BREAKING NEWS

The RIAA says it's filed hundreds of lawsuits in the first wave of potentially thousands of lawsuits.

(Update) According to one source the number is 261)

At the time of this post, the association hadn't released information about its so-called 'amnesty program,' although it's mentioned it in the press release, to wit:

(Update)The info is is now availble on Musicunited.org (owned by the RIAA)

If you want to read the details without giving the RIAA your IP address by contacting their site, they are downloadable from boycott-riaa.
2 page PDF describing the program
2 page PDF of the affidavit

"[...] the RIAA announced that the industry is prepared to grant what amounts to amnesty to P2P users who voluntarily identify themselves and pledge to stop illegally sharing music on the Internet. The RIAA will guarantee not to sue file sharers who have not yet been identified in any RIAA investigations and who provide a signed and notarized affidavit in which they promise to respect recording-company copyrights."

Remember - the RIAA does NOT represent all copyright holders. It acts only for artists and labels, not songwriters or publishers who could still sue after obtaining subpoenas for the information you provided to the RIAA.

The timing is typical RIAA: the announcment comes the day before the Senate Judiciary Hearing and will no doubt will be referred to by Cary-Sue Sherman during those hearings.

We'll keep you updated as we receive more information and we'll post the full text shortly.

Sorry about that folks we accidentally deleted the previous version of this...

Who's down for a demonstration in Washington? I looked at CNN today and saw in big juicy text.. "RIAA sues file-swappers". For the uninformed, this may instill fear. Why don't I see "Thousand BOYCOTT the RIAA".. or "RIAA's claims are unfounded and illogical". CNN working for the bastards now too?

I really believe that it's time to make some noise about the boycott. I'm almost willing to make the trip to CNN hq in Atlanta, or the CNN center in NYC and hold picket signs outside of Solidad Obrien's window!

Who's with me?

If you choose amnesty you might as well choose castration. Either way you're going to end up proving that you don't have any balls.

Uh, iostreamh, see the article Ownership 101 on this site about why CNN and others aren't broadcasting both sides of the story. Anyway, peace.

umm, yeah CNN is technically working for the RIAA. CNN is owned by AOL Time Warner.

well i'm relieved i'm not in there. but that doesnt mean much. there's nothing much we can do to defend ourselves against an army of lawyers, and that's the whole point. the RIAA tries to claim victory over its consumers who have no defense, and they claim that it's some big 'victory.'

Good point MerylStryfe. Like I said.. we need to make some noise.... How about a flashmob?

I'd really like to know how they picked the 261 out of over a thousand they went after in round one? For example, what about the daughter of a Senator that was 'overlooked'. Or the odds that anyone with the ability to actually defend themselves would be passed by so they could go after the easy target wins, in order to 'scare' more people away from file sharing?

There is something truly obscene about this entire system, how they have 100% transparency looking in, but are hidden by a shroud of secrecy when it comes to answering the 'whys' and 'hows' on their side of the equation? Does that really seem 'fair'?

A flashmob would be great...I looked at a few articles about how they take place...ayone got any experience organizing a flash mob?

Can somebody point me to the link where you can check your isp against who they are filing suits against?

For anyone who wants to understand the structure of corporate media as to why it behaves as such, You should go out right now and buy a copy of Noam Chomsky's Manufacturing Consent. Professor Chomsky is greatly respected for the work he's done and has worked tirelessly to examine and explain the relationship between media and corporate/political interests. A very good man and the truely deserving of the title "activist".

To all independent musicians and bands ...

This is what you've been waiting for. An industry giant, called the RIAA, destroying all of their music loving customers.

Indie music now has the best chance of all to attract the buying consumer away from the sue-happy labels.

Look around, Indie music and services are poping up everywhere.

"Recent research has revealed that independent record labels - generally those producing the most original music - are still seeing increasing revenues, because quality will always sell."

http://silicon.com/analysis/500019/1/5911.html

Churchkey: if a suit is filed against you, you'd directly recieve notice. They aren't going to not tell you and then call you up and yell at you when you don't show up for court.

All bets are off now, it's go time! DIE RIAA!!

If I was one of the people being sued I wouldn't bother showing up in court. I wouldn't allow the RIAA to waste my time.

