[Infowarrior] - The RIAA Attacks Usenet

[Richard Forno]

The RIAA Attacks Usenet
Written by enigmax on October 16, 2007
http://torrentfreak.com/the-riaa-attacks-usenet-071016/

Basking in glory after orchestrating a record punishment for a petty
file-sharer in the US, the RIAA takes its legal campaign to the next level.
Many may want newsgroups to stay under the radar but it¹s too late - major
labels have filed a copyright infringement lawsuit against Usenet.com and it
won¹t be going away.

In an ideal world, people would not talk about Usenet. In an ideal world
there would be no such things as copyright infringement lawsuits. Sadly, we
do not live in an ideal world.

Today we simply have to talk about Usenet and we have to talk about
lawsuits.

Major record labels - Arista, Atlantic, BMG, Capitol, Caroline, Elektra,
Interscope, LaFace, Maverick, Sony BMG, UMG, Virgin, Warner Bros. and Zomba
have filed a copyright infringement lawsuit against Usenet.com.

According to Billboard, the complaint filed in the District Court in New
York states that Usenet.com provides access to millions of copyright
infringing files and, with a nod towards the Grokster Decision, apparently
³touts its service as a haven for those seeking pirated content.²

During the Grokster court case, it was ruled that even if a service or tool
has substantial non-infringing uses, its owners would be liable for the
infringing activities of its customers, should it be deemed that they
encouraged their customers to commit copyright infringement. The complaint
says that Usenet.com encourages its customers to commit copyright
infringement and furthermore, facilitates such actions with its
infrastructure.

Therefore it¹s no surprise that the lawsuit seems to hang on statements
allegedly made by Usenet.com to their customers, claiming that they told
them their service is ³the best way to get Œfree¹ music now that Œfile
sharing websites are getting shut down.²

Usenet.com does state that it¹s possible to get increased levels of privacy
by using their extra Œanonymous¹ service: ³ShhŠ Quiet! We believe it¹s no
one¹s business but your own what you do on the Internet or in Usenet! We
don¹t log your activity. We don¹t track your downloads, and neither can your
ISP when you use Secure-Tunnel.com privacy package.² However, helping to
ensure the privacy of your customers does not equal encouragement to commit
copyright infringement and right at this moment, there doesn¹t appear to be
any other text on the site that would make Usenet.com fall foul of the
Grokster Decision. More details should follow in due course.

The lawsuit states that despite repeated requests by the labels for
Usenet.com to remove infringing content, Usenet.com continued to fill its
servers with infringing material from the Usenet network and then charges
its users for access. It¹s claimed that many of the groups offered by
Usenet.com have no other use other than to disseminate copyright works and
are ³explicitly dedicated to copyright infringement.²

The labels want Usenet.com to admit they are committing copyright
infringement with a view to obtaining an injunction and damages. To date,
Usenet.com has refused to remove content or discontinue offering certain
newsgroups.

It will be interesting to see if other Usenet providers come out in support
of Usenet.com.

Further updates to follow.