music_news 91 posts

OMFG!!! The US Government is on crack. Hell, crack dealers are punished as badly as they are proposing on this bill. The decline of Western civilization at its best!!

Getting rid of Gonzo should be the immediate priority, the next to get a veto proof congress so legislation like this will never see the light of day, and in fact, new laws protecting consumers should, must be passed. this will only happen with a Democratic controlled Congress.
Let it be.

This takes the P**S! life imprisonment for using pirated software!!!
Murder's get a better deal!
When will this end! they've well and truly lost it!
Copyright infringement is a means to print money for greedy corporation's! & we're the ones who pay.

Shit, I can rob a bank, kill people and not get that kind of sentence. And I live in America! Where has this great country gone...

I think I hear the jackboots coming down the street. Our liberties are under their boot these days.

Well... don't download CD's!!
Rob a bank and BUY them from the stolen money ;)

I guess it will be even dangerous to travel to the US with a MP3 Player. How could a human being proof, if the songs are copies of his own CDs, tapes or LPs! You are going four weeks to jail for nothing!
Are they completely nuts! We should file a law suit against the music industry, especially in the US for creating constantly new formats and that the client has to pay for the same songs, again and again. That is robbery. Let's find a good lawfirm (lawyer), probably there is one out there in the US, who would gladly do the job, let's say for 50% of the multi Billion Dollar claim. What a great country!

Freedom of speech...If the US dollar drops anymore we'll be able to buy CD's for less than a quid. -no need to download them then...

Wow. Fuck them. They're trying to force us to buy their shit.

I don't think these artists will ever be on the government dole due to downloading their music. Is allofmp3 still in jeopardy by the way!!?

... What a joke ... sounds like scare tactics to me.

Idiots

Well, let me say this with the words of the great Blacky Lawless (when
addressing the so called Washington Wives): this is to the whole bunch of you Government sluts! You can suckme, suck me, eat me raw! HARDER FASTER

Jack is completely right; this is only lame scare tactics. Doesn't work with me though;-)

Glad to see that US congress has some time on it's hands. Perhaps introducing laws to prevent the false imprisonment of innocent (until PROVEN guilty) individuals without charge would be a more fitting use of their time. Could it be that the music industry is a major contributor to their campaign funds?

7. by eremes, 19 May 2007, 19:09
"Let's find a good lawfirm (lawyer), probably there is one out there in the US, who would gladly do the job, let's say for 50% of the multi Billion Dollar claim."

50%???? Hell, the lawfirm would deserve 100%. Not only could they put the #@*^+#@ in their place, but they would be doing a fantastic consumer service to all of us. I don't want any money from the RIAA, I just want to have my civil liberties protected from those scumbags. Actually, I don't know why some lawfirm hasn't already taken on this challenge?

From what I understand of this... it's just a proposed bill, and a similar bill attempted in recent years took a swan dive. Also, the criminal penalties are for people counterfeiting and causing *bodily harm or loss of life* - not a song on allofmp3, for instance, but a counterfeit (and substandard) medication.

That being said, the RIAA really are ghouls.

What a shame to be american! What sort of civilization are you? Rather medieval: death penalty for simpleton's, wars for petroleum, guns in your jackets, jail for copyists. When Gutemberg invented the printing 500 years ago, did the copyists trappers put him to jail because he was breaking their monopol for copying the bible? Would you aggree to pay a fortune for each book you read copied by hand? Time for CD sold 20$ is finished that's all! Now it's time for 20c per song and easy sharing. Adapt yourself or die! Long live Russia!

Noose tightens around allofmp3.com


Music industry fights back at allofmp3.com. closes voucher payment scheme.
James Niccolai

The recording industry has stepped up its battle to shut down allofmp3.com, announcing the arrest of a man who allegedly sold vouchers used to make purchases at the controversial online music store.

UK police arrested the 25-year-old man in Bow, East London, earlier this month, the International Federation of the Phonographic Industry said today. He allegedly sold vouchers through auction sites such as eBay and sent the money to off-shore accounts operated by the site's owners.


The music industry has been battling hard to shut down the Russian website, which it accuses of selling cut-rate music without paying royalties to artists or music labels.

The labels hope to run the site out of business by eliminating the ways it can collect payments from customers. Paypal, Visa and Mastercard have already stopped accepting payments at the site, according to the IFPI, and closing the voucher operation is the latest step in that strategy.

