RIAA Continues Scare And Extortion Tactics Against Students

[GhostShip]

Just when it looked like the economic terrorist group the RIAA had woken up to the damage they are doing the recording industry, it seems the same old party line is still in force.

http://www.p2pnet.net/story/14799

In Maine, Hannah Ames and Lisa Chmelecki from the University of Maine School of Law’s Cumberland Legal Aid Clinic are going flat out to officially represent two students who are being victimised by Warner Music, EMI, Vivendi Universal and Sony BMG’s RIAA through a ‘pre-settlement’ extortion scheme by which they given the options of paying the RIAA $3,000, or more, or risk a possible civil court case.

Maine said, We’ll Help, but the legal clinic at New York’s Binghampton University categorically advised Nicole Russo, a BU senior, to pay up because, “it costs $400 an hour to retain an RIAA attorney to take the case to court".
“I feel like they came in and robbed me blind,” story has Russo saying.
“I had no chance at winning this case because the RIAA has unlimited funds to go to court where I do not. They target students for this reason, the RIAA knows students won’t fight it further and would prefer to make it go away quietly.”

In Oregon, state attorney general Hardy Myers has come out firmly on the side of the University of Oregon, telling the Big 4 to either put up or shut up.

So lets be clear here folks, the young folks who dont know their rights or have no funds to fight off the extortionists are the target of the musical mafia who can without any proof whatsoever demand thousands of dollars for merely making a threat of court action, and worse, it seems even obtaining any help in defending yourself against the false claims is really a geographical lottery with some colleges/universities bending over backwards to steal your privacy rights instead of protecting those who are penniless and vunerable, what more can be said except those not ensuring any cases brought against their studnets have some sort of validity or basis should perhaps also be named in a class action lawsuit for conspiracy to defraud.

[GhostShip]

In an update to this subject ...

http://www.p2pnet.net/story/14813

Will college leaders receive a formal apology from the MPAA for the consequences of its ‘300 percent error.’ Will Berman and Gordon issue new statements in the coming weeks, toning down their prior criticism and also admonishing the MPAA for providing bad data that led to ill-conceived legislation — the costly P2P reporting and enforcement mandates in the College Opportunity and Affordability Act?

Perhaps the MPAA’s press release acknowledging its ‘300 percent error’ will set the stage for new, less rancorous private and public discussions about P2P piracy. Colleges and universities respect copyright; colleges and universities are engaged in serious efforts to inform and educate students about the importance of copyright. And MPAA and RIAA officials, beginning with MPAA President Dan Glickman and RIAA President Cary Sherman, should acknowledge, respect and strongly support the continuing efforts of campus officials to address copyright issues, in part by ending the public posturing that portrays colleges and universities as dens of digital piracy.

Nice thought but very unlikely, there is no propaganda mileage to be gained by the Cartel in admitting to further anti-student and anti-consumer statistical fabrication.