RIAA

[john]

Hey

I found this in the Songstuff newstreams:

http://www.macnewsworld.com/story/33487.html

RIAA has withdrawn offer of amnesty to filesharers...

Cheers

John

[Steve]

It appears the RIAA is hopping about on the back foot at the moment! While shooting themselves in the other foot! I don't think the problem is kids sharing a few MP3s, I think it's unscupulous dealers making hundreds of copies and selling them cheap at markets and boot sales. I did a boot sale a few weeks back. There was a guy there selling DVDs, his stall was busy all afternoon! It was obvious he was selling bootleg stuff, because of the quality of the printing on the sleeves. I suppose it must have been cheap for it to be so busy! And who can resist a bargain eh...?

( I didn't buy anything from him and I stopped my son buying a DVD he wanted)

[Rudi]

Any idea how our own law deals with such traders? Is this a prosecutable criminal violation or down to civil action?

[Didier]

Hey

RIAA has withdrawn offer of amnesty to filesharers...

As far as I understand it, the amnesty was not legal (I think they were even sued about it), so they had to withdraw.

Didier

[Didier]

Any idea how our own law deals with such traders? Is this a prosecutable criminal violation or down to civil action?

Hi Rudi,

Not sure about your law. In France, that would be "criminal violation". I guess Brussels would feel the same, so there's a good chance it would be on the same basis in England.

Didier

[Steve]

It's definately a criminal offence! The problem seems to be implementing the enforcement procedures. I believe it is up to trading standards to prosecute!

[Rudi]

I can sleep secure at night now.

[Helicon1]

About 3 years ago there was a guy in the Dallas/Fort Worth area of Texas who was the target of a major sting operation for illegally copying and selling CDs and DVDs. They confiscated $200,000 worth of duplication and printing equipment (some of which was rented), and $25,000 in cash that was in a safe on the premises.

The newspaper said that his illegal company had made over 3 million dollars just in the previous year alone. It was the biggest bust of its kind at the time. I really don't know how they find enough ways to sell as much of this stuff as they do without getting caught.