The man, who was not identified, was the first person to be arrested for copyright infringement under Section 2 of the 2006 Fraud Act, a new law enacted in January to fight online fraud, the IFPI said. He was arrested at a private address where police also seized computers and paperwork.

The IFPI called the arrest "a significant step in the demise of the Russian illegal music website" as "payment options run dry and the law closes in." The vouchers operation may have netted "tens of thousands of pounds" for the website's owners, the IFPI said.

The vouchers were priced at £10 each and were also sold at allofmp3vouchers.co.uk, which included an access code that people entered at the online store to make purchases.

Traffic to allofmp3.com has been declining, the IFPI said, although shutting it down has been a lengthy process involving legal actions in several countries.

The music industry has secured an injunction against the website in Germany, and ISPs have been ordered to block access to it in Denmark. The Italian site allofmp3.it has been shut down, and legal actions are under way in Russia, the US, France and the UK, the IFPI said.

Allofmp3.com did not immediately respond to a request for comment. The website has said it believes it is legal in Russia and has posted a FAQ about its legality.

The recording industry has stepped up its battle to shut down allofmp3.com, announcing the arrest of a man who allegedly sold vouchers used to make purchases at the controversial online music store.

UK police arrested the 25-year-old man in Bow, East London, earlier this month, the International Federation of the Phonographic In

It will be a cold day in hell (otherwise known as Washington DC, or better yet, the RIAA Corporate offices) before I EVER buy another CD again! Those greedy @!*@ers can choke on their ridiculous DRM-corrupted CD's for all I care!

You Russians fight back! There are dozens ways to spread tons of vouchers codes around the world.

I recently bought the Bach complete work box in a music shop: it contains 155 CD that I bought for 117 euros, 3/4 euros per CD! I have enough money to spend hundred of euros as I like but I WILL NEVER NEVER NEVER PAY 20$ PER CD when the right price is no more than 2 euros at the highest! Music industry spends lots of money for stupid ads on TV, that's what they do with your money!

ALLOFMP3 can diseappear, it won't change anything for me, you will not have my money!! I'll buy to individuals or share with friends! If a teenager isn't stupid enough to be ripped by the music industry, do you really think that a wise experienced man like me will accept to have my money stolen?

No, I can download from Nigeria and they can't catch me.

Life imprisonment? are they crazy?! they want to take a person's whole life away if they trespassed a CD across a border? I'm sure some sort of prison sentence is good to help stop piracy but life imprisonment? This is doesn't make sense, why not send him to do work for the community that way he can be of some use to people and have a life at the same time. Sense is gone..

screw them

Ruthless Idiots And Assholes.

Yeah - Sure. And Pigs can Fly. If this ever happens I'll be able to walk on Water. Fuck Man - be real. If they think I believe this or that the Bill will even be passed, then they're living on Mars.

Learn things.

Hilary Rosen is a democrat and major Clinton backer. Clinton in the Whitehouse and a "veto proof majority" would mean a complete stranglehold for RIAA.

At least the GOP is insulated from these guys. What do they care if the Dixi Chicks music is downloaded.

Just to make something Clear - ALLOFMP3 is run by some Clever Westerners. Anyone thinking that the Russians run it, is an idiot. The Russian thing is just a Coverup to get away from the US Authorities. Clever Move - start a Website in a Country who was hated by the US for Years. it makes them virtually untouchable. Do you think the Russians are really so up to dta with their Music?? Holy Crap Man - just look at their Cars!!

No way this bill will pass.

This is about right. The US wants to jail you for life for music copyright infringement and in Europe they through you in prison for writing a book. This is truly the downfall of western civilization.

Can you imagine how many people are going to be in jail if this stupid thing gets passed? About 35% of the population

I seriously doubt that the Democratic House of Representatives will pass anything this weasal of an Attourney General wants. In fact, right now all they want is his ugly little head on a stick. Thank God those stinking Republicans didn't retain control of Congress.

I will never move back to the US... I almost feel like a refugee seeing as the USA is being held completely hostage by big corporations. I am afraid to live there. My whole family (children included) could all end up rotting away in prison under a dictator in what is supposed to be the world's freest nation. Bullshit!

It sounds sick, but I am happy every day that I don't have to live in the States.

I moved from the ussr in 1990 to the states and now it feels like deja vu.

Well you Yanks voted the arseholes in, so suffer the consequences.
A friend of mine once said that America was the biggest open air lunatic assylum.
I think he was right.

