So the RIAA has gone after Yuri Shutovsky for copyright infringement. Our good friend Yuri (no, I don’t really know him) has an alibi during the time that this alledged copyright violation occured. It seems that he was on an extended trip to Russia. He even offered up his passport showing that he has entry and exit stamps proving that he was in Russia during this time.
Not to be deterred by such trivial details, the RIAA has asked a judge that Yuri turn over all hard drives in his possession as well as the names and addresses of everyone who has ever used his computer. Unsuprisingly, the judge has sided with the RIAA and has required that he turn over all of this information. They even asked (very politely, I’m sure) that his work place be required to turn over all information about any computer that he has ever used while in their employ.
Even though Mr. Shutovsky was in Russia during the time of the alledged violation the RIAA believes that “regardless of who was using the PC at the time, Yuri Shutovsky is responsible for whatever copyright infringement may have occurred by virtue of his paying for broadband from Verizon” (Arstechnica). By that very argument, Verizon is also responsible for whatever copyright infringement occured because they allowed someone to commit copyright infringement through their network.
But, we all know that RIAA would never go after Verizon. Why? Because Verizon has enough money that they can afford to hire attorneys competent enough to defend themselves against such a baseless lawsuit.
Here’s a tip to all you record labels out there. Quit trying to scare your customers into you buying your product. I know that downloading pirated music is illegal and I honestly don’t understand why people choose to do so. I can’t understand it because I can’t understand why most people would want to listen to the crap that you sell. Instead, focus your time, energy, and money on finding and promoting music that is worth buying. Once you do that, learn to charge a reasonable fee and guess what? People WILL pay for your music.
Scaring your “customers” into paying for your service reminds me an awful lot of the racketeering performed by the Mafia. In fact, maybe Mr. Shutovsky should sue the RIAA for racketeering? I’d love to see that civil suit.