[Rumori] latest riaa news Billboard vandalism and other illegal art (fwd)

[das]

from their site....


                                                           June 25, 2003

               Recording Industry To Begin Collecting Evidence And
Preparing
               Lawsuits Against File "Sharers" Who Illegally Offer Music
Online

               Launching Data-Gathering Effort To Identify Peer-to-Peer
               Infringers Who Continue To Offer Music To Millions

               WASHINGTON (June 25, 2003) -- Starting tomorrow, the
Recording Industry
               Association of America (RIAA) will begin gathering
evidence and preparing
               lawsuits against individual computer users who are
illegally offering to
               "share" substantial amounts of copyrighted music over
peer-to-peer
               networks. In making the announcement, the music industry
cited its
               multi-year effort to educate the public about the
illegality of unauthorized
               downloading, and underscored the fact that major music
companies have
               made vast catalogues of music available to dozens of
services to help create
               legitimate, high quality and inexpensive alternatives to
online piracy.

               "The law is clear and the message to those who are
distributing substantial
               quantities of music online should be equally clear ---
this activity is illegal,
               you are not anonymous when you do it, and engaging in it
can have real
               consequences," said RIAA president Cary Sherman. "We'd
much rather
               spend time making music then dealing with legal issues in
courtrooms. But
               we cannot stand by while piracy takes a devastating toll
on artists, musicians,
               songwriters, retailers and everyone in the music
industry."

               The RIAA expects to use the data it collects as the basis
for filing what could
               ultimately be thousands of lawsuits charging individual
peer-to-peer music
               distributors with copyright infringement. The first round
of suits could take
               place as early as mid-August.

               Over the past year, the industry has responded to consumer
demand by
               making its music available to a wide range of authorized
online subscription,
               streaming and download services that make it easier than
ever for fans to
               get music legally and inexpensively on the Internet.
Moreover, these services
               offer music reliably, in the highest sound quality, and
without the risks of
               exposure to viruses or other undesirable material.

               Federal law and the federal courts have been quite clear
on what is not legal.
               It is illegal to make available for download copyrighted
works without
               permission of the copyright owner. Court decisions have
affirmed this as well.
               In the recent Grokster decision, for example, the court
confirmed that the
               users of that system were guilty of copyright
infringement. And in last year's
               Aimster decision, the judge wrote that the idea that
"ongoing, massive, and
               unauthorized distribution and copying of copyrighted works
somehow
               constitutes 'personal use' is specious and unsupported."

               "Once we begin our evidence-gathering process, any
individual computer
               user who continues to offer music illegally to millions of
others will run the
               very real risk of facing legal action in the form of civil
lawsuits that will cost
               violators thousands of dollars and potentially subject
them to criminal
               prosecution," said Sherman.

               To gather evidence against P2P users who make illegal
downloading possible,
               the RIAA will be using software that scans the public
directories available to
               any user of a peer-to-peer network. These directories,
which allow users to
               find the material they are looking for, list all the files
that other users of the
               network are currently offering to distribute. When the
software finds a user
               who is offering to distribute copyrighted music files, it
downloads some of the
               infringing files, along with the date and time it accessed
the files.

               Additional information that is publicly available from
these systems allows the
               RIAA to then identify their Internet Service Provider
(ISP). The RIAA can
               then serve a subpoena on the ISP requesting the name and
address of the
               individual whose account was being used to distribute
copyrighted music.
               Under the Digital Millennium Copyright Act (DMCA), ISPs
must provide
               copyright holders with such information when there is
reason to believe
               copyrights are being infringed. Almost all ISPs disclose
this obligation in the
               User's Terms of Service.