Copy a CD, owe $1.5 million

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Not content with the current (and already massive) statutory damages allowed under copyright law, the RIAA is pushing to expand the provision. The issue is compilations, which now are treated as a single work. In the RIAA's perfect world, each copied track would count as a separate act of infringement, meaning that a copying a ten-song CD even one time could end up costing a defendant $1.5 million if done willfully. Sound fair? Proportional? Necessary? Not really, but that doesn't mean it won't become law.

The change to statutory damages is contained in the PRO-IP Act that is currently up for consideration in Congress. We've reported on the bill before, noting that Google's top copyright lawyer (and the man who wrote a seven-volume treatise on the subject of copyright law), William Patry, called the bill the most "outrageously gluttonous IP bill ever introduced in the US." The industries pushing it (music, especially) have an "unslakable lust for more and more rights, longer terms of protection, draconian criminal provisions, and civil damages that bear no resemblance to the damages suffered," he said.

View: Full Story @ ArsTechica

#1 +Zhivago on 30 Jan 2008 - 18:03

Great.

#2 +ispamforfood on 30 Jan 2008 - 18:07

Last ditch efforts by a dying corporation..... nuff said.

#3 KevinRGood on 30 Jan 2008 - 18:13

C'mon...are we doing this again?!!

#4 +Jedimark on 30 Jan 2008 - 18:23

The RIAA has become such a joke...

#5 gadean on 30 Jan 2008 - 18:32

so stupid... still not going to buy any cds. not when the music sucks. I get my music (legally) online right from local artists. The music industry has become all about the money and not about the music industry. it's a shame.

#6 MindTrickz on 30 Jan 2008 - 18:46

Only in U.S.A

(1 reply) #7 Xenon on 30 Jan 2008 - 18:56

Wouldn't you like to meet a person who works at the RIAA? I mean really, what world do they live in? 1.5 million for a single cd?

#7.1 GreyWolfSC on 30 Jan 2008 - 19:11

(Xenon said @ #7)

There are no people at the RIAA, only lawyers.

#8 sPudz on 30 Jan 2008 - 19:00

this is how they're trying to make up for those millions of dollars which they "lost" when they came out with some false calculations last time...

#9 Mathachew on 30 Jan 2008 - 19:08

Just when you think they couldn't possibly be any dumber, they go and do something like this... AND TOTALLY REDEEM THEMSELVES!! Oh wait... this isn't Dumb and Dumber... but this is almost as dumb as it gets for them.

#10 Stingray on 30 Jan 2008 - 19:13

What a freakin joke. Someone wake them all up to the real world please. Jesus Christ.

(1 reply) #11 ataris_kid on 30 Jan 2008 - 19:19

Pathetic. There's no other word for them.

#11.1 +Obi Wong on 30 Jan 2008 - 19:31

(ataris_kid said @ #11)

how about draconian

(1 reply) #12 Volatile on 30 Jan 2008 - 19:41

You lose a penny, you sue for a million. The RIAA is panicing because of a move made by Radiohead.

Interesting tidbits:

http://arstechnica.com/news.ars/post/20080...-digital-downloads.html

#12.1 dysmatik on 30 Jan 2008 - 19:47

and NIN
and Madonna

I hope more artists follow their lead to bring down this corporate scum.

#13 Rfire on 30 Jan 2008 - 19:55

The piercing yelps of a dying dinosaur. Their death approaches.

#14 needlegun on 30 Jan 2008 - 20:02

How about this huge, resourceful and wealthy organization spend some energy and money on something useful, like climate change? Oh that's right - it's the RIAA, they don't do anything unless it profits them!

Stick them all in the B-Ark and fire them off into space!

(1 reply) #15 b1kshad0w on 30 Jan 2008 - 20:03

To get rid of them you have to stop feeding them money. We also need more people to write our congressman about them.

