back to article RIAA claims victory in Usenet.com copyright case

A US district judge has ruled in favour of the Recording Industry Ass. of America (RIAA) in the copyright case brought against Usenet.com that kicked off in autumn 2007. “We’re pleased that the court recognised not just that Usenet.com directly infringed the record companies’ copyrights but also took action against the …

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  1. Steve Kay
    FAIL

    Who wastes their time with Usenet?

    Some ancient BBS from the 80s, what a victory!

    Great, RIAA, what next - you'll subpoena a TRS-80? With the world moving to encrypted peer-to-peer darknet technologies, anonymised networking, etc etc what a waste of time. Way to go.

    Also on the hit-list, gopher and tftp...

  2. adam payne
    Stop

    RIAA strikes again

    In October 2007 RIAA lawyers chucked a federal lawsuit at Usenet.com, in which it claimed that the Fargo, North Dakota newsgroup service “enables and encourages” people to swap copyrighted music.

    The internet enables people to swap music. I can just see it now, RIAA files federal lawsuit against the internet.

  3. Doug Glass
    Pint

    As He-Man Would Say ...

    ... as he raises his sword, "I have the power". And the RIAA has the power too because they have the money gotten from the vast sales to law abiding people who actually purchase the grossly overpriced product.

    You want to squash the RIAA? Deny them funding by not buying the product. Hmmm, that wont work will it? The only people who want the RIAA stopped are those who steal the music and they don't provide money. Wow, that's a dead end for sure.

  4. Kwac
    Welcome

    Time for the NRA to stand up!

    Looks like their stance that 'it's not guns that kill people, it's people that kill people' is becoming increasingly marginalized in the courts.

    After all, it's not PirateBay/Usenet.com that infringe copyrights, it's people that infringe copyrights'.

  5. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    More details...?

    Is there anything that separates usenet.com from any old news host, or have we basically seen the whole protocol get banned? A bit more background would be useful...

  6. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    ? this means what ?

    Tell us please.

  7. Anonymous Coward
    Pirate

    "...egregious litigation misconduct," said the RIAA

    God darnit, Mr. RIAA, you use your tongue prettier than a twenty dollar whore

  8. Anonymous Coward
    Grenade

    @adam payne

    The 'and' is important there. Presumably they're arguing that they enable (with the hosting service) and encourage (by, say, having a user interface which makes it super-easy to grab music, and having big banners saying, "COME DOWNLOADS TEH ALBUMZ").

    If the only argument is that the files are *available*, and not that they explicitly promoted the fact that there were copyrighted files, it's a very dangerous precedent.

    If, however, their marketing specifically mentioned .mp3 newsgroups and said, "Hey, you can get free Michael Jackson songs here", then it's par for the course.

  9. Anonymous Coward
    Troll

    @steve kay

    You're an idiot, who obviously hasnt seen whats going on in the newsgroup world since 1986.

  10. Frank Thomas

    NNTP is not dead

    www.usenet.com != NNTP

    NNTP will not die soon, as it does remain one of the last bastions of anonymous web. Just don't contract with a service provider that widely advertises the availability of illicit material on it.

    first rule, don't talk about fight-club.

  11. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    @kwac

    Guns don't kill people, people kill people?

  12. Dino
    WTF?

    @steve kay

    u r clueless. try a trial subscription at giganews and then tell us who is wasting time... there is nothing faster period...

  13. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    @Me @Kwac

    Looks like I didn't bother to read you comment before commenting on it... That's what you get for using a crappy nokia screen on the train on the way home... Hasn't appeared yet, so maybe it didn't post properly...

  14. Graham Marsden
    Thumb Down

    Usenet RIP :-(

    Despite the ignorance of Steve Kay, Usenet is still of use to many people.

    Unfortunately now, given this nonsensical ruling (how is Usenet supposed to deal with any illegal copying?) coupled with the excuse used by certain providers that "Usenet is used for distributing kiddie porn, so we're not going to carry any Usenet groups", it looks like it's going to be wiped out :-(

  15. Kwac

    @ Steve Kay

    usenet - because you've never tried it it's crap?

    Take a look about little boy - and find out why it's lasted.

    Usenet with SSL - problem solved.

  16. P. Lee
    Troll

    "enabled and encouraged"?

    I saw a PC World advert the other night which said that their core2 dual-core systems enabled you to rip CDs even faster to load them onto your ipod.

    I seem to think that is actually illegal in the UK.

    Easy target for the RIAA I would think. I have a mind to complain just to make a point.

  17. Arnie
    FAIL

    Freetard alert

    oh well there goes the neighbourhood. It'll take a while tho. We've all seen our faithful usenet slowly but surely being advertised on torrent sites so this was bound to happen.

    SSL over NNTP is a wonderful thing. No sharing going on just encrypted goodness. No Mr BPI you cannot see what i am downloading an nor can you Mr ISP. Mind you not long to go until the fact you are on a secure connection to a known usenet host will result in a raid and your PC impounded and those of all your friends and knows associates. We must protect copyright at all costs.

  18. Reverend Brown
    Coat

    For the articles.

    Honestly, honey, I only read Usenet for the articles!

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