All new posters,welcome! If you are downloading ANY Riaa product.. STOP! NOW!! .. if you are buying any Riaa product .. STOP! NOW!! We have been boycotting the Riaa on this site for a while now. Keep your eye to the posts here, they contain valuable information and guidance from experiences posters that you can use. If you haven't written your congressperson.. WRITE! NOW!!.. let them feel the heat. If you are elegible and you haven't registered to vote.. REGISTER NOW! It is free and easy to do. NOW IS THE TIME!!
Let them know that you will not buy "criminal-inducing" products!!

BOYCOTT. EDUCATE. REGISTER. VOTE.
ARE YOU REGISTERED AND READY?

You guys gotta read this one...geezuz!

http://www.cnn.com/2003/LAW/08/07/findlaw.analysis.hamilton.music/index.html

She doesn't even understand the difference between downloading, making available for downloading, or uploading....

Photo of Larry Flynt and Cary Sherman

http://www.nindy.com/sonyporn.html

(In my vague memory, wasn't there a 'Flynt' that owned Hustler magazine or something like that ?)

Damn it! This is getting far too corrupt to even believe! That CNN article presumes to tell the public what is "moral"; morality is completely relative to whom one might ask. 'Tis sickening to see what the majority of the public is being fed. One-sided all the way... Way to go public media!

Here is something really stupid that Sue em all sherman said:
Sherman predicted "subsequent waves of litigation" determined by "how many lawsuits we can manage at any one time." He said money earned from civil penalties or settlements would pay for the RIAA's anti-piracy campaign.


I say:
SO THE MONEY YOU WIN WILL GO TO FIGHT ONLINE PIRACY, WHAT ABOUT THE ARTISTS AND OTHERS, YOU GREEDY ......

After reading the CNN article ,I just can't believe a thing they say. Its just like their coverage of politics, it's all about what the big boys want you to hear! Day after Day of B.S.

Does any one know where I can get a past post. I was thinkig about sending the quote by some RIAA a** about how the fourth amendment does not prohibit private partys or something like this to my congress person and senate person
and ask them if this is the way they feel, may not get much attetion but you never know???? hmmm

CNN and most other news organizations apparently do not want to give us any political light either. Remember, the RIAA is also a part of the Media, and sadly, the Media are some of the biggest manipulators in this country. The RIAA can easily sway CNN's opinion one way or another using control over the company. AOL Time-Warner can easily force the news. That is why you hear these big elaborate and fear-provoking titles like "RIAA SUES MULTIPLE FILE-SHARERS" or something similar to that effect. They will also never mention anything about boycotts, because they do not want to let the boycott become known. They do not want people to join it, and the best way to keep them from doing so is to keep it from being known. Underhanded schemes and lies is what the Media, and the RIAA, do best.

hey, im sharing over 2000 mp3's right now, over 7 gigs. (Of course, I am sharing about 50 times as much in movies.)
Come and get me.

You know, 3000 people died on 9/11/2001.

Didnt stop me from flying several times afterwards, - just because I like the speed, convenience, and the food on planes.

If a low-probability death doesnt stop me from doing what I like, then an even lower-probability lawsuit won't either.

The source said more than 261 lawsuits are being filed by the Recording Industry Association of America on behalf of its members, which include Universal Music Group, BMG, Atlantic, EMI, Sony Music and Warner Music.

WAIT A MINUTE!! Umm didn't the RIAA say they were doing this to protect the ARTISTS?? So o.k. which of the above named companies is an artist? I'm confused here.. (note sarcasim)

This is clearly a bully's version of a threat...and I handle threats VERY personally. Any consideration of a peaceful agreement just washed out with RIAA's latest trash.
Don't they realize that the consumer is almighty? They don't realize, truly...how foolish they are...

*sigh*

None of you ever consider seeing the issues from the other side. Thanks to all you illegal p2p users, Sherman will now have to go home to the kids and tell them, "I'm sorry I promised you all new Ferarri's for your 16th birthdays, I hope that in time you can learn to love Porsche's just as much."

Just how would you guys explain that to your kids?

=D

Lets say I had illegal music files, but then suddenly stopped sharing files and deleted EVERYTHING right now, could anything bad happen to me?

iostreamh & thumbtack - I posted on this topic on this site a few weeks ago, but never got a response. I think a lot of people still don't know what a FlashMob is. This article pretty much explains how to organize one.

http://www.heraldsun.news.com.au/common/story_page/0,5478,7023769%255E1702,00.html

What that CNN lady doesn't tell you is, if someone hadn't illegally taped those movies she watched at the Country Music HOF, she wouldn't have been watching them. And back in the days when Mrs. Lynn came out of "butcher holler", songs were regualarly stolen and swindled from writer to record company honcho for 1/150th of their value, not to mention the rip off contracts the artists of her regularly received. That writer from CNN is asleep. SOMEBODY WAKE HER UP!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

That was supposed to read artists of her DAY regularly recieved. She got me a bit miffed there!!

