Nobody ever writes anything nice about the RIAA. For example, did you know that assistant lawyer Dale Wilkinson always signals 5-10 seconds before merging–even if there’s no one there? Or that major-label liasion Christine Dawls constantly makes a point of handing money to the clerk at 7-11, rather than just rudely tossing it on the counter? You didn’t know about such nice things, and you never will, because the RIAA keeps doing stuff like this:
Another round of threatening letters is on its way to suspected music pirates at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln, with 19 more students accused of illegally downloading music, the university said Friday. It’s the third batch of students targeted at the university, bringing the total number to 80.
The Recording Industry Association of America filed “John Doe” lawsuits against five UNL students last week, alleging copyright infringement. Those five students have not been identified, and university lawyer John Wiltse told Nebraska regents at their Friday meeting that the alleged violators will not be identified unless the recording industry obtains a subpoena. Otherwise, the process is fairly anonymous. The recording industry group’s letters are sent to the university, asking officials to pass them along to alleged offenders.
In late February, the association sent letters offering discounted settlements to 400 computer users at 13 universities. Since then, more than 800 new letters have been sent, offering students the option to settle with the group.
Some UNL students already have settled with the organization. Tom Keefe, who works in Student Legal Services at UNL and has handled some of the settlement offer letters, said students could have settled within 20 days of notification for a $3,000 fee. After that, he said, the offer jumps to $4,000.
According to the story, the RIAA has now sued 18,000 computer users in the country, including approximately 1,000 college students. We’re guessing that once they hit 30,000 or so, the group’s long-criticized approach will finally prove to be successful, and naysayers will eat their words when file-sharing abruptly stops, Sadr City is stabilized and George Lucas makes a halfway-decent Star Wars prequel.
Recording Industry Accuses More UNL Students of Stealing Music [AP]
I can’t help but wonder how many of these students caught up in the RIAA’s wonderful “john Doe” extortion ploy are going on to practice a career in law. Any Idolites out there think the RIAA might just be the biggest pro bono target in town in a few years?
But Lucas already made a half-way decent Star Wars prequel. Didn’t you guys see Revenge of the Sith?