RIAA, Stop Suing Tech Investors! 114
The RIAA isn't just suing tens of thousands of music consumers; they've also begun filing lawsuits naming the directors of and investors in tech companies that they believe contribute to copyright infringement. NewYorkCountryLawyer writes: "ZDNet urges the big recording industries to stop suing tech investors, and cites the draft legislation that I posted, which would immunize from secondary copyright infringement liability any work done by a director in 'his or her capacity as a member of the board of directors or committee thereof,' and any conduct by an investor based solely upon his or her having 'invested in any such corporation, including any oversight, monitoring, or due diligence activities in connection therewith.'"
Re:Limited Liability? (Score:1, Insightful)
the whole point of corporations was to limit investors' exposure to the amount of their investment.
i would have to rephrase that as: "...the whole point of corporations was to print money without any personal accountability..."
Re:I'm pretty much in "broken record" mode now... (Score:4, Insightful)
The vast majority of the public doesn't have a clue what slashdot is. The vast majority of the music buying public is essentially clueless about nearly anything related to law and rights and all that. The popular commercial news will not report on these stories for a wide variety of reasons. Even if they covered the story attempting to demonize the people being sued, it would be VERY difficult to spin the situation to look this way considering the targets and especially considering the ones that were excused from litigation once they were identified.
I don't buy music... but not for the reasons you might think. My reasons include 1) today's new stuff sucks, 2) I am not moved by music as much as other people seem to be, 3) I realize that music is not a possession but a thing to be licensed but is owned and even controlled by someone else.
But take heart. The movement of public attraction to the indies is growing steadily... perhaps not fast enough but still growing. The use of DRM technologies is also on the decline which is also indication of where things are going. But the progress may never completely uproot the real problem here:
The public is being led around by the nose by a LOT of popular notions. People think they need a "good credit rating" (aka the "I love Debt rating") and they think they need all of the crap and nonsense they buy. I am guilty of all of this same stupidity but I see it and increasingly fight this addiction to plastic. I gave up debt financing on anything but houses and cars and will soon give up on debt financing for cars as well. Spending cash and watching your checking and savings accounts erode with each individual item is far more sobering than watching "bills paid" come out of my accounts. (We see bills as necessary to pay and so we don't anguish about that as much right?)
Okay, this seems to be going off-topic a bit. But the point is that we are living in this consumerist culture that will literally require a cultural revolution to get us out of. If Obama were REALLY interested in bringing this country out of financial ruin, he would start movements that would result in a cultural revolution or at least a return to more simple values. This consumerist culture makes a few of people rich off of nonsense and crap... but that's not as bad as the other, larger side of that statement! This consumerist culture makes a lot of people poor because of nonsense and crap.
The music and movie industries are part of a larger classification identified as the entertainment industry of which the other forms of media are enlisted members. (So is it any mystery that 'the media' doesn't want to cover this topic?) Entertainment is not considered to be a necessity by the standards of most people and when people start watching their spending, that's usually the first to go.
Oh for crying out loud (Score:5, Insightful)
Lets think about how this would have affected the development of: the personal computer, the VCR, the tape deck, CD burners, torrent distribution, the xerox machine, the printing press...
What's really going on?
RIAA warfare against "piracy?"
or
The RIAA is attempting to buy legislation which would allow them to destroy technologies that allow independent artists to compete with them.
Probably an even worse idea (Score:5, Insightful)
Suing individuals for ridiculous sums of money was like a playground bully beating up scrawny kids for their lunch money. It's easy, but there's not much profit in it.
Suing investors who can actually afford to mount a legal defense for similar sums of money is like trying to beat up the principal for his lunch money. And he's been itching to try out that new paddle.
Re:Sue Intel! And AMD! (Score:3, Insightful)
This is more spot-on than the joker seems to realize.
It wasn't a joke.
Re:Probably an even worse idea (Score:4, Insightful)
Suing individuals for ridiculous sums of money was like a playground bully beating up scrawny kids for their lunch money. It's easy, but there's not much profit in it. Suing investors who can actually afford to mount a legal defense for similar sums of money is like trying to beat up the principal for his lunch money.
It's not the suing they're interested in. It's the sending a message to angel and venture capital investors, that they should invest in a different industry and stay far away from digital music, that they enjoy. If you're a VC, and you've got 100 different applicants from 15 different industries asking for a $250k investment.... it's pretty easy to decide to take a pass on the digital music startup and go somewhere else.
Re:Go for it! (Score:4, Insightful)
If the RIAA starts suing well-heeled investors, then these investors will stop investing money in American companies, and take their money elsewhere.
Then who's going to pay your grandmother's pension? And who's going to give you a job so you can save up for your pension?
Re:Legislation to protect *investors*, hell no (Score:3, Insightful)
>gun
It's been done before.
Re:Oh for crying out loud (Score:3, Insightful)
And that's why they are not going to stop -- it's life and death to them. The alternatives society has don't involve the existence of the RIAA and its member companies.
Music publishers exist to identify music that large numbers of people would like and make it available. In the past, there was really only one way to do this and the record companies grew up around this method. We now have a much more efficient method -- let the masses sort out popularity and distribute it electronically. Sites that rank music based on some measure of popularity and genre provide a much more efficient method for individuals to find music that they might like.
Other technological changes have made the publishers redundant -- the cost of recording music has dropped dramatically. There is no reason that an artist should need a publisher/label for publicity -- its not a unique skill, except for one factor: the label's hold over what is played on the radio.
So, anything at all that threatens the RIAA's hold over radio playlists must (in the eyes of the RIAA) be killed off at all costs, because the alternative is the death of the RIAA. They are like a cornered animal -- almost defeated, but at their most dangerous.
Re:Sue Intel! And AMD! (Score:3, Insightful)
Hey? Why the troll moderation?
Oh. Right. Americans + sex = not funny? Really?? :D
Stop being prude. I might really do that to a very annoying salesman. And it would be very funny, to see him running away in fear.
And the rest of by comment (about the PC tax) is a fact. At least I did not heat the law getting overturned.
Not to sound as presomptuous as you, but (Score:2, Insightful)
Citation Needed