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SciITech |a Tuesday, Septe The Battalion Page 6A • Tuesday, Septem RIAA offers pirates amnesty, sues others By Alex Veiga THE ASSOCIATED PRESS LOS ANGELES — The recording indus try filed hundreds of lawsuits Monday accus ing individual music lovers of illegally down loading and sharing songs over the Internet. The lawsuits, which had been expected, underscore the industry’s increasing aggres siveness in cracking down on the trading of pirated music files over file-sharing networks such as Kazaa. The 261 lawsuits were filed in federal courts around the country by the Recording Industry Association of America on behalf of its members, which include Universal Music Group, BMG, EMI, Sony Music and Warner Music. More waves of lawsuits were expected, and the total could eventually reach the thousands, the RIAA said. “Nobody likes playing the heavy and having to resort to litigation,” RIAA president u ... When your product is being regularly stolen, there comes a time when you have to take ... action. ” Cary Sherman said in a statement. “But when your product is being regularly stolen, there comes a time when you have to take appro priate action.” The music industry says file-sharing is a violation of copyright laws and blames the practice for a 31 percent decline in compact disc music sales in the last three years, which have dropped 31 percent drop since mid- 2000. The individuals sued Monday were sharing, on average, more than 1,000 songs each, the group said. The recording industry also announced an amnesty program for people who admit they illegally share music online. They must, among other things, promise to delete any illegally downloaded music and not partici pate in illegal file-trading again. Individuals targeted by Monday’s lawsuits would be ineligible. In June, the industry announced that it would target hundreds of individual comput er users who illegally share music files, hop ing to cripple online piracy by suing fans. The announcement came just weeks after U.S. appeals court rulings requiring Internet providers to readily identify sub scribers suspected of illegally sharing music and movie files. Earlier, the recording industry association sued four college students it accused of making thousands of songs available for illegal downloading on campus net works. The group settled those cases for $12,500 to $17,000 each. Monday’s lawsuits result ed from subpoenas sent to Internet service providers and others seeking to identify roughly 1,600 people the group believes engaged in illegal music sharing. Coleman, R-Minn., chair- — Cary Sherman RIAA president Sen. Norm man of the Senate Governmental Affairs’ Permanent Subcommittee on Investigations, has promised hearings on the industry’s use of copyright subpoenas to track downloaders. Coleman has expressed concerns that the campaign could ensnare innocent people, such as parents and grandparents whose chil dren and grandchildren are using their com puters to download music. He also said some downloaders themselves might not know they are breaking the law. U.S. copyright laws allow for damages of $750 to $150,000 for each song offered ille gally on a person’s computer, but the industry group has said it would be open to settlement proposals from defendants. Amnesty proposal not a realistic solutioi For many col lege students, the Recording Industry Association of America is an unimportant body. But for Internet file sharers, many of whom are college TECH Perspectlu.es George Deutsch students, the RIAA has come to rep resent the bad guys in its showdown with individual Internet users over the common practice of file sharing. The music and movie swapping giant Napster was successfully sued by the RIAA and the Motion Picture Association of America in 2(X)I, forcing the company to cease mak ing its online file-swapping services available to users. But since then, the RIAA has had little success suing other file-sharing services such as KaZaa, which has forced the recording industry to take aim at individual file sharers. So far, 1,600 people — representing the worst file-sharing offenders — have fallen under the industry’s gun and are facing subpoenas. But it is impossible to sue every body, which is exactly what the RIAA must be thinking. The RIAA announced yesterday its plans to grant amnesty to repentant music and movie downloaders, but only after announcing that it would sue 261 more file swappers. As terms of the RIAA’s proposed agreement, file sharers not wanting to be sued by the group would have to sign a notarized form admitting to illegal file swapping and agree to delete music files from their hard drives and never illegally trade files again. For most music sharers, this will be a hard pill to swallow. It is presumptuous and arrogant for the RIAA to make such a propo sition, as there is no guarantee it could successfully prosecute every one who has ever illegally shared or downloaded files, assuming all these people found. And even if people do sign the agreement, the record industry cannot guarantee 1 that its terms are being met. The recording industry is operat ing under the assumption that file sharers fear its many lawsuits, which may not be true. With the exception of the Napster suit, the RIAA hasn’t had tremendous suc cess stopping file sharing. For example, the parent companies of both Morpheus and KaZaa were able to beat RIAA lawsuits this year; KaZaa in the Netherlands and Morpheus in the United Many suits still remain unr but the fact that KaZ Morpheus are still up am Witln L60C part of the RIAA. fact, it remains to be - er any of the 1,600 currr subpoena w ill even be pc and, if so, to what de: nit the conviction of & . some of which were the; lay, the RIAA’s live By Mar THE ASSO( sU holds no weight. As JAA me from state I)|v (>( Dinmands little ns; ■t users, as the nw law suits doesn't It the musicians, but instea: >rd labels. I he record industry's atiem: > file sharing through an air: .•cment will not work, ft: continue to illegal!) shart ong as CDs are overpriced.: .ill take more than a dbpr i bargain to change that. enough to show that not everyoi fears the recording industry. TT amnesty offer will only reinforc the belief that there is little th RIAA can do to punish file swap pers. The agreement reeks of desperation. The RIAA also neglected to men tion an important point: the group does not represent every copyright holder whose property is being illegally shared. So just because a given file sharer signs the RIAA amnesty agreement does not mean he won’t be sued. It Jm just means he i® won't be sued Jp by the record- w ing industry. That fact seems ™ to be worth mentioning |o Dauwin • THE BATTALION Sometimes the herd instinct is wrong. Want proof? Our integrated business model is gaining market share, net income and return on equity, at the expense of traditional investment banks. We’re doing more deals, which means a bigger challenge for you and a better opportunity to stand out. Join us and be a leader. Texas A & M University Presentation Global Portfolio Management Wednesday, September 10, 2003 7:00 p.m. — Rudder Tower, Room 402 bofa.com/careers Banc of America Securities We are an Equal Opportunity Employer. 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