I have only recently become interested/involved with the RIAA boycott, and am still learning about all of the ramifications of the RIAA suits. As a professional musician, I am disgusted with the RIAA's "jackboot" techniques of using their financial clout to attempt to "stomp" out P2P file sharing. The Internet is the new frontier for musicians and will soon replace all of the old technology that the RIAA is trying so desperately to protect. They should be looking for ways to work with this new innovative method of music distribution rather than trying to force users to regress to a system whose day may finally have come.
I do know that it will take a concentrated effort to let the RIAA know the strength of the resistance movement. A "shotgun" approach with everyone speaking their minds at different times may cause some stir but will not make the difference where RIAA can feel it, in their pocketbooks....and let's face it..Not everyone who is in favor of the boycott will completely give up buying CDs if there is music that they really want(and are hesitant to download)...

What needs to happen is an event. Like a Million Man March or a Million Mom March or whatever...Call it a Multi-Million Customer Boycott Month if you want....put out the word and pick a month(December is good. It's a big music sales month and there's plenty of time to organize), then elicit a committment from EVERYONE to NOT buy a single CD of any type that month. Everyone can abstain from buying for one month, but the cumulative effect on the Industry would be in the millions of dollars. That will send a much greater message then any number of written protests, e-mails, etc...because the RIAA will know the strength of the consumer. Remember you vote against the RIAA with $$$$$....witholding them.

WELCOME TO AMERIKA!

Isn't CNN GREAT!! OH I JUST LOVE IT!

They are soooooo balanced it makes me want to GAG PUKE BARF
This reminds me of the old Vietnam days of HANOI JANE! JUST CONFESS IN PUBLIC! and we will let you go back to your cell......WHAT A JOKE!

ITS TIME TO GO TO WASHINGTON AND PROTEST!

BOYCOTT BOYCOTT BOYCOTT BOYCOTT!!!!!!!!

Check out google search on riaa and see the lastest news so far 17 defendent's have already settle their suits for $3000. plus lawyer fee's THIS SUCKS!!!!!!!!!I'm sure that these folk's need to learn about this site and I'm sure that they will never buy riaa musack again!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

You have to look at the grim reality of this. The people they are choosing to sue are probably not financially able to pursue a long drawn court battle at attorney fees of 200-400 an hour. The RIAA is picking and choosing with great care who they are making the early moves on. It's a scare tactic and it looks good in the press. Unfortunetly unless I had an attorney going pro-bono for me I'd have to do the same if I were in the shoes of these defendants and I would fit their demographics to a tee (low income earner, single parent, 3 kids to support......). This is the way the RIAA wants to play it, we have to play it our way. By boycotting them until they have to live in cardboard boxes under bridges (like they want these evil fileSHARERS to do).

I love this quote from the CNN article:

"In a culture without copyright, only the rich, or the government-sponsored, could be this culture's full-time creators. Poor artists such as Loretta Lynn would have to flip burgers long into their music careers -- and might even give up on music entirely."

What in the hell do they think is happening to most new bands signing with RIAA labels today??? Have they not heard the stories about bands having multi-platinum albums and STILL being in debt to the label??? And why is that? BECAUSE OF COPYRIGHT AND THE LABEL'S PERVERSION OF COPYRIGHT LAWS TO THEIR ADVANTAGE. Tell me again how copyright keeps the artists from having to flip burgers to make a dime...

Thanks for the link kyodylee. I'll start working on it.

IDEA: Create a flashmob in front of every large CD retailer in shopping malls of every big city. Organize about 100 people to start, and do this at least once a week for the next few months until it grows and receives national attention. Have one person announce "We are boycotting the RIAA" or something to that effect, and create a chant of some sort.

If the chants don't work, then have everyone bring several 8.5" x 11" sheet of paper with the "http://www.boycott-riaa.com" on it in a size 64 font and distribute among passers-by at the mall/record store.

Again, the flashmob link is: http://www.heraldsun.news.com.au/common/story _page/0,5478,7023769%255E1702,00.html

Any further ideas?

MARCH ON WASHINGTON ANYONE?

