Sunday, December 07, 2003

BY KEVIN COUGHLIN
Star-Ledger Staff Michele Scimeca said she has tried to lay down the law when it comes to the online activities of her two teenage daughters.

So the Rockaway Township mom sounded surprised yesterday to learn that she is among at least eight New Jersey residents being sued by the music industry for illegal song-swapping.

"I think it's totally, completely ridiculous. It's not fair," said Scimeca, who said she is being targeted for what her 13-year-old had told her was a research project for school.

Scimeca, a secretary for an insurance company, said she and her husband, a mechanic, are "scraping by" to pay the mortgage and cannot afford a lawyer -- let alone penalties that could reach $150,000 per song under federal copyright law.

In a lawsuit filed last week in Newark's federal courthouse, Sony, BMG Music and two other labels listed some 1,200 songs -- the list filled 41 pages -- that allegedly were offered for illegal swapping by "DrEeMeR" over the Internet network KaZaA.

Scimeca said that screen name was used by her youngest daughter, a high school freshman, for a school-related project.

But the family's high-speed Internet service is billed to the mother, so she is named in the suit that claims copyright infringement of songs by Pearl Jam, Korn, Godsmack and four other artists.

It was among 41 lawsuits filed in at least 11 states by the music industry last week, and it marked the first time New Jersey residents have been singled out.

Since September, 382 people have been sued nationwide. The industry blames illegal downloading of music for slumping sales of CDs. At least 220 computer users have agreed to pay settlements, averaging several thousand dollars apiece, according to various published reports. Another 1,054 people have avoided prosecution under an amnesty program, according to the Recording Industry Association of America.

"The legal actions taken by the record companies have been effective in educating the American public that illegal file sharing of copyrighted material has significant consequences," said RIAA President Cary Sherman in a prepared statement. "Consumers are increasingly attracted to the host of compelling legal online music alternatives. These lawsuits help to foster an environment that provides a level playing field for these services to succeed."

Scimeca said she had not yet seen the lawsuit. But she got wind something was up a few weeks ago when Cablevision sent her a letter, saying it had handed over information to music companies about her Optimum Online Internet account after receiving a subpoena.

Music labels can subpoena such details without a judge's authorization, under provisions of the Digital Millennium Copyright Act of 1998. These subpoenas are being challenged in separate cases by the American Civil Liberties Union and SBC Communications.

When Scimeca questioned her daughter about the letter, she said, "I got a blank stare."

Scimeca said she has tried to be an Internet cop for her kids. The family computer is on the main floor of the house, in plain view, and she limits its use, she said. Chat rooms are banned. She peruses the girls' "buddy lists" and even monitors their instant-messaging sessions -- to the point where she knows "POS" is code for "parent over shoulder."

But, she said, "You can't watch them 24 hours a day. By the same token, if they are able to access a site, how are they to know it's wrong?"

Though aware of past controversies surrounding the Napster file-sharing service, Scimeca said she was "oblivious" to KaZaA and Morpheus, another service she said her daughter used and that now resists deletion from their computer.

The music industry should focus on shutting those services, she said.

"How can you blame a 13-year-old child for doing something they didn't know was illegal?" Scimeca said. "I'll start a petition to never buy another record again. It's bull. They need to work on cutting off the sites and shutting down the supply. Kids will always look for free stuff."

"It's not like she murdered someone," Scimeca said of her daughter, whose name she withheld. "When we were kids, we sat with tape recorders and taped songs off the radio. Was that illegal, too?"

She insisted the labels will have a hard time squeezing any money from her.

"I'd have to pay them a dollar a month," Scimeca said.

Just one more of many examples of the need for requiring that an official cease and desist order be issued before a lawsuit can be promulgated (perhaps with a reasonable fine to pay for copyright enforcement).

"They need to work on cutting off the sites and shutting down the supply. Kids will always look for free stuff."

Wow that means close the RIAA thats where the supply comes from, stupid hypocritical nazi's

merry christmas sweetheart. here, enjoy the latest offering from the music industry-a generous portion of lawsuit. and buy the way, be sure to pick up britney spears new cd in your favorite record label store now.

and the RIAA loses yet another customer...

There really is a huge problem with these lawsuits; and it's not just that they are handing out the lawsuits, it's that they are catching all the wrong people.