#15.1 Rfire on 30 Jan 2008 - 20:09

Yes, precisely. If you must buy RIAA CDs, buy them used to not gain them any profit. Encourage friends and family to do the same.

You can check if an album is RIAA or not using www.riaaradar.com

#16 X'tyfe on 30 Jan 2008 - 20:20

this makes me rofl so ****ing much
its over for these guys, no one will take them seriously after that

i am now going to copy every single cd i have to my computer
try and stop me

#17 +Bekabam on 30 Jan 2008 - 20:38

They can't do this unless they change the Fair Use law (Yes, it has become a law now). And if they did do that, still, I would definitely take my case as far as I can, pref. all the way to the supreme court.

#18 ANova on 30 Jan 2008 - 20:52

Nuke the RIAA from orbit, it's the only way to be sure.

#19 +Dakkaroth on 30 Jan 2008 - 21:18

What ever happened to not being fined absurd amounts of money?

(1 reply) #20 Dorza on 30 Jan 2008 - 21:22

Oh my god, this is just so unreal. The story of the RIAA should be made into a film. It would win best comedy hands down.

#20.1 OblivionStalker on 30 Jan 2008 - 23:33

Watch Steal This Film, documentary movie. It is free for download. It clearly says quite a few things about sharing and anti-piracy.

#21 IceBrewedBeer on 30 Jan 2008 - 21:26

I think I speak for everyone when I say...

Blah, Blah, Blah.

#22 sweetsam on 30 Jan 2008 - 21:31

People would respect if they accept reasonable measures. For example if a person makes a copy of the cd to listen in the car it should be accepted. But no. We have to tick people off calling that illegal. The more you irritate people with that sort of nonsense and like that is not enough you threaten insane punishment with no means to impose it... now people are just gonna roll on the floor laughing and do stuff just to challenge this crap.

#23 Optix Illusion on 30 Jan 2008 - 21:54

*Burp*

(3 replies) #24 lnxpro on 30 Jan 2008 - 21:54

hmm. ok. so i bought about 12 CDs last summer with the kind of musik i like. a few tracks here and there aren;t that great. so I have an MP3 CD player in my car... I ripped the tracks that I like from those 12 CDs and placed all of them on a single CD as an MP3 so I can listed to it in my car, randomly, without switching CDs every hour... is that illegal ?

If it is. I would like RIAA to send me a 24x CD changer for my car and a stereo system that can read that, so I do not have to change CDs while driving. Isn;t that ilelgal? working the stereo controls while driving so i can ghange CDs? then I get into an accident because i have to switch CDs?

If RIAA reads this. contact me so I can give you a non-trackable shipping address where you can mail me the changer.

Come on. so stupid. get a grip RIAA and go die somewhere quietly.

I will gladly ship you misprinted grenades to help with this. the print would say Take the pin out, throw it in the trash, release clip. wait 20 seconds then throw the grenade.

rofl. oops too late. hehehe

RIAA can go to hell for all I care.

nuff said.

#24.1 cork1958 on 31 Jan 2008 - 00:15

But,
I bet you're one of the goonie goo's goo's that drive around all day long with a cell phone glued to you ear?!
At least you won't get in a an accident messing with the cd player.

If you could only fill up one cd with 12 cd's you actually bought of stuff you supposedly liked, that stuff must not be that good to begin with either, so go ahead and steal it anyway.

#24.2 lnxpro on 31 Jan 2008 - 04:00

actually no. I drive about 4 hours a day max. and as far as cellphone goes. I use a bluetooth if i need to talk on the phone. But i rarely do. I do not get lost due to my gps. and I have internet on the laptop if i need directions.

The music i bought is the type I like. and more than 98% of the tracks on those CDs are all good.

I said I filled up a MP3 CD with all the tracks that I like off of all those 12 CDs. CD has 192 tracks now that's MP3 format.

