RIAA sets its sights on Limewire

Anybody care to take a guess at how long before the Limewire developers settle and pay a huge fine, then rework their software into a pay-per-download model? That's what's happened to the others.


http://www.breitbart.com/news/2006/08/04/D8J9PFS00.html

A coalition of major recording companies sued the operators of the file-sharing program LimeWire for copyright infringement Friday, claiming the firm encourages users to trade music without permission.

New York-based Lime Group LLC, its subsidiaries who designed and distribute LimeWire, and the corporation's top executives, are named in the federal court lawsuit, which was filed in the Southern District of New York, the Recording Industry Association of America said in a statement.

The case is the first piracy lawsuit brought against a distributor of file-sharing software since the U.S. Supreme Court ruled last year that technology companies could be sued for copyright infringement on the grounds that they encouraged customers to steal music and movies over the Internet.

In the complaint, the record companies contend LimeWire's operators are "actively facilitating, encouraging and enticing" computer users to steal music by failing to block access to copyright works and building a business model that allows them to profit directly from piracy.

"Defendants not only have known of the infringement, but have promoted and relied upon it to build their business," the complaint states.

 

I'm glad I switched to iTunes some time ago. I'm a wuss and didn't want to chance it. I have no money as it is.

 

I've used Limewire for years. But I turned off the sharing folder, so I'm not actually breaking the rules.

Or so I hope.

 

this line is funny:

"building a business model that allows them to profit directly from piracy"

perfectly describes what record labels do.

 

Same here. I'm using iTunes right now but I do go back to Limewire if ITunes dosn't have I'm looking for.

 

It's not just that you can't share it. You can't take advantage of anybody else's shared folders, either.

 

I have no idea how to find the information. But I remember when they first started raiding computers for this stuff, and even up until last year, there were stories where they were going after the distributors. That those who didn't pass it on weren't breaking any laws.

 

No, if you have any (ANY) unlicensed MP3s or other media files on your computer, you are (at least theoretically) breaking the law.

And the RIAA WILL come after you, eventually.

 

Care to guess how many other sites are waiting in line, dreaming of being the next Limewire, Napster, Gnutella, Bear Share, Kazaa, Morpheus, etc? P2P file sharing will never be stopped.

Let 'em come. The RIAA can suck my dick.

 

The RIAA is so behind the times it's not even funny. The record labels put in months of work to try to prevent file-sharing and hacker kids find a loophole in a day. And Limewire? Come on. Going after Limewire is like going after drug runners on the street level. It's all good for trying to make yourself look like you're solving the problem, but it's not accomplishing shit as far as fixing anything.

People who are really moving a lot of mp3s around the internet (not a few songs here or there on livewire) are doing it in ways that the RIAA isn't fighting yet and ways they're not monitoring. The whole digital music revolution has made the music industry look horrible.

 

Amen. I've got my LimeWire open right now. Three downloads so far tonight. Bring it.

 

Just switched to iTunes about two weeks ago, after probably 4-5 years on LimeWire.

Me love LimeWire long time, but it seems to be losing steam lately. Starting not to find a whole lot of songs I've been looking for, and lately, I've been enthralled by uploading my CDs to iTunes and combining my CD collection with my MP3 collection (which had previously always been separate, 'cept for mix tapes.)

P2P is here to stay. But LimeWire ain't. Time to move on to something better ...

And for IJAG and others, the RIAA will (and has) sued individual people who download music off LimeWire and similar places. It's effing ridiculous, and basically, everybody settles the suits by purging their illegal music files. Just a nuisance ('cept for the poor, broke college kids that they sue. Then it's a big fucking deal.)