Any major offender who fully knows the technology & the possible tangles with the law; they've for sure shut down their uploading. So everyone who's to be caught are the uninformed...

The biggest downfall on our side is ignorance, and that's what's got to be changed before any progress can be made.

So keep spreading the word!!!


And seriously, I hear so many talk about downloading music that RIAA is suing over... including even that South Park episode that aired couple weeks ago. That's just more mis-information; people might think that leaving KaZaa open & just not downloading that they're safe, which in reality they're the most likely targets of the lawsuits. People have to be informed.

"I'd have to pay them a dollar a month," Scimeca said.

That's the coolest thing I heard since "You're gonna need a bigger boat," in Jaws.

I love it -- an Italian (-American) who will fight for what's right. Si vendetta.

Why is it we only hear the lawsuits from either the really old or really young, or should I say the non-computer savvy? Where is the 35 year old professional, oh, I remember, he / she is properly protecting themselves from the RIAA, nevermind. It's always the 12, 13, and 87 year old people, pick on the young and the old.

Oh and a settlement of $3500.00, at $1.00 a month would take 291.66 years to pay off, I for one hopes she does pay em that way.

ghosthouse: I loved that line from the movie "Jaws"!

And what a great symbol for the RIAA...the great white shark in "Jaws". The people who are getting sued don't have big enough boats. We need to find someone with a yacht who's willing to fight the shark.

Here we go again! And exactly what "sale" did the record industry LOSE from this daughter? It's obvious she and her family doesn't have the money to BUY CD's anyways. So the only thing accomplished is alienation of another POTENTIAL customer.

I wish someone would let them know about boycott-riaa.com. The mom has already said she'll never buy another CD again.

Cary Sue said :
""Consumers are increasingly attracted to the host of compelling legal online music alternatives. These lawsuits help to foster an environment that provides a level playing field for these services to succeed."

Hey, with that language, are we SURE
he's not already a secret senator or something ?
~Code

Too bad it's not a level playing field in the courtroom where the RIAA can pay lawers millions of dollars and their lawsuit victims can't.

Well the problem is they are abusing the intent of the law. It would be easy to issue a cease and desist letter to the user after the have recieved the information from the ISP. But instead of even warning the user they are participating in illegal activities they are threatening them with a lawsuit and bullying them into paying settlement fees for a lawsuit that could easily go either way. I must say 1,200 songs is one hell of a school project and wont make a very strong defense. But what this girl was doing is not the issue to be concerned about the issue is that this organization is abusing our society for nothing more than a few thousand dollars a pop. I don't care what these people are doing online they don't deserve to be threatened and intimidated.

In fact lets just do something really obsured and give the RIAA the benefit of the doubt. Lets say infringing is analagous to theft (calm down code, I do have a point to make out of this obsuredity). If I were a store manager, employee whatever, and I witnessed a person stealing goods. What would happen if I went up to that person and started spewing out laws and fines and told them they can leave now if they give me 100 bucks. How would that work out? Lets just say I'm a really intimidating person and I get away with it. Wouldn't that person come back with a cop and say I forced them into giving me money. At which point I say well they were stealing from me. The cop says thats fine I hope you can prove it from jail because that is a seperate incident and it was not reported properly. I would end up in jail, the person who stole stuff would end up on the street and I would have no proof (unless security cameras cought it, but the person would probably be long gone anyway).

So because the music labels own a copyright and they are not actually loosing any physical good they are allowed to intimidate a person into giving them money. But me as a lowly shop owner. Who is actually loosing physical goods cant and could be charged if I did so. Everything is bass ackwards.

Where is this petition she spoke of? I'll sign it. Is she aware of this site?

Kazaa is guilt of at least two things though I must admit (If not more). The fact that closing the app does not cloe it but minimizes it to the system tray by default and the sharing of downloaded files. They should turn off those by default but no. That would be too easy and they want you to see their crappy popup ads all the time.

"Intimidation" is too soft a word for what the RIAA is doing. It's blatant extortion: pay $3,000 now or we take you to court for $150,000.

An overconcerned parent constantly peering over their childs shoulder to see what they are doing online is a very effective way to start family arguements. Almost as effective as sneaking on and reading the childs personal files without asking.

