College Demands RIAA Pay Up For Wasting Its Time

An anonymous reader writes "We've already seen the University of Wisconsin tell the RIAA to go away, but the University of Nebaska has gone one step further: it's asking the RIAA to pay up for wasting its time with the silly demand to push students into paying up. The spokesperson for the University also notes that since they constantly rotate IP addresses and have no need to hang onto that information for very long, they simply cannot help the RIAA. They have no clue who was attached to which IP address at the time the RIAA is complaining about."

Good

[dlhm]

They should stick it to 'em as hard as the riaa is sticking it to everyone else!!

uncle sam (will) say so

[User 956]

The spokesperson for the University also notes that since they constantly rotate IP addresses and have no need to hang onto that information for very long, they simply cannot help the RIAA.

Coming soon, federal legislation giving the University a need to hang onto that information.

Gnat on an elephant's back

[Billosaur]

While I applaud the move, Nebraska is but a minor annoyance to the deep pockets of the RIAA. For this to have the fullest effect, a large proportion of the colleges/universities in the country would have to band together and make a class-action case of it, IMHO. Individual schools can score points, but they won't score a clean enough victory to stop this nonsense.

Re:uncle sam (will) say so

[realmolo]

They are trying to do just that:

http://news.com.com/FBI+director+wants+ISPs+to+tra ck+users/2100-7348_3-6126877.html [com.com]

It'll probably never happen. But ONLY because it's completely impractical from a technical standpoint.

Also, if you've never heard of CALEA, do a search. ISPs are already (as of this month) required to help law-enforcement spy on users. At great expense and hassle.

Re:Welcome to ...

[solevita]

The **AA seems to be a bit like terrorism; they only win if you allow yourself to be scared by them.

It seems like the **AA really have got a hold of Slashdot. Oh well, it's April's fools day next week. Let's hope that in two weeks Slashdot starts posting some higher quality stories.

Re:Perhaps

[MightyMartian]

I think in this case it's people getting tired of RIAA making demands on overworked IT departments in what often amounts to warrantless fishing expeditions. I don't think the colleges in question approve of illegal music swapping, but merely that they have better things to do. The attack on RIAA from the legal side is much more interesting, and I wonder if the courts are beginning themselves to tire of what seem to be nuisance lawsuits that often have very little evidentiary backing.

who are you rooting for?

[circletimessquare]

your cynicism belies a lack of heart. even if your cynical jibe were actually true, it would be a call to arms against our representatives about whose interest they are serving in washington. not a call for snide sarcastic comments that, in the end, betrays the fact that you accept your fate as a citizen in a corporatocracy

is it right the riaa can give away money and create legislation that screws the citizens of a country? of course not. does it happen all of the time, corporate interests trumping the interest of the citzenry? of course. but i say that people like you, who just comment on that reality cynically, are part of the problem.

because in your cynicism is acceptance

wrong: you should be angry, not cynical

so i ask again: who are you rooting for? the riaa? if not, then drop the retarded cynicism, please

sarcasm and cynicism are the hallmark of the weak mind, not the intelligent mind, contrary to popular belief

cynics need to shut the fuck up, and grow a heart, cynicism != intelligence, as many of you think you are showcasing when you say something sarcastic. you are simply showcasing your own weak will

fuck the RIAA

[ttnuagmada]

if the RIAA didnt force absolute fucking garbage down our throats through the likes of networks like Clear Channel, they might have better CD sales. In the last few years it seems to me like the RIAA is trying to make the absolute worst fucking music it could possibly ever make just because they know 16 year old girls will buy anything they think is supposed to be popular. the bottom line is that they arent selling the CD's they used to sell because popular modern music from every single genre is studio manufactured dogshit with no originality or artistic merit whatsoever, and as stupid and lame and tasteless as the average person might be they all arent THAT stupid.

Re:Good

[Ayal.Rosenthal]

Hell yes. The key to enforcing copyright protection is not by suing Universities and other centers of learning, its about influencing consumer behavior. When the last time anyone bought a CD?!?! (except for the BS reason "to support the band"... go their show instead)

They should play their strong hand

[humphrm]

The RIAA so far has been playing the "We've got deeper pockets and more lawyers than you" card.

Schools should play the "We've got law students galore, just itching for something to work on" card.