Heh, I miss the days when I was only miles from the Capitol. If I was still there, I'd visit each of my representatives and senators (from my home state) personally to tell them what I think of the RIAA tactics. Right now, I have to settle for writing them. Negatyve, I'm reading Chomsky. For all you file sharers....there are essays by Chomsky on the web. Also, I believe that some college students have taped Chomsky's live lectures on mp3s.

Negatyve, on an unrelated note, have have you read any of Chomsky's linguistic theories? I have Chomsky's reader right now, and they only have selections from his Manufacturing Consent book. Unfortunately, the library system in my state does not carry the entire work. I'll purchase it when I get the chance.

I'd also recommend some of Gore Vidal's essays as well about the political system in the United States.

oldrocknroller...welcome! Musicians are the backbone of the industry. Hope you stay a while.
I read the cnn piece on copyright and all that bullshit, and ya know what.. it's slanted *pause for effect*

*shocked gasp*

Sure, copyright DID help out those poor slobs who came from Butcher Holler and other places. Sure, copyright does help people today. But this fight isn't ABOUT copyright at it's start. It's about the music.
Copyright law currently gives rights to a piece for the life of the creator plus 75 years ( I could be off, but I'm doing this from memory). That's not copyright. It's legal monopolism. It's giving ONE person (or their family) unlimited control over content that should be public domain in a much less extensive amount of time. Copyright? CopyWRONG. I'm not sure where this woman got her info from. She seems well read on copyright tho, I have to admit. I don't like the fact that she slanted it all to the good. There are a lot MORE people, artists and fans alike, that are HURT by copyright. Maybe I'll write her a letter and name a few names myself. GooGooDolls. Tom Petty. Janice Ian. These folks all got sick of the rights "copyright" gave to their record companies, or got royally screwed, and decided there had to be a better way. Oh sure, she can yell Elvis Presley and Loretta Lynn all she wants. How many Elvis records have YOU bought lately? I'm betting that if Elvis were alive today, he'd probably be right on the front lines of this tho I'm not sure on who's side.
Grrr.. that article really chaps my ass. I know it was an "op ed piece".. and she's allowed by the 1st Ammendment to have her say, but it still grates that a nationally syndicated writer has the plums to go off half cocked and expects her readers (a lot of whom count on her for their opinions and news) to take her word for law. This is an example of the abuse by the "4th estate" in the worst way. Whatever happened to OBJECTIVE JOURNALISM??
ttmmm

If I'm off topic here , forgive me.
After reading the "amnesty deal" , I had an idea.
Why couldn't we print up a form parodying the amnesty with phrases like "upon signing this I hereby affirm that I will no longer purchase any thing affiliated with the RIAA etc.."
Get as many people to sign it as possible , then send it to the RIAA , and all of the record companies asscoiated with them.

WABBITMAN

I'll picket. We need some catch phrases

Here's some advice for those being sued by the RIAA: Instead of giving these Nazi creeps over $3000, invest 300 in a good cheap, "clean" computer, that when seized will indeed have a file sharing program installed with songs in the shared folder - that are all in the public domain. Here is one link to such songs: http://www.pdinfo.com/list.htm

Needless to say, the "dirty" pc must disappear until after the litigation has ended. Not to say you can't use it, just keep it off the premises to be searched. (that's why I love laptops - portability is important).

Since you're going to have to retain a lawyer anyway, proclaim your innocence, outrage over being falsely accused and, most of all, the desire to file a countersuit. If everyone to be sued were to countersue, you thereby double the workload of the RIAA's leaches, er, attorneys which will slow their efforts to litigate further.

Most important - DO NOT SETTLE!!! Why? Consider this quote:

"The RIAA also said it already has negotiated $3,000 settlements with fewer than 10 Internet users who learned they might be sued after the RIAA sent copyright subpoenas to their Internet providers. Sherman predicted more settlements after Monday, but the price to settle for anyone already named in a lawsuit will be higher."

You only have a chance by refusing to settle and clogging the courts with their suits and your countersuits. If you settle, you have zero chance. They get thousands which they will use for the express purpose of funding MORE litigation. Besides, if you win in court, consider the fact that the RIAA may now have to pay YOU on your countersuit.
Good luck to all the defendants and hang in there.

Coming soon: How to file share all you want and not become a defendant.

And, oh yeah, FU Cary and the RIAA.