Deadman: P2P networks function only as long as people share files. Currently the majority of people share something, even if its just because they leave files in the default download directory. But if kazaa didn't share by default, very few people would share. Network performance would become unuseable. Notice part of the RIAAs campaign is the Musicunited.org website, which tells users and parents how kazaa steals their hard drive and provides instructions for disableing shareing?

Well, thats another family and their friends joining the boycott - but also another couple of hundred parents starting to spy on their kids. I think the POS code will be used a lot more frequently for a while.

220 users have been caught by the RIAAs pack of lawyers now, a negligable fraction of the total p2p users. The SeA campaign is ineffective at stoping pirates directly, its mostly an intimidation measure. That should mean its at its most effective only as long as it has publicity, and that will pass. If it doesn't, people will still start ignoreing it once they realise its not going to happen to them.

The only effective way the RIAA could end p2p would be a simple deal with the ISPs: The ISPs agree to block p2p, and the RIAA agrees not to harass them with endless lawsuits and legal costs. But the RIAA is far too stupid to do something like that. The MPAA perhaps, but never the RIAA.

I hope she can get someone to help her.. looks as if she is willing to fight this if she has an attorney.

One question: What is it going to take to make the RIAA stop this blatant disregard of our rights?

Writing letters to senators doesn't seem to help. The boycott doesn't seem to work. The judicial system is clearly on their side (read: in their pockets). What's it going to take?

"What is it going to take to make the RIAA stop this blatant disregard of our rights?"

I wouldn't ask that question. The times will get worse before they get better, and I have the worrying feeling that something's gonna go down soon.

agreed. I remember the mass protests of the late 60's and early 70's It may have to come to that

The lawsuits are not going to stop. Look at Cablevision and the other cable companies - they have been suing for years for taking their signal. This is how business is done. The thinking, right or wrong, is that the lawsuits discourage the infringement. If I wasn't worried about Cablevision lawsuits I might get an illegal box myself - I know where to get one cheap and just think of all the free movies! : )

The solution to the problem is simple - don't share RIAA music. Is that so hard?

"The legal actions taken by the record companies have been effective in educating the American public that illegal file sharing of copyrighted material has significant consequences," said RIAA President Cary Sherman in a prepared statement. "Consumers are increasingly attracted to the host of compelling legal online music alternatives. These lawsuits help to foster an environment that provides a level playing field for these services to succeed."

Does he have anything else to say...ever? I mean really. This is like the only thing to come out of his mouth since this started. I'd like to here what he is really thinking.
Pay up bitch, the buck is mine. and well we don't need you as a customer after we sued you. We get more money out of you that way.

where are the lawsuits against families that CAN afford to mount a lawsuit against the RIAA? Rich suburban kids are probably downloading as much as poor ones, but I'll betcha the RIAA checks zip codes & demographics before filing a lawsuit. The last thing they want is to snare the CEO of a company with deep pockets who can afford to hire a capable defense.

I dont understand why these ppl are admiting to this??? beats me, it has been proven that the RIAA make mistakes so wouldnt it be as simple as telling the RIAA to prove you have the info. you could buy a new hard drive and simpley tell them to prove you have these files??? why are ppl giving in and admiting guilt with out even fighting this oh well what can you do.

Just my opinion

. The last thing they want is to snare the CEO of a company with deep pockets who can afford to hire a capable defense.

or to have to deal with some one such as our selfs who would fight them.

Prove I have it is all I have to say.

The silence by the Big (Corporate) Media is truly deafening. The major news media is usually the first to write about the abuse of children, poor families and the elderly, but falls silent when it comes to the RIAA suing children, poor families and the elderly for outrageous sums of money. Thank God for the Internet and this website.

If only there was a way to let the girls mother know about this site, it sure would educate her and her daughters a whole lot maybe the girl could do a school article on the evils of the RIAA and plug this site while she was at it.

The lawsuits will stop if the provisions of the DMCA that they use for them are repealed or changed. they may continue in a different way but more controled and with oversight

I agree that they will continue in a different way. While this would be a good thing for the legal system, I think it might not bode well for the defendants - if the RIAA's legal costs increase then the increase may be passed on to the defendants in the form of higher settlement amounts.

The reason the media doesn't cover this is because it's not in their interests. At this point, almost all of television is owned by a small set of corporations that have entered into agreements with each other to cover each others' backs.