Re:Gnat on an elephant's back

[e4g4]

Indeed, and let's not forget that for every University of Nebraska, there's a Penn State with draconian AUPs that require MAC addresses be associated with a particular student before being granted internet access, thus greatly simplifying the process of associating an IP address with a particular student.

So, yeah, while this move by U of N is a good one, it's hard to say how significant it's impact will be in the grand scheme of things.

Re:uncle sam (will) say so

[BlueTrin]

what if such "federal legislation" is, in fact, not "coming soon"?

Answer: You won't get marked as insightful then :)

Creating a Fearful Consumer Class

[asphaltjesus]

1. The RIAA is the entertainment conglomerates "bad cop."
2. The point is to make consumers deathly afraid of doing anything with digital media without checking for their approval. This makes DRM look like a great solution if you are a consumer afraid of being sued.

"Stick it to them" and haha posts may make /.'ers feel better, but don't take the entertainment conglomerates head-on. The entertainment conglomerates are quite happy about that by the way because /.'er's are a bunch of copyright criminals in an online echo-chamber with their crazy ideas about "free media."

How about organizing an annual no-drm day? Don't by any DRM'd media on that one day each year. That's right no DVD's, no iTunes.

Oh, wait that means we would have to DO something though. Nevermind.

Re:Good

[teflaime]

Except that if you buy it directly from the band, they get the profit...Well, okay, I listen to mostly indie acts with no label so they sell their own CDs...Yeah, I know. I'm a deviant.

Re:Perhaps

[Blue Stone]

I agree wholeheartedly with the sentiments in the ablove posts, but I really feel it's important that we drop the figleaf that is the term that is the 'RIAA'.

The people whose actions so many of us detest, who sue disabled pensioners and little girls who don't even own computers, who whine and bitch and claim the sky is falling every time some new technology comes along, who engage in price fixing, who rip off the artists they claim to represent while simultaneously saying that they're engaging in anti-piracy activity for their benefit (all the time without missing a beat and smiling, smiling, smiling), who LIE to the media and inflate and invent the losses they say they're cost by the eeeeevil pirates...

THESE PEOPLE ARE NOT THE RIAA.

THEY ARE THE 'MAJOR' RECORD COMPANIES.

(And their number is legion) [riaa.com]

Re:uncle sam (will) say so

[steelfood]

There's also a huge difference between being asked to provide assistance, and being asked to keep and maintain records. Schools and ISP's can provide all the assistance law enforcement wants, but if they don't have a log of all the traffic in their network, that assistance would amount to nothing of consequence for retroactive investigations.

Besides, the telecos would not like laws requiring keeping and maintaining traffic logs, and probably would lobby against them. After all, they'd shoulder the burden of the costs, and even more so, if anything should happen to those logs (fire, failed back-ups, etc.) they'd be the responsible party. Now, they let the government set up spy stations mostly because they wouldn't be responsible for the spying or the data collected, and it doesn't cost terribly much.

Flawed model

[Himring]

It's a flawed model really. Historically, suing oneself into success has never worked. The wright (right?) brothers spent their last decades suing anyone who made anything that flew -- yea that went well. The maker of the gun carteridge -- who partenered/sold out to S&W -- did the same thing, and spent his entire fortune made on the invention in court, died broke.

The RIAA missed the boat, failed to innovate, didn't see or care to see the j-curve in technology and are thrashing in the water trying to force people back to music listening circa 1990. The genie is out of the bottle. Pandora's box is open. You are not the next american idol. The answer was D. and now regis is waiting for you to leave the stage. Move along RIAA. Game over dude....

Re:fuck the RIAA

[geoffspear]

"This music is so horrible that I refuse to pay for it. But I will download it and listen to it for hours."

Right. Is it just me who's not such a moron that I don't listen to music I hate whether I have to pay for it or not?

but the problem is

[way2trivial]

sometimes you need a

-1 no shit

and sometimes you need a

+1 no shit

Re:Good

[Viper Daimao]

Yeah, if you don't live in the band's area, you aren't really going to get a chance to support them except every few years. And a lot of my favorite bands don't do large tours.

Re:Perhaps

[Hatta]

THESE PEOPLE ARE NOT THE RIAA.

THEY ARE THE 'MAJOR' RECORD COMPANIES.

Um, and the RIAA is composed of the major record companies. Same thing. This is like complaining someone said "congress passed a bill" when they should have said "congressmen passed a bill". It's a distinction without a difference.