Oregon fights RIAA fascism

I wonder what the "regulation for thee, not for me" crowd is gonna say about this story.

The RIAA's tactics against people who it accuses of pirating music have ranged from lawsuits to impersonating police. Never will I trust the RIAA when it sues an individual for illegal file sharing, because it seems like half the people it sues have never used a computer in their lives.

The Oregon Attorney General's office has finally had its fill of this bullshit. When the RIAA subpoenaed the identities of University of Oregon students who it accused of violating music copyrights, the attorney general filed an appeal in federal district court requesting an investigation of the RIAA's "evidence."

Ray Beckerman, a lawyer who defends people targeted by the RIAA, said, "The RIAA has been bringing fake copyright infringement lawsuits, the sole purpose of which is to get the names and addresses of John Does." He said the RIAA then drops these suits and coerces the defendants into settling based on dubious evidence.

According to the Oregon Attorney General's office, the strategies used by the RIAA in its lawsuits are improper. For instance, the RIAA may have illegally accessed and uploaded confidential information that was stored on defendants' computers. And the RIAA may have intentionally misused the legal system - it's called abuse of process - by getting the names of people who allegedly copied music but not continuing their suits against them. From what I can gather, it looks like the RIAA's actions are a Fred Phelps-like case of naked extortion.

The government really has grounds for an antitrust suit against the RIAA. Most of the music industry is concentrated in the RIAA, which launches lawsuits against file-sharing sites that are used legitimately by independent performers who don't have other means to promote their products. The states need to put their feet down against the RIAA.

(Source: http://www.pcworld.com/article/id,140173-c,copyright/article.html)