Look at it this way: CBS and MTV are owned by the same company(Viacom I believe). If CBS news shows this issue for what it it, MTV's ratings will drop as RIAA music becomes less popular. When Viacom, Disney, and GE all agree not to release stories that hurt each others' business, who will cover it? No one, because even the cable news networks are owned by the same companies that own the major networks.

We are once again confronted with ignorance, makes me think that the idea of spreading all those little pieces of paper with www.boycott-riaa.com is an even better idea. We really need to get someone in the news or the media to give us some coverage far too many are still in the dark.

For months, this site has actively promoted for someone to stand up to the RIAA. Shall we put our money where our mouths are by starting and contributing to a legal defense fund for this family?

Does this situation have the potential to argue the consitutionality of the DMCA? Even if it starts with being denied due process through the faulty subpeona requirements?

How many registered users does this site have? Since we're not buying $20 CDs anymore, I'm sure we could all manage to spare some cash :->

"She insisted the labels will have a hard time squeezing any money from her.

"I'd have to pay them a dollar a month," Scimeca said. "

After reading the last line, I bet this is the first experience Ms Scimeca has had with courts.

your wrong Synthetikk242 "and the RIAA loses yet another customer..."

not only are thay lossing her thay are losseing her whoe famly do you think her brother will buy another CD agin? her sister?
her friends thair kids?
any one who cares for that lady will neaver but another CD agin or let thairs kids buy another Cd
this whole case will become the talk of her and her famly/friends lives for many many years
the same gose for the rest of the 400 sued
so lets say 400 folks sued eatch wilh about 50 loved ones who will not stand for thair loved one being sued so 50X400=20,000 o yea and add about 100,000 who find out about these law sutes and deside that thay do not want to do bisness will gansters any more and those 100,000 tell about 10 careing folks eatch 100,000x10=1,000,000 + 20,000= 1,020,000 eatch buy about 6 CDs apeace over a year span and eatch CD costing about 16.00$ so 16.00 x 6 = 96
96 x 1,020,000= 97,000,000

it's all starting to make alote of sence with the numbers thay release :0)

I assume leflaw and/or EFF contacts these people. If not, there are 65 Scimeca's listed for NJ. I could start calling them.

"The legal actions taken by the record companies have been effective in educating the American public that illegal file sharing of copyrighted material has significant consequences," said RIAA President Cary Sherman in a prepared statement. "Consumers are increasingly attracted to the host of compelling legal online music alternatives. These lawsuits help to foster an environment that provides a level playing field for these services to succeed."

Wrong... I'm increasingly unattracted to anything done by the RIAA, and not only do I hate them for being heavy handed, I hate them for trying to "educate" us by scaring people, and ruining other's lives.

I definitely like the petition idea. Why couldn't one be started at petitiononline, to be signed by those of us who vow never to buy a CD until the industry stops it's Gestapo-like tactics?

Its, not it's. This place needs a "preview post" button.

If our government actually cared about people they would step in and say this isn't right to do to working middle class americans, but they don't because they have nothing to gain from it, just lobbyist money to lose. They sure got on microsofts ass for being monopolistic because other giant corporations complained about it.. I guess microsoft just didn't lobby and give our government enough money.. Our government is almost identical to the Mafia.. You pay us, we'll protect you and not sue you.. Hmm, sounds like our government was modeled after too many godfather movies.. Pricks!

If you think you're living in a free country you are about as disillusioned as the common people in the Matrix..

I knoew precisely what is needed to stop the RIAAs "war on technology". Two things. Firstly, income must drop to a survival level, so theres none to spare for the antipiracy work. Secondly, time for the existing management to retire and more technical people to replace them, people who know what a p2p network is, and dont just see it as a black box which gives users free music.

I graze through several internet radio stations from time to time and almost all of them have posting boards like this site, I go through them and post:

BOYCOTT-RIAA.COM GO THERE NOW!!! EDUCATE YOURSELF!!!

Now I know almost every radio station has chat boards and posting boards, use the letter to ed option on newspapers, put up notecards on the community bulletin boards, etc. its free and easy, and it will gather steam. Yeah, I know its a simple thing, but it does work. I used the same tactic to build the audience on a friends webradio site.