Recording Industry vs. The People

Recording Industry vs. The People



For the first time the proceedings in an RIAA against a private individual will be televised. The case is RIAA vs. Tenenbaum.

CVN (Custom Virtual Network) will “narrowcast” the audio-visual coverage to the website of Harvard University's Berkman Center for Internet and Society, which will make the recording publicly available for all non-commercial uses via its website.

The argument will be on Thursday, January 22nd, at 2:00 p.m.

The RIAA initially tried to block the diffusion of the arguments but the judge in the case did not grant the objection stating: "While the Plaintiffs object to the narrowcasting of this proceeding, .... their objections are curious. At previous hearings and status conferences, the Plaintiffs have represented that they initiated these lawsuits not because they believe they will identify every person illegally downloading copyrighted material. Rather, they believe that the lawsuits will deter the Defendants and the wider public from engaging in illegal file-sharing activities. Their strategy effectively relies on the publicity resulting from this litigation."

Curious, in other words, that a strategy predicated on a 'hit one to educate a hundred' criteria is asked to be removed from the public. Is the RIAA ashamed of something and would rather keep these litigations under wraps and simply rely on predominantly sympathetic news reports and rationalizations. Maybe they hope that the re-educational potential of the lawsuits spreads better through word of mouth.