[PLUG-TALK] Wanna' Help a Lawyer Defend Against the RIAA?

Jeme A Brelin jeme at brelin.net
Sun Dec 31 04:30:33 UTC 2006


On Sat, 30 Dec 2006, M. Edward (Ed) Borasky wrote:
> As much as I hate to see the RIAA stomp on innocent people, from the 
> evidence presented, it seems probable to me that *someone* used the ISP 
> and other devices in question at the times in question to violate a 
> copyright.

Once more, Ed, repeating it doesn't make it so!

Many legal scholars in the United States (including Stanford Law professor 
Lawrence Lessig and former USDOJ Special Prosecutor [in US v. Microsoft] 
David Boies) believe and argue that sharing files in the manner described 
here is perfectly legal and a protected fair use of copyrighted material. 
Copyright isn't the all-encompassing control over content that the 
industry would have you believe.  The interpretation as such is extremely 
new and bolstered by an amazing propaganda campaign (since pretty much all 
media outlets are beneficiaries of the copyright industry, the campaign 
goes largely unchallenged).

You can look back to our discussion of this very topic nearly two years 
ago here:

<URL: http://lists.pdxlinux.org/pipermail/plug-talk/2005-February/002262.html >


> Now it's not at all obvious that the *defendant* is the one who did so, 
> but I'd find it difficult to come up with questions for the witness that 
> would be relevant to the matter at hand.

This should be the primary focus of the defense, in my opinion.  There is 
no evidence, in this case, that the defendant did anything at all... only 
an argument that certain machines and addresses were used.  Machines and 
addresses are not people and should never be mistaken for them.

> In short, I find it pathetic that someone (probably a relative) has 
> probably committed a crime using Ms. Lindor's ISP and Ms. Lindor has to 
> defend herself against the RIAA as a result.

I don't think any crimes were committed in this case (see above and think 
back into the past).  And I think it's absolutely fantastic that Ms. 
Lindor has a chance to stop these spurious and baseless cases by setting a 
strong precedent.  Her fight will be a victory for millions.

J.
-- 
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      Jeme A Brelin
     jeme at brelin.net
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