The RIAA traces the origins of music files......

FUSCUCLA1

WASHINGTON - The recording industry provided its most detailed glimpse to date Wednesday into some of the detective-style techniques it has employed as part of its secretive campaign to cripple music piracy over the Internet.

The disclosures were included in court papers filed against a Brooklyn woman fighting efforts to identify her for allegedly sharing nearly 1,000 songs over the Internet. The recording industry disputed her defense that songs on her family's computer were from compact discs she had legally purchased.


Using a surprisingly astute technical procedure, the Recording Industry Association of America (news - web sites) examined song files on the woman's computer and traced their digital fingerprints back to the former Napster (news - web sites) file-sharing service, which shut down in 2001 after a court ruled it violated copyright laws.


The RIAA, the trade group for the largest record labels, said it also found other hidden evidence inside the woman's music files suggesting the songs were recorded by other people and distributed across the Internet.


Comparing the Brooklyn woman to a shoplifter, the RIAA told U.S. Magistrate John M. Facciola that she was "not an innocent or accidental infringer" and described her lawyer's claims otherwise as "shockingly misleading." The RIAA papers were filed in Washington overnight Tuesday and made available by the court Wednesday.


The woman's lawyer, Daniel N. Ballard of Sacramento, Calif., said the music industry's latest argument was "merely a smokescreen to divert attention" from the related issue of whether her Internet provider, Verizon Internet Services Inc., must turn over her identity under a copyright subpoena.


"You cannot bypass people's constitutional rights to privacy, due process and anonymous association to identify an alleged infringer," Ballard said.


Ballard has asked the court to delay any ruling for two weeks while he prepares detailed arguments, and he noted that his client — identified only as "nycfashiongirl" — has already removed the file-sharing software from her family's computer.


The RIAA accused "nycfashiongirl" of offering more than 900 songs by the Rolling Stones, U2, Michael Jackson and others for illegal download, along with 200 other computer files that included at least one full-length movie, "Pretty Woman."


The RIAA's latest court papers describe in unprecedented detail some sophisticated forensic techniques used by its investigators. These disclosures were even more detailed than answers the RIAA provided weeks ago at the request of Sen. Norm Coleman, R-Minn., who has promised hearings into the industry's use of copyright subpoenas to track downloaders.


For example, the industry disclosed its use of a library of digital fingerprints, called "hashes," that it said can uniquely identify MP3 music files that had been traded on the Napster service as far back as May 2000. Examining hashes is commonly used by the FBI (news - web sites) and other computer investigators in hacker cases.


By comparing the fingerprints of music files on a person's computer against its library, the RIAA believes it can determine in some cases whether someone recorded a song from a legally purchased CD or downloaded it from someone else over the Internet.


Copyright lawyers said it remains unresolved whether consumers can legally download copies of songs on a CD they purchased rather than making digital copies themselves. But finding MP3 music files that precisely match copies that have been traded online could be evidence a person participated in file-sharing services.


"The source for nycfashiongirl's sound recordings was not her own personal CDs," the RIAA's lawyers wrote.


The recording industry also disclosed that it is examining so-called "metadata" tags, hidden snippets of information embedded within many MP3 music files. In this case, lawyers wrote, they found evidence that others — including one user who called himself "Atomic Playboy" — had recorded the music files and that some songs had been downloaded from known pirate Web sites.


An RIAA vice president, Jonathan Whitehead, said evidence proved the Brooklyn woman was "hardly an unwitting or passive participant in the events that involve her computer."


The recording industry has won approval for more than 1,300 subpoenas compelling Internet providers to identify computer users suspected of illegally sharing music files on the Internet.





The RIAA has said it expects to file at least several hundred lawsuits seeking financial damages as early as next month. U.S. copyright laws allow for damages of $750 to $150,000 for each song offered illegally on a person's computer, but the RIAA has said it would be open to settlement proposals from defendants.

The campaign comes just weeks after U.S. appeals court rulings requiring Internet providers to readily identify subscribers suspected of illegally sharing music and movie files.

The 1998 Digital Millennium Copyright Act (news - web sites) permits music companies to force Internet providers to turn over the names of suspected music pirates upon subpoena from any U.S. District Court clerk's office, without a judge's signature required.

FUSCUCLA1

I thought if you own the CD/tape/record then you can legally download the file from a file sharing network. If you own the material does it matter where your digital copy came from? Does it have to be from your personal CD? Its beginning to seem that way.

McGuireV10

Regardless of whether you own it already, downloading something which is being made available illegally is not legal. If you go out and buy a movie on DVD, that doesn't make it legal for you to buy a bootleg copy of the same movie. It's more or less the same situation.

Nameless

I don't think bootleg video and downloading MP3's of albums is in the same boat.
The act of buying a bootleg is the problem, not having it. She did not pay anything for the music, which she already owned. The reason they are going after her is because she was making them available to the public, not the fact that she had MP3's that were ripped by others. I think it's a funny can of worms they just opened.


[img]/images/graemlins/laughing.gif[/img] You could have already paid us, but we you still can't own the MP3 unless you make it yourself -RIAA [img]/images/graemlins/laughing.gif[/img]

What a bunch of ass clowns.


