RIAA vs. hackers WAR?

[DRoseDARs]

Originally posted by Agathon
1) Turn on your computer.
2) Lower your trousers.
3) Bend over.

and

4) Clench your teeth.

And for our NEXT thread: The Future of CyberSex

Ewww...

Rushing back on-topic, and not looking back, I look forward to the RIAA reaping what it has sown: the bitter resentment of millions of people across the world for pumping out sh*t music that's worth a dime a dozen, but tagged $20 new. Innovation is almost extinct and few people are even aware that you can created original music without it being a cover of someone else's work or borrowing a mish-mash of sounds from other songs remixed into something else.

[Q Classic]

i put my money on the hackers. the riaa, with its policies, and its pr, has probably turned every free hacker against them.

so i'd like to see how the riaa would even try to fight back--odds are they'd try and turtle for as long as possible...

[Sava]

In order to work on a mass scale it would have to be simple enough for joe-6-pack to be able to figure it out. Remember joe-6-pack can't even figure out how to how to adjust the volume on his computer so the future is not bright for mass proxy use.

you're the first to bring mass proxy use up... and as I said, it might spark new developments.

[Dinner]

Ag: Your also missing the point that the government pays for the imprisonment not the RIAA. So how is cost going to deter the RIAA? Remember they think they're losing hundreds of millions of dollars a year (its a fantasy I know but a fantasy which has become their reality) so I'd bet they'd be willing to fork over big money to hunt down the people offer lots of songs for download.

The really sticky part for the RIAA is going to be a few years from now after the P2P networks are mostly crushed and yet record sales are still slumping. Then the RIAA won't be able to ignore the fact that sales are down because fewer bands are getting to release music so there is less likely hood of people hearing a song they like. The RIAA puts out generic crap music so no one want to buy it; that's why sales are down.

[Sava]

The RIAA puts out generic crap music so no one want to buy it; that's why sales are down.

BINGO!

[Pekka]

What hackers can do? Many things. What they are now doing is making new tools to defend against RIAAs own spiders and what not. They'll spread like illness, promoted so that everyone gets them. That's the first one. Cover the own base. And this is what everyone has been doing to this date.

But what they haven't done is to attack RIAA. Sure, screwing around with their webpage is another thing, but there hasn't been any significant attacks.
There are many ways to hurt RIAA, directly and indirectly. Naturally excluding physical stuff, just talking about what hackers can do with their keyboards.

They can infiltrate it, like they have already infiltrated all movie productions (or how do you think they release movies before they even hit the theaters?) and software business. They can mess with their network, do some realllly nasty stuff. Forget about love letters. How is your network security RIAA? I bet it's top notch, but it can't be that top notch.

And the most damaging attack, they can start directly attacking everyone who is openly supporting RIAA and it's policies. Attack their networks everywhere, anytime.
It will hurt lots of people for sure, but at the end, hackers will prevail it.

[Agathon]

Originally posted by Oerdin
Ag: Your also missing the point that the government pays for the imprisonment not the RIAA. So how is cost going to deter the RIAA? Remember they think they're losing hundreds of millions of dollars a year (its a fantasy I know but a fantasy which has become their reality) so I'd bet they'd be willing to fork over big money to hunt down the people offer lots of songs for download.

Legal costs. I would write more but I have to go.

[Dinner]

It's just much easier for the corporate execs to blame the quarter's poor results on P2P networks and mythical theives who are stealing the company's money. These myth helps the execs smooth things over with wall street types ("It these kids who are stealing our music not that our music sucks!").

Execs love these types of excuses just look how all of them are tripping over themselves trying to blame their poor management decisions on SARS. They claim they lost money because of SARS and not because their products suck, that they miss read public opinion, that they priced themselves out of the market, or what not.

[Pekka]

If RIAA really wants to put their foot on piracy, then why don't they go to eastern europe and bust down those piracy factories, fake copies that almost looks real and costs $3 per cd? That's actually popular, they actually makes LOTS of money. Why won't they put equal effort to that, because that is truly hurting the business, as there is organized crime and they are benefitting. Too bad though, that local cops etc are on the payroll and they're protecting them, but it's not p2p-peoples fault that they make huge amounts of money somewhere and RIAA lacks to will and balls to go after them. I mean.. they might even get into REAL trouble..

[Dinner]

$3 per CD?! Heck, prices have gone up since the last time I was in eastern Europe.

I honestly think the countries of Bulgaria & Moldova produce nothing but prostitutes and fake CDs.

[Pekka]

I mean, I can go to the market right now that sells them. I just drive to the harbor, get a ticket that costs 20 euros, takes less than 2 hours, go to market and get 100 fake copies with 200 euros, come back, the border control doesn't even care, and be safe? Then I go to the internet, download the same amount of records and get jailed and fined? Well I wouldn't get jailed in here but...
anyway.

The difference is, that in the other one I'm actually paying, but the money goes directly to organized crime. In the other one I'm downloading it from some nerd who have ripped his newest Madonna album, and they claim I just made huge losses for them.

[Pekka]

Oerdin, Man, I think they're less than that. I was just making a point

[Velociryx]

As an artist myself, I fully support peer to peer file sharing, and I do not believe that it hurts sales (any more than second hand music shops and bookstores do). I'm a rabid fan and supporter of http://www.bookcrossing.com and have released a number of my own books that very way. In fact, embracing bookcrossing.com (which is the paper equal to an electronic p2p network) has GAINED me sales by getting my books out to a wider audience than they otherwise would have reached.

To file sharing!

-=Vel=-

[Pekka]

I might also add, that RIAA, or BSA to that matter does not have the same power here as it does in the US. We don't go to jail. I mean we are a country where maximum punishment and life sentence means 12 years. Get out in 6. I can kill people and get less than you guys when you leech music from the internet .

Sure, they can pressure our courts, but not happening. They might even sentence someone, but what do you think the punishment is? It's a joke. It would be still cheaper to 'steal' than buy. And with that record you get a good job in IT-business too!

And their lobbyists are not that good that they could actually start swinging wild here. Sorry..

[Pekka]

But I'm not fully defending this. I believe that artists should get the money, it's their work. But then again record labels gets it all, artists gets only little.. depends who you are, super star or not.

And in software business, where I'm going soon after getting that degree, it's a bummer that people are stealing your work. Or sharing.

I still think RIAA is just making a big mistake.