RIAA Afraid of Harvard

NewYorkCountryLawyer writes "According to a report on p2pnet.net, the RIAA's latest anti-college round of "early settlement" letters targets 7 out of 8 Ivy League schools, but continues to give Harvard University a wide berth. This is perhaps the most astonishing display of cowardice exhibited to date by the multinational cartel of SONY BMG, Warner Bros. Records, EMI, and Vivendi/Universal (the "Big Four" record companies, which are rapidly becoming less "big"). The lesson to be drawn by other colleges and universities: "All bullies are cowards. Appeasement of bullies doesn't work. Standing up to bullies and fighting back has a much higher success rate.""

Re:Cowardly? Give me a break.

[NewYorkCountryLawyer]

f you're a laywer for the RIAA, you are not paid to be brave. You are paid to further the agenda of the recording industry. If they believe suing Harvard students would hinder rather than help their cause, well is that really being "cowardly" or is it being smart? Would suing Harvard be "brave" or would it be counterproductive to their goals? I'm as disgusted with the RIAA's tactics as anyone, but this childish name calling is getting old. It seems like every day on the front page of Slashdot is some article title with an overblown ad hominem attack against persons, groups or companies that rub us the wrong way. C'mon, people. We're smart, educated and savvy, do we really need to stoop to this?

If you'd spent as much time as I have interacting with the people who are the victims of this litigation madness, I think you'd have a different take on it. This is really a very nasty campaign being run by some very nasty people. And the vast majority of its victims are defenseless people who don't deserve the anguish they are being put through.

And the tactics the RIAA lawyers use are inexcusable.

I've been in the litigation field for 34 years, and I've never seen anything like them.

Question. You say "I'm as disgusted with the RIAA's tactics as anyone". If you're aware of their doctored non-evidence, their misstatements of fact, their misstatements of law, their abuse of the federal judicial system, and their inappropriate tactics... are you suggesting something like that is not "stuff that matters" or "news for nerds"?

No it's not

[langelgjm]

The submitter of the story is Charles Nesson, who is Professor of Law at Harvard Law School. See also Wikipedia.

I'm not sure if you're confused or just being a karma whore with the links, but no, the submitter of the story is not Charles Nesson. It would appear to be Ray Beckerman. Or better still, Ray Beckerman. [wikipedia.org]

Re:No it's not

[NewYorkCountryLawyer]

The submitter of the story is Charles Nesson, who is Professor of Law at Harvard Law School. See also Wikipedia.

I'm not sure if you're confused or just being a karma whore with the links, but no, the submitter of the story is not Charles Nesson. It would appear to be Ray Beckerman. Or better still, Ray Beckerman [wikipedia.org].

Guilty as charged.

Re:Cowardly? Give me a break.

[NewYorkCountryLawyer]

If you're aware of their doctored non-evidence, their misstatements of fact, their misstatements of law, their abuse of the federal judicial system, and their inappropriate tactics

Sorry, I honestly was not aware that they doctored evidence and lied in court. Do you have any relevant links that give examples of their treachery? Sounds like a good Sunday afternoon read to me ;-) However, I still stand by my statement that calling the RIAA a coward for not suing Harvard is like calling me a coward because I won't pick a fight with Bas Ruten.

I could spend the next 2 days giving you examples; my blog is replete with examples. Here are just a few.

Here [blogspot.com] they were caught in a lie to the Judge; here [blogspot.com] the Judge figured out that they were lying about an "emergency" need to file their cases WITHOUT NOTICE to the other side; here [blogspot.com] we discuss the fact that even though their expert witness has admitted that their investigator did not "detect" an individual, the RIAA's lawyers continue to sign false court papers stating to the Court that their investigator "detected an individual"; here [blogspot.com]'s a recent pack of those lies which they submitted, in an undefended case, where the Judge realized that their first presentation of evidence didn't point to an infringement by the defendant; here [blogspot.com]'s that Judge, and here [blogspot.com]'s the State Attorney General of Oregon, catching them in those lies; and here [blogspot.com]'s the junk science put forth by their 'expert', whose real 'expertise' is getting LAN operators to fork over $76,000 at a time [blogspot.com] in protection money in order to make the RIAA and him go away.

Re:Incorrect Information

[NewYorkCountryLawyer]

This article is incorrect. Only 6 out of 8 Ivy League schools were targeted. The author seems to have mistaken Duke for Cornell.

You are absolutely right, I stand corrected. Duke was incorrectly included. The Ivy League schools targeted in this round were Brown, Columbia, Dartmouth, Princeton, Penn, and Yale. Cornell was targeted in September.

Re:What's happening at Yale?

[Comatose51]

Yale Law is one of the smallest in this country and very selective. Their philosophy is also different from Harvard. They place a great deal of value on public service with strengths in constitutional law and focus on human rights. This is why the school produces quite a few politicians and judges: the Clintons, Gerald Ford, justices Alito and Thomas, and Michael Mukasey.

Re:not cowardice

[NewYorkCountryLawyer]

The strategy of the scavenger, the coward and the bully. The only effective response is to make sure there are no easy targets, even if that means representing the most vulnerable pro bono or establishing some kind of legal defense fund.

Agreed. Here are 3 recommended places:
Expert Witness Defense Fund [fsf.org] (For technical expert witnesses, technical consultants, and computer forensic examiners);
Marie Lindor Legal Defense Fund [blogspot.com] (For defense of UMG v. Lindor [blogspot.com]);
Jammie Thomas Legal Defense Fund [blogspot.com] (For defense of Capitol v. Thomas [blogspot.com]).

Re:Try Freenet

[NewYorkCountryLawyer]

Out of about 30,000 cases, one has gone to trial. And you're drawing a generalization from that single verdict?

PS That case isn't over yet.

Re:Cowardly? Give me a break.

[NewYorkCountryLawyer]

Can't the attorneys be punished and thereby discourage those practices?

Yes they can be.

Re:Who are the cowards?

[NewYorkCountryLawyer]

It's a smart move not to sue someone who is willing to fight back when you have little to no case.

Yes of course it's a smart move. The RIAA has never sued ANY college or university, because they know if they did they would have a fight on their hands.