Via E3R we got the transcript of a real IM conversation with a college student that had to pay $3K to settle with the RIAA. What impressed me in the conversation was their feeling that the war is lost and there's no point in fighting. This could as well be a great advertising for RIAA.
The below dialog is REAL, cut and pasted from an AIM log. The person I'm speaking to went to my High School and has been an E3R reader for quite some time. His name has been changed to conceal his identity.
me: "D", i heard what happened dude. RIAA sucks.
"D": yes they do
me: 3000$ out of court?
"D": yeah i'm just waiting to hear more at this point
"D": more or less, but about that
me: how many mp3s did you have?
"D": they've a list of 6 differernt songs uploaded from my dorm
me: so for 6 songs they're making you pay 3000$
"D": for a while i was thinking it was my roommate not me since he dl's more than i do, then i saw the list and i really don't think my roommate would have cure or smiths on his comp
"D": basically
"D": if i went to court they could charge me over $100000 per song if they wanted to
"D": which is why i'm settling
me: jesus
me: what P2P program were you running?
"D": kazaa
"D": the shadiest of the shady
me: yeah. wow. so when do you hear back from the RIAA?
"D": i'm not really sure
"D": june 1 was the date my school gave them my name and my roommates name
me: what did your parents say about all of this?
"D": lol my mom was pretty pissed
"D": since i was "breaking the law"
me: moms get blinded sometimes.
"D": she feels i kinda deserve what i'm getting
01:41
me: did she ever copy a cassette for a friend of hers?
me: probably.
"D": maybe
"D": i've made my argument to her
"D": but, since its "illegal", to her i was in the wrong
me: whole thing is stupid. the only difference is they have a way to track down everything now.
me: ya
"D": its totally stupid
"D": they'd have to sue all the teens of america to truly get piracy to stop
"D": its a completely vain effort
me: i don't download music anymore. I haven't in like a couple years.
me: I still (INSERT NOT-SO-LEGAL ACTIVITY HERE) but no downloadin' music for me…no sir
"D": well i'm a music fiend and i've found the best way to discover new bands is to dl it
me: yeah many found that to be the best way
"D": but yeah theres no way in hell i'll dl illegally again, i wouldnt be surprised if RIAA keeps an eye on me for a few years
1. Well, I don't think that the war is over by any means. But it isn't going to be the small people who are easily run over the sheer might of law, it's going to be the organizations of people or companies trying to cash in on unlawful music sharing (depending on your perspective) that will rock the boat. Otherwise, this WAS a conversation and I really did feel sorry for the guy. I will not risk downloading new music unless I pay for it but I illegally downloaded all the good music years ago anyway. But anyway, I'm against the RIAA whether it seems like it or not-- I'm just not risking 3000$-100,000$ when I can hardly afford school.
Posted at 4:29AM on Dec 19th 2005 by Joseph Burdick