Fuck America!
Guys, you are heading directly towards a dictatorship. "Land of the free" -- LOL. That's 25 years ago, dreamers...

for all of you that insist on insulting americans, it's not like "we, the people" agree with what the government is doing. "they, the elected" do what they want. I expect that they will do the right thing as this bill is expected to get the snub. i hope it does. We didn't vote them in!! the electoral college did that!!! what kind of choices are we getting anyway? crappy choices if you ask me. common folk of the world UNITE!!!! stop bad mouthing us because we are born in america.

Let's not start a racial/nationalist thing here.. if you disagree with how your senators/representativs are voting in congress, then don't re-elect them. That's not all that can be done. You can (try to) call them and complain/advise them on their choices/give feedback, but I'm not sure how effective it'll be.

34 has a point... a majority of the people voted em in, and that's the only reason they're there.

Some day the US Congress shall meet in HAAG for trial for illegal war of aggression in Iraq, Afghanistan meeting life imprisonment.

IFPI, RIAA and MPAA will soon be declared bankrupt. The artists don't need them.

Man that is some bullsh*t i am so amazed by the idiotic of our goverment officals..... why dont we do something better with are time like i dont know toughen are rape laws?

and on the fuck america comments Fuck you guys your just mad cuz we'd kick your ass

this is American politics at its worst. If this is actually carried out, you'll see millions in jail from ages 8 to 80. Of course enforcement is another thing, but the potential punishment is pure madness. how about withdrawing from Iraq? That should save America more than overflowing the prison system with middle class Americans. Hey, i fear for america; with ultra-concervatives taking up the government, there is actually a chance this might pass. and yes, i'm american, but i'm not proud to say it.

If that legislation doesn't pass right away, they'll just keep trying again and again (perhaps with modifications) until they manage to sneak it through - it's always the same. In case you haven't noticed, America is becoming an Orwellian-style police state and things will get much worse unless we all stand against it. The Brits who think our King George was properly elected haven't a clue about the rampant vote fraud that exists not only in America. They have the same problems and more. Wake up Brits and look around at the growing number of cameras watching your every move in the U.K. which, by the way is a more advanced police state and surveillance society than the USA, but don't feel bad because we're right behind you, and the same wealthy elites control both our countries anyway so we'll all be in the concentration camps together soon.

USA sucks royally. Everyone thinks the "American Dream" is wanted everywhere. Fuck America! England is the other country who is following the same dumb path of trying to own consumers. Fuck you Bush! Fuck you Tony Blair! USA going to war with other countries and forcing democracy when it's own people are in a maximum security prison enforced by the government.

Maybe the DMCA and RIAA needs to be shutdown - forcefully and physically by any means to give them something to thing about.

Long Live Russia!

F_The_RIAA_&_DHS wrote:
OMFG!!! The US Government is on crack. Hell, crack dealers are punished as badly as they are proposing on this bill. The decline of Western civilization at its best!!
------

Fortunately this is not so, it is only the USA that is in decline. I, like the rest of the world, is just waiting for USA to get so paranoid that everybody starts shooting everybody, leaving the rest of us to a life without the ever imposing "police-of-the-world". Considering the decline of the USA one could argue that policing the world for copyright violators is not the best use of government time and money. You will never get us anyway, just look at the Piratebay.

Good spelling Wicky Wack..............The USA is on a downhill spiral along with the UK and today Putin is going to point his missiles at us all...............farewell cruel world.......xx

Let's all wait till 2009 when a democrat takes over, and kicks Bushes followers in the ass! Hopefully it's gonna be Barack Obama.
I find that Brits and Americans alike are equally ignorant of what the rest of the world thinks; you know cuz when you get to live within the U.S. and in other countries you start to realise this.
Republicans will NEVER succeed with their corrupt agendas, there are too many people/politicians here who oppose everything they stand for, and I'm not talking abt the better libertarian Republicans, I'm obviously pointing fingers at the Neo-conservative bunch.
Don't worry-they're too delusional to succeed!

