This is a court decision from the US District Court for the District of Maine.  It was made on January 25, 2008.  In the case, the RIAA sued 27 University of Maine students for copyright infringement, because of their use of the Gnutella file-sharing network.  9 of the students, referred to as “Does,” moved to dismiss the complaint, but in this decision the court rejected the motion.  The court said that infringement consists of, “..downloading and distribution of copyrighted sound recordings,” and that “…record companies have the exclusive right to reproduce [the recordings].”  Lastly, the court said that the students’ infringement was “willful,” and, “intentional.”
    In the decision, the court explained how the RIAA discovered that these students were sharing files.  It was explained that the RIAA hired a private company called MediaSentry to log onto the file-sharing network, and download music files from students who were sharing them.  MediaSentry then gave the RIAA the students’ IP addresses and the files in question.  The RIAA reviewed the list of files being shared to see if they were actually copyrighted material, and then listened to them to verify this.    After this determination, the RIAA gave the IP addresses to the University of Maine and asked them to identify the students.  The students were sharing from 81-2903 copyrighted files.
    Learning exactly how the RIAA identifies infringers was extremely important to my paper.  This case explains each step in the process of deciding to file the lawsuit, and what the RIAA’s definition of infringement is.  These details allow me to make a judgement of whether or not I think the lawsuits are fair, which is one of the main discussions of my paper.
    First of all, simply reproducing a copyrighted work should not be considered copyright infringement.  If a person legally purchases a CD, and wants to copy the files to his or her computer, he or she should definitely be allowed to.  If the user does not distribute these files, I don’t believe he or she is breaking the law.  Secondly, once these files are being shared on a P2P network, the RIAA claims that they listen to every song to verify that it is indeed copyrighted material, but I question whether or not that is true.  After reviewing thousands of file names, does the RIAA really take the time to listen to every single song? 
    Based on the RIAA’s process of finding infringers, it seems that people are getting caught for making files available on a P2P network, but not for actually downloading copyrighted files.  For example, if I downloaded a thousand songs and took them out of my shared folder, the RIAA would not be able to discover my actions.  Therefore, the people who upload files are considered criminals, but those who download and steal them are not necessarily prosecuted.
    The students being sued had from 81-2903 shared music files, and this makes me wonder how these specific 29 students were chosen.  Certainly there were other infringers who had more than 81 songs.  Assuming this is true, the RIAA gives no reason why these individuals were chosen.  It seems that the RIAA is suing people randomly, which isn’t a fair way to file lawsuits.  There needs to be more specific criteria.

This is a document called RIAA v. The People: Two Years Later, which is on the Electronic Frontier Foundation’s website.  It was written in 2005, which is two years after the file sharing lawsuits started.  The article provides information about the legality of the lawsuits along with their results, and it also shares personal stories about individuals who have been sued.  One interesting note is that the RIAA used to offer amnesty to anyone who deleted their copyrighted files and signed an agreement to stop file sharing, but some of these people were sued anyway.  The RIAA was sued for false advertising.
The EFF wants the public to know that the people being sued are chosen randomly, and there is no end in sight to the flood of lawsuits.  The lawsuits have not worked at all, and “Today, downloading from P2P networks is more popular than ever, despite the widespread public awareness of the lawsuits.”  The number of P2P users increases every month.  89 percent of high school students reported that they knew file-sharing was against the law, and that they would continue doing it anyway.  The EFF suggests cutting the prices of songs on iTunes (because there are 35 times as many songs downloaded illegally as there are downloaded on iTunes), or having the record companies collectively license music to individuals for a flat fee of around five dollars a month.
    The EFF shares the stories of many people who have been sued and are in terrible financial situations, to elicit the sympathy of the public.  For example, a 71 year-old grandfather was sued, along with a 12 year-old girl who had a single mother.
    This document is extremely useful to my argument because it provides statistical evidence that the lawsuits have not slowed down file sharing, which was their goal.  The RIAA wanted to use the lawsuits to educate people, but people clearly don’t care about the legality of their downloading.  P2P programs are extremely easy to design, and even if they add filters to the popular ones, other unfiltered applications will be created eventually.  The RIAA needs to take drastic action in the form of large-scale licensing, or their problems will never be solved.
    While I agree with the EFF on most accounts, I strongly disagree with their use of sob-stories to promote their views.  It is unfortunate that some people with very little income were sued by the RIAA, but a person’s financial situation should not affect whether or not they are sued.  If the RIAA is going to file lawsuits, they should sue the users with the most copyrighted material, regardless of their income.  The whole strategy of using lawsuits to stop file sharing, however, just doesn’t seem like it will ever work.  And hopefully, ISPs and universities will do their best to protect the identities of their users.

http://www.eff.org/IP/P2P/RIAAatTWO_FINAL.pdf

This is a document called RIAA v. The People: Two Years Later, which is on the Electronic Frontier Foundation’s website. It was written in 2005, which is two years after the file sharing lawsuits started. The article provides information about the legality of the lawsuits along with their results, and it also shares personal stories about individuals who have been sued. One interesting note is that the RIAA used to offer amnesty to anyone who deleted their copyrighted files and signed an agreement to stop file sharing, but some of these people were sued anyway. The RIAA was sued for false advertising.
The EFF wants the public to know that the people being sued are chosen randomly, and there is no end in sight to the flood of lawsuits. The lawsuits have not worked at all, and “Today, downloading from P2P networks is more popular than ever, despite the widespread public awareness of the lawsuits.” The number of P2P users increases every month. 89 percent of high school students reported that they knew file-sharing was against the law, and that they would continue doing it anyway. The EFF suggests cutting the prices of songs on iTunes (because there are 35 times as many songs downloaded illegally as there are downloaded on iTunes), or having the record companies collectively license music to individuals for a flat fee of around five dollars a month.
The EFF shares the stories of many people who have been sued and are in terrible financial situations, to elicit the sympathy of the public. For example, a 71 year-old grandfather was sued, along with a 12 year-old girl who had a single mother.
This document is extremely useful to my argument because it provides statistical evidence that the lawsuits have not slowed down file sharing, which was their goal. The RIAA wanted to use the lawsuits to educate people, but people clearly don’t care about the legality of their downloading. P2P programs are extremely easy to design, and even if they add filters to the popular ones, other unfiltered applications will be created eventually. The RIAA needs to take drastic action in the form of large-scale licensing, or their problems will never be solved.
While I agree with the EFF on most accounts, I strongly disagree with their use of sob-stories to promote their views. It is unfortunate that some people with very little income were sued by the RIAA, but a person’s financial situation should not affect whether or not they are sued. If the RIAA is going to file lawsuits, they should sue the users with the most copyrighted material, regardless of their income. The whole strategy of using lawsuits to stop file sharing, however, just doesn’t seem like it will ever work. And hopefully, ISPs and universities will do their best to protect the identities of their users.