Consumerist

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The RIAA Wants To Interrogate Your 10 Year-Old

Tanya Andersen, a 42 year-old mother on disability accused of downloading “gangster rap”, doesn’t want the RIAA to interrogate her 10 year-old. The RIAA says the 10 year-old is a material witness. Tanya’s motion to the court argues:

“Emphasizing whether they can subject this young girl to distress, plaintiffs ignore whether they should. The should aspect of this evaluation is easy: Mrs. Andersen and her daughter should not be subjected to any more abuse in this litigation whatsoever.”

Tanya’s motion goes on to say that the plaintiffs know she is not the kazaa user who downloaded and shared music files, and that “a 5 minute Google search is all that was necessary to establish this and avoid the stress and damages to Ms. Andersen and her daughter.”—MEGHANN MARCO

music

University of Nebraska Will Bill RIAA $11 For Each Threatening Letter Received

By consumerist.com 3.26.07

The university has estimated that each complaint – basically a warning that a computer on the UNL campus is being used to pirate music – costs about $11 to process, Weir said. So the university wants to be paid for its trouble. Wiltse’s letter to the Denver firm representing the RIAA asked the recording industry to reimburse NU for the cost of finding the offending students.

lawsuits

Purdue University Will Gladly Forward RIAA Letters To Students

By Meg Marco 3.21.07

If an Internet user notified decides not to pay the settlement, the music association will ask the university for its computer logs so it can pursue legal action. University spokeswoman Jeanne Norberg said the university would comply with the requests.

motions

NPR Bites Back: Files Motion Against RIAA Internet Rate Increase

By Meg Marco 3.21.07

Today, on behalf of the public radio system, NPR filed a motion for rehearing with the Copyright Royalty Board in response to its March 2, 2007 decision on rates for streaming internet music. This action is the first step in NPR’s efforts to reverse the decision, and it will be followed by an appeal of the Board’s decision to be filed with the U.S. Court of Appeals for the DC Circuit.

Yeah! They’re bringing the fight! According to Andi Sporkin, Vice President for Communications, NPR: “The Board’s decision to dramatically raise public radio stations’ rates was based on inaccurate assumptions and lack of understanding of the issues. The new rates inexplicably break with the longstanding tradition of recognizing public radio’s non-commercial, non-profit role, while the procedures we’re being asked to now undertake for measurement are non-existent, arbitrary and costly.” Read the filing inside.

rhino

How I Became A Music Pirate

By Meg Marco 3.20.07

Does DRM drive even honest well-meaning people to piracy? Yes, of course it does.

riaa

Faces Of The RIAA

By Meg Marco 3.19.07

We’ve received a lot of requests to “expose” the RIAA for who they really are… record companies and record company executives. Our readers feel that the companies involved are hiding behind the name “RIAA,” and would like to be formally introduced to the association’s members.

polls

RIAA Wins Worst Company In America 2007

By consumerist.com 3.19.07

The RIAA won The Consumerist’s “Worst Company In America 2007” reader poll.

lawsuits

University of Wisconsin-Madison Will Not Forward RIAA Letters To Students

By Meg Marco 3.19.07

Jason, a student at the University of Wisconsin-Madison has written in to share what his school is doing in response to the RIAA P2PLawsuit.com campaign. In this campaign, attorneys for Sony, Universal, EMI, Warner Music Group and more sent letters to several colleges demanding that they be forwarded to students. The letter (PDF) threatens students with a lawsuit and instructs them to identify themselves and pay a settlement to the recording companies via the website P2Plawsuits.com.

polls

FINAL ROUND: RIAA vs Halliburton

By consumerist.com 3.15.07

Welcome to the Consumerist Archives

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