Let's use this September 11th to band together as Americans who love their freedom and send a message to the RIAA they cannot ignore. The e-mail address for the RIAA website is webmaster@riaa.com

Starting at 8:00 am, send as many e-mails as you can with the subject heading "Bullies!" It is not illegal to send an e-mail, although if you prefer anonymity as I do, use an anonymous e-mail account such as Hotmail with no ties to your real name or address (or IP if you use a proxy server).

If enough e-mail are sent simultaneously (and it will take a lot, folks), I would expect that the load on the server will cause it to crash. Some of you may be tempted to use e-mail bombing programs if you have them, although I would NEVER recommend doing such a thing. Uh-uh - not me - never.

I'll be surprised if enough people get together to do this as most people prefer to complain rather than take action. We'll see in about 44 hours if that is the case. Personally, I hope to find the site down, myself.

I just blasted off about 600 emails....hee hee

Anybody read the story about the 12 year old girl in New york being sued? What a bunch of sorry motherf****rs. These people ought to be hung, drawn and quartered. May the RIAA and their s**t music rot in Hell! BOYCOTT RIAA!

Quote: There is only one boss and that is the customer. And he can fire any of us from the CEO on down simply by taking his business elsewhere.

Sam Walton

Ripandburn - I sure hope you used a proxy server if you're using a bombing program.
Also, 600 alone will do nothing other than piss them off. Patience, Rip, patience.
September 11th starting at 8am until your e-mails bounce back because the server is down and can't accept them. Thanks.

Proxy gooooood, RIAA baaaad

does anyone have Sherman's addy>?

The link I posted above to public domain songs to put in your shared folder if you are a defendant is not working because of an HTML tag at the end of it. Here it is again.
http://www.pdinfo.com/list.htm

Just one more reason to hate them:

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Is the RIAA "hacking you back"?
By Andrew Orlowski in San Francisco
Posted: 14/01/2003 at 00:29 GMT


The RIAA is preparing to infect MP3 files in order to audit and eventually disable file swapping, according to a startling claim by hacker group Gobbles. In a posting to the Bugtraq mailing list, Gobbles himself claims to have offered his code to the RIAA, creating a monitoring "hydra".

"Several months ago, GOBBLES Security was recruited by the RIAA (riaa.org) to invent, create, and finally deploy the future of antipiracy tools. We focused on creating virii/worm hybrids to infect and spread over p2p nets," writes Gobbles.

"Until we became RIAA contracters [sic], the best they could do was to passively monitor traffic. Our contributions to the RIAA have given them the power to actively control the majority of hosts using these networks."

Gobbles claims that when a peer to peer host is infected, it catalogs media and sends the information "back to the RIAA headquarters (through specifically crafter requests over the p2p networks) where it is added to their records", and also propagates the exploit to other nodes.

"Our software worked better than even we hoped, and current reports indicate that nearly 95% of all p2p-participating hosts are now infected with the
software that we developed for the RIAA."

The "hydra" is uncorroborated.

Gobbles attached two pieces of code, one of which jinglebellz.c details a frame header exploit for the Linux player mpg123. The code chastises OpenBSD lead Theo de Raadt for failing to checksum the public MP3s (written to celebrate each OpenBSD release). The group has singled out OpenBSD in its previous exploits

In their presentation to last year's DefCon, the group described itself as "the largest active nonprofit security group in existence (that favors full disclosure)," consisting of 17+ members.

"They're real, and they're damn good. They have made what appeared to be extremely exaggerated claims in the past, and when mocked, they have demonstrated that they are serious," one security expert familiar with their work, who declined to be named, told The Register.

"He's a funny guy," De Raadt told us. "This is a buffer overflow exploit," he confirmed. De Raadt said he was more concerned by social engineering than by external exploits. "We had Fluffy Bunny, now we have Gobbles. They come in waves. "

An exploit of this nature is of dubious legality, right now, but language in Howard Berman's "P2P Piracy Prevention" bill last year legitimizing such exploits was backed by RIAA chief Hilary Rosen:

The Berman bill, ensured a copyright owner would not be liable for "disabling, interfering with, blocking, diverting, or otherwise impairing the unauthorized distribution, display, performance, or reproduction of his or her copyrighted work on a publicly accessible peer-to-peer file trading network, if such impairment does not, without authorization, alter, delete, or otherwise impair the integrity of any computer file or data residing on the computer of a file trader." Berman is expected to re-introduce the bill in this Congressional session. ®

iostreamh: We are trying to organize a march on Capitol Hill and the Supreme Court in December. Organizers are needed so anyone who wants to fight for your rights please leave your thoughts!
Someone also suggested a petetion and a pledge to not buy any CDs for the month of December (the RIAA's most profitable month) and formally presenting it to the RIAA the week before Christmas.

fucary: you sound like you mean business...your leadership would be important for the march in Washington, would you like to help organize?

