With the precision of a laser beam, the RIAA last week snagged the four MOST EGREGIOUS FILE SHARERS IN THE WORLD, who all happened to be Bentley College students. Now they have nabbed the fifth and sixth most vicious exchangers of MP3 files, both Loyola of Chicago students:
- The Big Five labels now have the identities of two students suspected of using the computer network at Chicago’s Loyola University for file-sharing.
Their names were handed over to the RIAA by school authorities.
….In this latest incident, Loyola’s authorities readily complied with an RIAA supbpoena.
“We take these things seriously,” the Rev Richard Salmi, vice president of student affairs, is quoted as saying in a Chicago Tribune story. “We let the students know that from time to time.”
Salmi said the two students are in summer school and were told they have 24 hours to respond to the RIAA claims. [Demusic.com]
And as Ryan mentioned earlier today,
- A new bill proposed in Congress on Wednesday would land a person in prison for five years and impose a fine of $250,000 for uploading a single file to a peer-to-peer network.
The bill was introduced by Reps. John Conyers Jr. (D-Mich.) and Howard Berman (D-Calif.). They said the bill is designed to increase domestic and international enforcement of copyright laws.
The only thing lost here is any semblance of proportionality.
Dmusic also has some interesting info on that repulsive pair:
- Berman’s fief is California’s San Fernando Valley, next to LA and the homes of the major movie companies.
His top contributors during the 2002 election cycle were: Walt Disney Co – $32,000; AOL Time Warner – $29,050; Vivendi Universal – $27,341; Viacom Inc – $15,000; News Corp – $11,750; and, DreamWorks – $11,000. In 1999-2000 (as of December 1, 2000) Berman pulled down close to $100,000 in PAC contributions from the communications and electronics sector which includes, of course, the movie and music folks.
Conyer is the the top Democrat on the House Judiciary Committee and his 2002 Hollywood incomings were: AOL Time Warner – $9,000; Walt Disney – $6,000; Viacom – $5,000; and, MCI (WorldCom) Inc – $5,000.
An astonishing coinkydink, or what!