MM

McGuireV10

You misunderstand the fair use provision. You are allowed to make a copy for your own private use. If you make a copy for distribution, you violate copyright law. If you acquire a copy, you are an accomplice to the violation (or I guess more accurately, to the violator). Posessing a bootleg IS illegal. It's equally illegal if you got it for free or if you got it for two bucks. Ask anyone who has been busted by the BSA for using pirated software.

The RIAA shut down the original MP3.com because they tried to pursue the same interpretation FUSCUCLA1 provided. You "proved" you owned the CD by putting it into your drive and letting their software identify it, then you had access to the same CD in MP3 format from any computer via MP3.com's network. While this is a great idea, it is not legal.

If you download MP3s, do yourself a favor and grab one of the many, many automated programs used to change/update the "metadata tags" mentioned in the article (they're called ID3 tags). Most of those apps can just delete those tags wholesale. I imagine they'd also "fingerprint" just the audio portion of the files, but it can't hurt to try if you're worried about this kind of thing. If you're REALLY worried about it, choose an automated encoding utility, convert your MP3s to WAVs, then back to MP3 and the fingerprints will no longer match. (You'll lose a tiny, tiny bit of sound quality since MP3 encoding is not lossless, but if you're listening to MP3s in the first place, you probably don't care much.)

NOITALL

oh no what criminals Just clogging up the courts. Fuck the RIAA.

AUSTIN

This fuckin RIAA bullshit is getting on my nerves. Its not like dl music is hurting these singers. You can turn your TV to MTV anytime and watch "MTV Cribs". Believe me, they arent hurting for money one bit. They are on TV showing off thier Bentleys and Ferraris with thier 5-10 million dollar house in the background. They dont need more money, they need a good smack in the mouth. [img]/images/graemlins/ar15firing.gif[/img]

slaughterj

Wrong. Most of those on MTV do not own the homes and vehicles in their videos, they rent then for a short time to "keep up with the joneses", else their lack of "bling" will expose their lack of "player" status.

Nameless

The current laws leave too much inturpretation. You get busted by the BSA for NOT owning a license. If I own 10 seats for 2K, it doesn't mater one damn bit where I got the media from. If I have someone ELSE make a copy of something, for my own use not theirs, what is the difference. The original media is still held by the private owner. Now if you are making YOUR media available to others (the whole MP3 crackdown), then yes that is a problem. But the fact that she, legally owning the CD, had got the files from other people is a no-no is horseshit. I hope she fights the RIAA and finds a judge to lube 'em um and fuck em hard.


MP3.com was shut down for money. Nothing more, greed.

Fuck the RIAA.

MM

Seifer

Ya'll do realize this is fake....right?

Matt

Actually MTV Cribs goes into the artist's home. He wasn't referring to all the stuff in the videos. That stuff is rented.

Matt

I have my suspicions. I don't personally know anyone who has even seen one of these subpeonas, let alone received one.

The only thing that I find credible is the article detailing the actions of MIT and Boston College against the RIAA to release IP information for it's students who have shared files.

Joker

I am curious, if the evidence is in the computer then why wouldn't the dumb lady just clear everything out off the hard drive or whatever is being saved? Lets say for $hits and giggles they start winning these type of cases, I sure as hell would have an accident and destroy the computer or change out the part that this information was on. Oops a fire claim, get new computer. Damn candles cause fires you know. Enough to melt the computer and you can flip the bird to the Record Phucks

slaughterj

Oh, I know what he meant, but the MTV cribs show is only a small cross-section of entertainers, athletes, musicians, etc., basically culling certain people for exposure. However, the predominant demonstrations of "wealth" on MTV by musicians (remember, musicians are the group at issue in this thread) are in the videos themselves, which are by all the musical artists (and doesn't include the athletes and other non-musicians on cribs) that shows the huge amount of "bling" but really is all just rented.

kungfool

Slaughter is right on the money. The majority of "EMP-TY VEE" cRAP artists are all living on borrowed money "Fo da blingidee-bling yo!" Thier riches are an illusion perpetuated to fool gullible masses into buying into the sham..."Well he/she has all dat bling... dey must be goot.. bettah buy da album yo"

Piss it away as fast as you can.

Also... I agree with the RIAA.

Do any of you know how much it costs to EVEN BREAK an artist/band???

Makara

True dat. I was in a rap video that was shot a few months ago with my viper. The rapper was messing around with the other bikes and cars that were shot in the video. When someone said something to the effect of, "do doughnuts in the viper" the rapper said, "I can't affoard to buy that if I mess it up. I'm not getting near that one." Everyone on set was really nice, I had a great time and I got to drag race my viper on an airport runway. Fun stuff. I've bumped into the rapper a few times since and ran over kept thanking me for helping out with the video shoot. Whoever I am with is usually pretty confused what the hell is going on. It's pretty funny.

Anyway, I bought about 20 CDs in the last week or so. I have to say that I bought a lot of them because I downloaded music that I liked and purchased the CD. I'm sick of taking a gamble when I buy music, I'd rather listen first.

Matt

So who was the artist and when do we get to see the music video with the Viper drag race?

I totally agree. When I've downloaded music from and artist and found several songs that I really like, I go out and pick up the CD. Most of the downloaded stuff has poor quality anyway. It just gives me a taste of what I'll be getting before I spring for a whole CD I know nothing about.