RIAA Case May Be Televised On Internet 221
NewYorkCountryLawyer writes "In SONY BMG Music Entertainment v. Tenenbaum, the Boston case in which the defendant is represented by Prof. Charles Nesson and his CyberLaw class at Harvard Law School, the defendant has requested that audio-visual coverage of the court proceedings be made available to the public via the internet. Taking the RIAA at its word — that the reason for its litigation program is to 'educate the public' — the defendant's motion (PDF) queries why the RIAA would oppose public access: 'Net access to this litigation will allow an interested and growingly sophisticated public to understand the RIAA's education campaign. Surely education is the purpose of the Digital Deterrence Act of 1999, the constitutionality of which we are challenging. How can RIAA object? Yet they do, fear of sunlight shone upon them.'"
Televise? (Score:1, Informative)
Televise. I keep seeing folks use that word in relation to the intertubes. I do not think it means what you think it means. Just because my monitor can show television programs does not make my computer a television. Perhaps the 'growingly sophisticated poster' was looking for 'broadcast'? /getoffmylawn
Re:Trade Secrets (Score:5, Informative)
I doubt that argument works when it's the defendant that's looking to get the legal proceedings broadcast.
The revolution will NOT be televised. (Score:2, Informative)
"The revolution will not be televised.
The revolution will not be brought to you by Xerox
In 4 parts without commercial interruptions.
The revolution will not show you pictures of Nixon
blowing a bugle and leading a charge by John
Mitchell, General Abrams and Spiro Agnew to eat
hog maws confiscated from a Harlem sanctuary.
The revolution will not be televised."
- Gil Scott-Heron.
Sorry, the RIAA folk have no souls (Score:3, Informative)
Have you ever seen a reflection of Dracula in a mirror?
No, because he has no soul.
Have you, or will you ever see televised pictures of RIAA folks.
No, because they have no souls.
Read the fine print in your camcorder manual: "This device is not able to capture images of folks with no souls."
Re:To whom knows... (Score:4, Informative)
Because a court case isn't supposed to be a popularity contest and it would bring lots of irrelevant posturing, arguments and expla[...]nations into the court room? One thing is being consistent about what you say in court and out of court, another is to turning it into another PR channel. The judge would have to rein them in endlessly to stick to the legal facts rather than trying to score points with the viewers.
Actually making one's case to a jury is not much different than making one's case to the public. The jury is composed of members from all walks of life, who are basically selected because they have no special knowledge of the legal issues or of the facts, and have no relationship with the parties or their counsel. I.e., the community. Our judicial system was predicated upon the principle that the proceedings are open to the public. And with good reason. If one can expand the size of the public, it is all to the good.
RIAA, Why only in the US? (Score:1, Informative)
RIAA only tries to hurt people in US, why they do'nt go to South America countries like Peru where the sale of ilegal music CD's and DVD's or movie DVD's is normal?, you can go to any mall and all the stores only offer "pirate" cd's or dvd's, When I went there couldn't see any legal music store. A peruvian guy told me that Bluckboster had to leave the country because nobody rented movies, when you can get the dvd for $0.50 cents, but those overseas don't count, only the american people, the ones that can pay easier and are closer, my policy? I forgot when was the last time I bougth a music Cd.
Re:To whom knows... (Score:1, Informative)
The jury is composed of members [...] who are basically selected because they have no special knowledge of the legal issues or of the facts
Only in the USA would somebody think that this is a good thing. Public participation in trials etc. is important, but I cannot for my life fathom how anyone would think that having people selected BECAUSE they don't know what they're doing (if you'll allow to overdramatise a bit there) would be a good idea.
I know what the idea is, of course: keeping The Government(tm) in check by having Ordinary People(tm) reach the actual verdict. But in reality, as you say, it all boils down to who's coming up with the more emotional argument.
Seriously. "Jury of your peers" makes about as much sense as requiring people to undergo "surgery by their peers" because you distrust doctors.
Re:RIAA Is an intimidation organisation (Score:4, Informative)
Fear of the unknown. The more people know about what to expect in a trial V. RIAA the less they will fear it. Lawyers know all about court and trials but, the average person knows very little about what to expect at a trial of this magnitude and they are probably scared to death of the possibility of being on the wrong side of one of these. Perhaps people will not be so afraid to share music files after seeing this trial and that has to scare the hell out of RIAA. To think that one of these trials could actually lead to more music files being shared instead of less. P.S. A big thanks to NYCL for all his hard work!
Thanks, GeorgeS. Another of the RIAA's biggest fears is that a publicly available videotape of the proceedings will assist defendant's lawyers in preparing for future cases, and thus reduce the defendants' cost of litigation. The RIAA lawyers' primary goal is to drive up the cost to the defendants of defending themselves. If they could have it their way, they would want every case enshrouded in an all-inclusive confidentiality order.
Re:There is a better way... (Score:4, Informative)
Singles don't compare to single track downloads.
Singles were viable back when radio ruled, and each album was constructed to have a single hit, which was what was played on radio. Then people could get the one hit cheaper. Plus another song of the record company's choice as the B-side filler. But if they wanted any of the other songs on the album, they would have to buy the album.
If the download services switched to selling individual tracks for $6, and only select songs bundled with another song of the record company's choice, I think online sales would go the same way as single sales.
Re:RIAA Faceplant anyone? (Score:4, Informative)
I would like the motion to pass so I can watch the RIAA face plant as they try to maintain such flimsy cases in the face of common sense and reason. The fact that they have stopped pursuing any additional Individual cases shows us just how futile their efforts really are... even they recognize it. Do they have any more legs to stand on?
Yes but are you so sure they've "stopped pursuing any additional individual cases"?
I'm not [blogspot.com]
Re:RIAA, Why only in the US? (Score:3, Informative)
Because one of the As in RIAA stands for America and America is the colloquial term for the U.S.A. because it's the only country on both American continents to use the word America in its name.
http://www.riaa.com/aboutus.php [riaa.com]
Don't you think that if that could find a way to expand their money grubbing, they would?
Re:To whom knows... (Score:4, Informative)
Re:broadcast will only be to SUBSCRIBING public (Score:3, Informative)
Re:What sort of a bloody name is Zavvi anyway?! (Score:3, Informative)
(*) Side note: What's the accepted method for showing a historical price in another currency in today's terms? Do I convert pounds to dollars at (e.g.) 1995 rates first *then* factor in dollar inflation. Or do I factor in pound inflation first then convert from pounds to dollars at modern-day rates?
I've never heard of one or the other being preferred (most journalists probably don't even understand the difference), but you should get approximately the same result either way. Inflation of one currency more than another changes the exchange rate correspondingly. If you don't get the same result, then one of the measures you used for inflation is not actually measuring inflation in the way you want. (For example, the CPI as published by the BLS [wikipedia.org] probably understates the true amount of currency inflation, for political reasons.)