Utter absurdity..strikes right at the free market that supposedly the US was meant to represent, copyright as originally meant was for the authors benefit, not as a means to control the usage of the book etc,
Software etc should only get a 15 year patent not a forever copyright...
Music..I will pay the artists directly..not some music company ahole

IF THERE WASN't this great demand for intellectual property, it wouldn't be worth anything! But, there is huge demand, as is evident on this page, and huge value is invested in intellectual property. Huge demand comes from the mind control which has long been hijacked by corruption, as there is never a shortage of tried and true hustlers in the world. If everybody is so fed up with punishments for stealing the fruits of other people's work, then
Stop eyeing the fruit with such gaping, ecstatic and oblivious eyes.
This is very imperative for mental health of the Masses, which so many of the big Architects of Hype sitting on their Mounds of Green and Mean place no value on.
People need to realize the value of their OWN brains and we must face justice when we choose to resort to compromising our values to have what others have. This is how society develops inner strengths in its citizens. If you want something in a free market, there is a price for it. If you decide you won't pay the price, you're a criminal. Simple as that.

If we don't want to really dish out the extra greens for products, then how valuable are these products really? It's time we start to take this consideration more seriously and stop taking it easy on ourselves.

People who are so oppressed by the weight of the system will always have their justification, but we all must try to uphold what makes the thought of being American a proud one. We all can choose to try our best to uphold our own strength and self-respect, instead of following others so blindly we lose ourselves.

I guess its a good time to buy the song "Fight The Power" by Korn and Xzibit.

Life in prison for piracy? Makes me wonder if digital will exist when the prisoner gets out at 80 years old.

Fuck the U.S. Government. (Im American btw)

Well maybe if record companies weren't so goddamn greedy and would charge us a reasonable amount (not $1.00 per song) for music we want and not crap we don't. I find it abhorrent that I have to shell out $15 for a cd of music where there is only one or two good songs.

It is sad to see the American government degenerating.

They have really turned into that "EVIL" propaganda that they
have for so long tried to hunt and kill in other countries...

They will go as far as to stick you with the smokin-CD if you
don't have one when they try to bust you...

If you think it's bad now, just wait until Hillary takes office.

If America is such a bad place to be then why are people trying to get here as fast as the can and in record numbers?

This is probably going to happen here in England...*shakes head* America and the UK are bringing each other down

US spends an extra ordinary amount of effort trying to bust those
in europe and asia, where mexico and cadada are never mentioned.
I suppose they don't want to start trouble close to home.

People are flocking to the US only because they feel safer here in
the event that the madman at the helm decides to wage another war.

If you want to out-hustle free market hustlers, don't get caught up in the rules of the free market. Otherwise, how much does their sh*t, or the sh*t they promote really shine to you? Everything is sh*t, but our cultures teach us how bright all sh*t shines. Too many hustlers are good at teaching what sh*t shines, and many people are confused or clueless as to how sh*t shines (peer pressure, part of societal living).

All sh*t aside, thank America for a free market for hype and style, where too many pampered and/or unenlightened people fuel the worst of it.

Back to the sh*t;
across a spectrum, people learn to eat sh*t and want more, and die with sh*t for brains or, they deal enough with their own sh*t that they can die happy knowing how sh*t can get so shiny. It's obvious which is healthier, but almost never easy to accept(neutralization of responsibility/guilt).

americans are assholes!! hahahaha music's no longer a bussines....

first of all america is a great place, and i think its a beautiful country, on the other hand u have to say that a lot of americans have sh*t for brains obviously !!
It i true that free music is illegal but come on people !! charging 20 bucks a cd is the scam of the century !!!!
i think sites like allofmp3 should be the f..k..g norm !!!

But listen to congress as they describe what's on their IPod's; ripped from their computer and in violation of current copyrights. Does the RIAA sue them?

Nobody in their right minds thinks college kids would spend $5k to fill up their IPods - except the RIAA. They'd go back to owning 5 or 6 cd's and that's it.

File sharing has nothing to do with this battle. It has everything to do with the fact RIAA has not produced a note of music aimed at anyone over the age of 16 for almost 20 years now.

Just wait until HD hits and everyones dvr's stop working. They are priming the public.

Think this won't have a chance of passing? Guess who the Democrats hired for p.r. - exRIAA head of communications and I think it's a fair guess it wasn't because of her stellar success endearing RIAA interests to the general public (i.e. the most hated corporation poll per the consumerist). RIAA and MPA are deeply entrenched in congress, both sides. It's 'easy money' for them - thinking most people don't care.

Most musicians don't even see $.10 per $1 from ITunes. Russian ROM isn't that far off. There's also a U.S. broadcasting law that could sheild Allofmp3. And of course, there's anti-consumerism that fuels the fact most people in the U.S. will never buy a physical cd again (which might account for the loss of sales, ya think?)

