This aspect of the case is not concluded by any means: > Also, the judge in the case ruled that jurors may find copyright > infringement liability against somebody solely for sharing files on > the internet. The RIAA did not have to prove that others downloaded > the files. That was a big bone of contention that U.S. District Judge > Michael Davis settled in favor of the industry.
-Lucas On Thu, 4 Oct 2007, David Barrett wrote: > I frankly seems like a pretty cut and dry case to me, but I'm curious what > specifically factored in as evidence of her guilt. > > Setting her Kazaa username to her email address was probably the most > damning evidence in my eyes. Next was plugging the computer direct into the > DSL modem (I think), rather than connecting behind a home NAT or wireless > gateway. And finally, sharing such a huge library of songs -- some of which > were independently confirmed to be on her hard drive later -- didn't help. > Taken together, it seems like a pretty sound judgment. > > However, I wonder if the evidence used to convict her will become > increasingly difficult to gather. As more and more p2p traffic migrates to > BitTorrent, usernames go away entirely, and a lack of auto-seeding makes > huge open archives less common. And as more and more users connect via > unsecured wireless gateways, the link between an IP address and a computer > (not to mention an individual user) gets harder to pin down. > > In effect, she was caught using 2nd generation p2p pirate software. > (Napster/Scour being 1st, Gnutella/Kazaa being 2nd, BitTorrent 3rd.) I > wonder how this will factor into the construction of generation 4? Built-in > onionskins? > > -david > >> -----Original Message----- >> From: John Parres [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] >> Sent: Thursday, October 04, 2007 3:07 PM >> To: The Pho List >> Subject: Pho: W: RIAA Jury Finds Minnesota Woman Liable for Piracy, Awards >> $222,000 >> >> http://blog.wired.com/27bstroke6/2007/10/riaa-jury-finds.html >> >> RIAA Jury Finds Minnesota Woman Liable for Piracy, Awards $222,000 >> By David Kravets EmailOctober 04, 2007 | 4:34:32 PM >> >> DULUTH, Minnesota -- Jammie Thomas, a single mother of two, was found >> liable Thursday for copyright infringement in the nation's first >> file-sharing case to go before a jury. >> >> Twelve jurors here said the Minnesota woman must pay $9,250 for each >> of 24 shared songs that were the subject of the lawsuit, amounting to >> $222,000 in penalties. >> >> They could have dinged her for up to $3.6 million in damages, or >> awarded as little as $18,000. She was found liable for infringing >> songs from bands such as Journey, Green Day, AFI, Aerosmith and >> others. >> >> After the verdict was read, Thomas and her attorney left the >> courthouse without comment. The jurors also declined to talk to >> reporters. >> >> The verdict, coming after two days of testimony and about five hours >> of deliberations, was a mixed victory for the RIAA, which has brought >> more than 20,000 lawsuits in the last four years as part of its >> zero-tolerance policy against pirating. The outcome is likely to >> embolden the RIAA, which began targeting individuals in lawsuits after >> concluding the legal system could not keep pace with the ever growing >> number of file-sharing sites and services. >> >> Still, it's unlikely the RIAA's courtroom victory will translate into >> a financial windfall or stop piracy, which the industry claims costs >> it billions in lost sales. Despite the thousands of lawsuits -- the >> majority of them settling while others have been dismissed or are >> pending -- the RIAA's litigation war on internet piracy has neither >> dented illegal, peer-to-peer file sharing or put much fear in the >> hearts of music swappers. >> >> According to BigChampagne, an online measuring service, the number of >> peer-to-peer users unlawfully trading goods has nearly tripled since >> 2003, when the RIAA began legal onslaught targeting individuals. >> >> At the time, BigChampagne says, there were about 3.8 million file >> sharers trading over the internet at a given moment. Now, the group >> has measured a record 9 million users trading at the same time. >> Roughly 70 percent of trading involves digital music, according to >> BigChampagne. >> >> The case, however, did set legal precedents favoring the industry. >> >> In proving liability, the industry did not have to demonstrate that >> the defendant's computer had a file-sharing program installed at the >> time that they inspected her hard drive. And the RIAA did not have to >> show that the defendant was at the keyboard when RIAA investigators >> accessed Thomas' share folder. >> >> Also, the judge in the case ruled that jurors may find copyright >> infringement liability against somebody solely for sharing files on >> the internet. The RIAA did not have to prove that others downloaded >> the files. That was a big bone of contention that U.S. District Judge >> Michael Davis settled in favor of the industry. >> >> Thomas maintained that she was not the Kazaa user "Tereastarr," whose >> files were detected by RIAA's investigators. Her attorney speculated >> to jurors that she could have been the victim of a spoof, cracker, >> zombie, drone and other attacks. >> >> The jury found her liable after receiving evidence her internet >> protocol address and cable modem identifier were used to share some >> 1,700 files. The hard drive linked to Kazaa on Feb. 21, 2005 -- the >> evening in question -- did not become evidence in the case. >> >> According to testimony, Thomas replaced her hard drive weeks after >> RIAA investigators accessed her share file and discovered 1,702 files. >> The industry sued on just 24 of those files. >> >> More to come ... >> >> (Courtroom sketch: Wired News/ Cate Whittemore) >> >> --------------------------------------------------------------------- >> >> This is the Pho mailing list, hosted by griffinatonehousedotcom and >> johnparresatgmaildotcom. > > _______________________________________________ > p2p-hackers mailing list > [email protected] > http://lists.zooko.com/mailman/listinfo/p2p-hackers > > _______________________________________________ p2p-hackers mailing list [email protected] http://lists.zooko.com/mailman/listinfo/p2p-hackers
