? You're just cutting the data at different ends.

I'm working under the root assumptions that I know of copyright law, wherein you can distribute and/or alter a certain percentage of an artists work w/o permission and royalties.

Copyrighted Songs: Is Downloading the Crime, or Possession? Does Deleting Matter?

Edible Energy — Sat, 12 Feb 2005 18:23:29 -0800

(RIAA-filter) Concerning downloading copyrighted material, is the act of downloading illegal, or just possesion? If you download a song and delete it, are you stil culpable? Of what offense? And is intent a factor?

Aside from the RIAA, are other companies suing P2P users for copyright infringement?

thewittyname — Sun, 31 Oct 2004 19:20:57 -0800

I know that the RIAA has sued users of certain P2P networks like Kazaa, with mixed results. I'd like to know if there are any other examples of companies or agencies suing individuals for alleged copyright infringement...(like maybe the MPAA going after people on BitTorrent or something.) Oh, one other thing...it doesn't have to be about P2P networks. I vaugely remember a story about DirectTV (or some other satellite TV service) suing people who had bought smart card readers, because they could be used to hack the cable-box and get channels for free. Any information on that or similar stories would be most appreciated....