Take a look at laws now. They used to protect the public (as per the constitution) and now, most are passed making the average person doing average things = a criminal.

And then there's a set of laws for people like Paris Hilton.

people...please help the comunity to list other site.....We need a huge music chain....in this way the can not close INTERNET. We need to do like the torrents(to big to close all of them)....more site....and less trouble.....
Internet can not be close is the future....(to much money involved)so..if anyone can open a music site will be a million sites on the word....to hard to catch all of them....

I think we as a people could completely solve this problem by ignoring Hollywood and big music companies. It wouldn't be easy but it would be a huge hit to them. Don't go to the movies, buy DVD's, buy CD's, or download music. Instead go see local bands and stage shows. There are other forms of entertainment that don't have the greedy corporate lunatics at the helm. I bet if everyone went this route these industries would see what the loss of money really is. Of course I know this will never happen. The problem with the U.S. is the citizens refuse to sacrifice a thing in order to stand up for what is right. That is why the current administration has almost completely destroyed the constitution. It seems that no one has noticed that Either. Most of the crap Hollywood and the Music industry publishes is designed to focus our attention away from the fact that we are losing our constitutional rights almost daily. I think of the RATM lyric. "Godzilla pure Mother fuckin' filla. Keeps your eyes of the real killa. My whole point is pay attention and stand up for your beliefs. One person may not make a difference but many can.

There's the issue about voter fraud, and that whole, Florida fiasco, so I wonder sometimes who REALLY got elected. Business and those with money are kinda taking over the govermnment. But that's a whole different story. It would be nice if countries that have instances of human rights violations (like slavery, child labor) got this much pressure to clear things up, but nooooo... we go after copyright infringement. Oh, wait, didn't Nike and Coke get in trouble for some of those things. LOL
Meh, I think the whole world sucks I'm not particularly fooled by location.

This is the type of behavior that I would expect from an administration that either does not understand or respect the U.S. Constitution.

The people that should be doing prison time are the ones that are in power, up to and including the head Cowboy Buckaroo. Lying to Congress is a Federal offense. Lying to Congress to start an immoral war deserves prison time.

W also deserves prison time for his involvement with his butt buddy Ken Lay.

The author of post number 15 makes a good point.
The headline here was a bit misleading. Here's the part about the life sentence:

If the offender knowingly or recklessly causes or attempts to cause
serious bodily injury from conduct in violation of
paragraph (I), the penalty shall be a fine under this title or
imprisonment for not more than 20 years, or both.
(B) If the offender knowingly or recklessly causes or attempts
to cause death from conduct in violation of paragraph (I),
the penalty shall be a fine under this title or imprisonment
for any term of years or for life, or both."

Now, who knows what that even means? Alberto Gonzales does not wish death upon those who download music illegally. The problem here is that those in power can easily be bought to enforce the will of corporations, including those in the recording industry. This is not a new phenomenon. It's good that people are getting upset about it. It's also about time. We should, however be taking action in the meantime. First, I would suggest writing to our elected officials. This type of effort seems like a waste to most of us, but it is our duty as voters, citizens, and taxpayers to notify our leaders when they are violating our rights. We must inform them that their people do not fall sleep while our civil liberties melt away, and that they need to wake up themselves and do something about it. Second, take a look at the Fair Use section of US copyright law. If our citizens aren't profiting from the listening of low quality versions of recordings on the Internet, I would argue that prosecuting them for such an action is unconstitutional. Pushing the boundaries of Fair Use, and exercising our rights in this area are the first steps in the battle for intellectual freedom.

http://www.publicknowledge.org/pdf/ippa-20070514.pdf
http://www.copyright.gov/fls/fl102.html

unbelievable - they let murders out of jail in 5 years, but you get life for downloading a song! money is the only thing our government is concerned about.

How to pay?

beside emotional aspect why should one pay for a "legal" disc with plenty trash tracks as a burden instead of buying only one track or song? Does it look legal violating the right of a buyer to have choice. And who can advice the legal service which allows to compile a disc on one's own choice and pay a fair price? They give us no option....

1) congress is not promoting this bill: DoJ (Gonzalez?) is. point the finger the right place.
2) how they can possibly justify the use of Homeland Security ("must notify RIAA") for the protection of corporate property rights is way beyond me.
3) I love the notion of stealing to avoid the stiffer penalty.