inquisitrlogo

Category: Technology Author : Duncan Riley Posted: March 22, 2009
Tags : , ,

 
While Rome burns, Obama Administration spends time and money defending RIAA


riaa2
The Obama Administration’s Department of Justice (DOJ) has intervened on behalf of the RIAA in the file sharing case Sony BMG Music Entertainment v. Tenenbaum.

In a 39-page brief, the DOJ argues that a United States Supreme Court decision from 1919 relating to damages in a case involving overpriced railway tickets, and a 2007 Circuit Court decision which held that the 1919 decision, should be used in determining damages in the case.

The damages in the 1919 case were x116, while the RIAA is seeking 2,100 to 425,000 times the actual damages for an MP3 file.

Recording Industry vs The People has more details here. You’ve got to ask the question: while the economy burns due to criminal or near criminal acts by the finance industry, the DOJ is spending time and money in defense of the RIAA. Change you can believe in if you’re a filthy rich record industry executive. If you’re a 17 year old student accused of file sharing on the other hand….











Comments


2 Archived Responses to “ While Rome burns, Obama Administration spends time and money defending RIAA ”

  1. J
    Apr 26, 2009

    Ok, so it's bad that the RIAA is being helped by the Obama administration, but it's also a help to the perosn getting sued as well. Right in the article it states they are seeking x119 damages instead of the x ten to hundreds of thousands in damages.
    Also, unlike what most people seem to think, the government is not a one-track system. It can in fact work on more than one thing at the same time. If it didn't, we'd all be screwed.


1 Trackback(s)

  1. May 18, 2011 : Wow… wait, what? RIAA lobbies for legalization of warrantless searches