#24.3 whocares78 on 31 Jan 2008 - 06:33

it depends on where you live, in australia, yes it is legal

#25 Skyfrog on 30 Jan 2008 - 22:10

So if you copy tracks from one of your own CDs to put in your Zune or iPod you owe them $1.5 million? What kind of crack are they smoking over there?

#26 zeta_immersion on 30 Jan 2008 - 22:10

I hope RIAA reads this ... (if it is not too hard for them) ... kiss my unshaved hairy ass and as Inxpro said above .. bring something good to the table such as going on the buss with a 24cd and try to listen to them and if put on an ipod off with your head

hehehee ... what is the adress i could send some farts or something asfixiate them all

#27 Gotenks98 on 30 Jan 2008 - 22:54

This will never pass because it is just too insane. That goes well beyond cruel and usual punishment to the point where you could counter-sue for 10 million.

Seriously do they really think that the majority of the folks that listen to music or watched movies have never dubbed stuff? Who here has never copied a cd/dvd/vhs or taped a show with vhs/tivo/dvdr? Very few people havent so why even go there. If they really want to go after someone they should go after the people who sell the cd/dvd/vhs media? Oh wait thats right alot of the big companies own these places already so they would be hurting themselves in the process.

#28 qwexor on 30 Jan 2008 - 22:57

Lol, your almost better off just physically stealing the CD from the store. You might get charged with petty theft but the fine would be considerably less.

#29 RedFlow on 30 Jan 2008 - 23:39

It's not like the RIAA is full of crazy people or anything....

(1 reply) #30 Unwonted on 31 Jan 2008 - 01:12

Why don't we just bring back stocks and flogging. It will be just like the 1500s again when the rich could get away with anything and the poor were prosecuted for taking the tiniest crumb of bread.

#30.1 Skyfrog on 31 Jan 2008 - 03:06

#31 Optix Illusion on 31 Jan 2008 - 02:31

Your right, and it is heading back in that direction....

#32 obsolete_power on 31 Jan 2008 - 03:02

**** the RIAA up the ass! People of Neowin, I ask you this. Why do you think so many lables are now going DRM-free?? If they were TRULY losing money because of online music theft, they wouldn't do that! They are going DRM-free to make a point. The music industry is only losing money because of garbage music that gets released and that people want to choose which songs to buy. They may not want to buy the entire album! This is exactly what I am going to do now. I am going on iTunes and I am going to pay 99c for a James Blunt song I want! I can easily steal music but I choose not to because good artists should be rewarded. Crappy artists deserve to have their music stolen! I hope people pirate their music and ruin their lives! Oh and the RIAA is very antiquitated! It got old long ago and now there needs to be someone to plant a bomb at their HQ and kill all those worthless assholes that use tax money to go after 90 year old grannies that have never even heard of a computer!

Last edited by obsolete_power on 31 Jan 2008 - 03:11

#33 koppit on 31 Jan 2008 - 04:22

Oh thank god for Canada.

#34 Eis on 31 Jan 2008 - 04:44

I'm sorry but that's just ridiculous.

#35 RAID 0 on 31 Jan 2008 - 05:21

Hey hey you guys... check out this website... all legal and FREE music downloads. Full albums. Awesome music from around the world.

Check it

#36 Orlando Rays on 31 Jan 2008 - 14:16

I don't even see how this helps the RIAA. There's no way they'll ever get that kind of money from their targeted defendants, and their tactics will only serve to scare more customers away. They're doing themselves more harm than good.

#37 turtledude23 on 31 Jan 2008 - 16:31

I think theyre charging even more outrageous amounts than before because they know theyre gonna fail soon and their plan of suing everyone is hopeless.

#38 C_Guy on 31 Jan 2008 - 18:40

In my day, people worked for a living.

Now they sue successful American corporations or they sue innocent civillians who are acting within their own rights.

I thought America was a land of freedom. Ha ha ha ha ha....

#39 Glassed Silver on 01 Feb 2008 - 01:11

wow... what can you say?
that's even for the RIAA surprising! O_o

Glassed Silver:mac

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