I'll help as much as I can, but I suggest a multifaceted approach to dealing with these swine. First, get out your pens and papers, envelopes and stamps (archaic as they may be in the electronic age) and begin to clog their mailroom. She'd just LOVE to hear grom us

Amy Weiss
Senior VP, Communications
Recording Industry Association of America
1330 Connecticut Avenue, NW
#300 Washington, DC 20036

Here's a link with some interesting stories, as well:
http://www.theregister.co.uk/content/28/28702.html

Don't forget to send your e-mail to webmaster@riaa.com starting Sep 11th at 8am

Corrected URL:

Damn HTML tag got in there again

http://www.theregister.co.uk/content/28/28702 .html

here are a couple other things you can do other than boycott.

1.Cancel your broadband connection if you don't do very much downloading. Your ISP will ask why, tell them. Sure you'll want to throw your computer out the window when it's downloading a flash movie, but hey, inconvience is a small price to pay to bring riaa to it's knees

2.Smash all your cd's to powder (a piece of plywood and a car works best), rip them first lets not be stupid, and dump the bag IN a music store. What are they going to do take you to court for the $5.35 an hour they paid someone to clean up the mess?

3. If all you have is Legal music rename them illegal files and swap them between friends if you get subpenoed claim innocence and counter sue

Here is an excerpt from another Register story which shows that the RIAA's whining is not due to being injured by P2P but is, in fact, more about their own greed that they're not getting their cut:

"Missing RIAA figures shoot down "piracy" canard
By Andrew Orlowski in San Francisco
Posted: 16/12/2002 at 20:15 GMT


Research by George Zieman gives the true reason for falling CD sales: the major labels have slashed production by 25 per cent in the past two years, he argues.

After keeping the figure rather quiet for two years, the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA) says the industry released around 27,000 titles in 2001, down from a peak of 38,900 in 1999. Since year-on-year unit sales have dropped a mere 10.3 per cent, it's clear that demand has held up extremely well: despite higher prices, consumers retain the CD buying habit.

Increasingly hysterical comments from RIAA chairperson and chief random-number-generator Hilary Rosen suggest that many billions of potential sales have been lost.

In August analysts Forrester attributed the decline in sales to the economy, citing historical precedent, and argued that music downloads could revive the industry.

So why isn't the RIAA trumpeting this affirmation in music sales, and something of a renaissance in its business efficiency?

Perhaps because the RIAA's version of the truth doesn't fit with the facts. Zieman points out that only 3,000 sales of each of the missing 12,000 titles would have been enough to see overall growth continue to grow."

Imagine their sheer panic if people could only be organized enough to boycott and be serious about it. Oh yeah, send those smashed CD's to:

Amy Weiss
Senior VP, Communications
Recording Industry Association of America
1330 Connecticut Avenue, NW
#300 Washington, DC 20036

She'll be fair and split them with Cary, I'm sure.

The RIAA toll free number is 800-223-2238
THEY ARE PAYING FOR THE CALL!
Now make them pay.
You know what to do!

CORRECTION! The number for RIAA is 800-223-2328

welcome to the united states of media manipulation and corporate greed.

To summarize:

1)RIAA has enlisted techniques normally employed by hackers and of dubious legality to find and subpoena P2P users including minors.

2)The decline in RIAA revenue is largely, if not completely due to the fact that RIAA released 10,900 fewer titles in 2001 than they did in 1999. Now they want PP users to pay for their own lack of productivity.

3)You can express your outrage at the RIAA's greed and unfairness in one several ways:
a)Join the e-mail campaign on September 11, 2003 by sending an e-mail to webmaster@riaa.com with the subject heading "Bullies!" Add whatever message you like as well.
b)Write to RIAA here:Amy Weiss
Senior VP, Communications
Recording Industry Association of America
1330 Connecticut Avenue, NW
#300 Washington, DC 20036
Feel free to include smashed CD's to drive home your point.
c)Call the RIAA toll free number at
1-800-223-2328. Remember, this is one of the few things we can make them pay for (before they change the number, anyway).
d)Boycott - the artists themselves will put pressure on RIAA when they see their sales plummet.
e)continue to use P2P. Don't let Big Business tell you, the working stiff, how to live your life.

Now let's get going!