mccordia 74 #1 April 1, 2003 Translated from the Dutch news-service: Starting this week, the FBI will start a series of arrest of KaZaA users, in cooperation with the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA) The RIAA and the organization BUMA/STEMRA have been working on this action with permittion from the US government for over 7 months. Instead of former searches focussing on child pornography (like earlyer actions) the current action is focussed on the illegal downloading of software and music files. The action was actually planned to not start until later this year, but "The RIAA offered us the unique chance to work with them on this test, thereby making it possible to finish the project 4 months ahead of the time we had scheduled before" according to Tim Kuik, director BUMA/STEMRA. Last year a similar action was held in Denmark. Several KaZaA users from Denmark got billed for illegal copies of software on their home computer. However, no arrest where made. The current action however, will focus on actually arresting the users that could be labeled as KaZaA distribution centers by the amount of illegal software on their computer(s). The intention of this action is to put a halt to the large-scale use of KaZaA. Unlike services such as Napster, KaZaA doesn't run from a central server, but the network is made up through so called peer-to-peer connections. Because of this it's almost impossible to put a halt to it's use. As long as people will be running the program the network will be up. Starting January 2003 the FBI has been running several KaZaA servers with several thousand files, ranging from games to office-software, and mp3's to films. About 412.003 KaZaA users have also been checked for software on their computers. The RIAA had already announced this earlyer. Several thousand users offering illegal content have been registered this way, Several large providers such as AOL have received a court-order to make their members personal information available to the FBI. The state police, working together with the FBI will make several hundred arrest today, hopefully surprising about 200 people behind their computers.Later this week more arrests wil follow, the FBI couldn't tell how many arrests they'll be making. With every arrest all the materials on location will be taken for further investigation. All offenders will looked at on a case by case basis to determine the amount of money they will be charged with, or in some extreme cases, prison time. KaZaA itself will also appear in court later this year. Something that was not possible up to now because the servers and the company are not based in the USA.JC FlyLikeBrick I'm an Athlete? Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
SkydiveMonkey 0 #2 April 1, 2003 Quote Starting January 2003 the FBI has been running several KaZaA servers with several thousand files Could this be classed at entrapment?____________________ Say no to subliminal messages Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Craig 0 #3 April 1, 2003 QuoteQuote Starting January 2003 the FBI has been running several KaZaA servers with several thousand files Could this be classed at entrapment? In the past maybe....Now you have cops sitting behind computers catching adults trying to get sex from underage kids, law enforcement posing as prostitutes, and likely many under undercover stings for various other offences. Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
mccordia 74 #4 April 1, 2003 This was actually a quite cool april fools joke posted on several large (dutch) news sites..scared the shit out of most readers :) The number of users expected to be arrested gave it away...412.003..as in 4 - 1 - 2003 :) Surely scared the shit out of me...just because..ehm...friends use KaZaA a lot....JC FlyLikeBrick I'm an Athlete? Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Craig 0 #5 April 1, 2003 Heh, I thought there was something strange about that number ending with an odd three users. Screwed up thing is that it seemed easy to believe in these times. Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
SkydiveMonkey 0 #6 April 1, 2003 Aprils fools should only be donr in the am, here it's afternoon ____________________ Say no to subliminal messages Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Craig 0 #7 April 1, 2003 You should have let that play out more though. Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
AndyMan 7 #8 April 1, 2003 QuoteCould this be classed at entrapment? It's called a Honeypot, and has been used for decates to capture criminals. It'd be no different then the police opening a bank with poor security, and waiting to see who robbed them. Providing opportunity to commit a crime is not entrapment in itself. It's only when the police actually encourage people (c'mon, man... just do it!) that they can be accused of entrapment. _Am__ You put the fun in "funnel" - craichead. Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
staticnewbie 0 #9 April 1, 2003 You evil, evil man (trying not to break Rule 1). I was halfway to joining the foreign legion when I read that. If I was a drug dealer or a gun runner I wouldn't mind, but I ain't goin' down for some stolen mp3 files!!! This username sucks, so I'm BBKid now instead. Replies, insults, sexual favours and death threats to be sent there from now on. Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
taz9420 0 #10 April 2, 2003 TRYING TO ARREST ME IN MY HOME WITH THAT KIND OF A WARRANT WOULD BE LIKE THE ATF DISARMING AN ALASKAN. Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
billvon 3,006 #11 April 2, 2003 >TRYING TO ARREST ME IN MY HOME WITH THAT KIND OF A WARRANT >WOULD BE LIKE THE ATF DISARMING AN ALASKAN. ??? If they've got a warrant for you they _will_ arrest you. Even bad laws are still laws. Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
skymedic 0 #12 April 3, 2003 if you steal something....you should be punished...it's the same as taking a CD right from the store shelf...only thing is now people hide behind computer screens... Marc otherwise known as Mr.Fallinwoman.... Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
SLOfreefall 0 #13 April 3, 2003 The way I see it, borrowing music from before mentioned website is no worse than borrowing a CD from a friend. Only difference is, you've never met your friend before! Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
skymedic 0 #14 April 3, 2003 QuoteThe way I see it, borrowing music from before mentioned website is no worse than borrowing a CD from a friend. Only difference is, you've never met your friend before! I think borrowing a CD from a friend is absolutely legal...."borrowing" a CD from some one 50-10,000 miles a way that is really NOT a friend is a BIG difference.... Marc otherwise known as Mr.Fallinwoman.... Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Casch 0 #15 April 3, 2003 I think it's a shame for the music industry that people feel no need to support the artists. Yeah they may only make 10 cents off the sale of a CD, probably less, but think about it...if 100,000 people decided that they would rather support their favorite artists...then that artist makes an extra 10 mil. It adds up. I'm not going to sit here and tell ya that I don't download music, I download music all the time. The difference is this; if I decide that I like the music, I buy the CD. If I don't like the music, I delete it. I have just over a gig of mp3's right now, which really isn't that much at all, but I have most of the CD's too. Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
JayhawkJumper 0 #16 April 3, 2003 Well, the main difference is if you BORROW a CD, you have to give it back and no longer have access to the music. Yes I know you could copy it, but thats illegal too. However, this is also comparable to radio in that you can record songs over the radio and this isn't something authorities are trying to shut down. At first though radio was seen as the worst enemy of the record industry because people could record songs, but now its their life-blood. I think the whole Kazaa, morpheus thing will wear off as I think it already has started to. People are realizing that they can get a hit song on Kazaa, but that song gets boring after a while and you want to hear all the other songs from that artist if you like their music. I DL music to listen for a while and if I really like their sound, I'll buy the CD to see what else they can do. Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
indyz 1 #17 April 3, 2003 QuoteHowever, this is also comparable to radio in that you can record songs over the radio and this isn't something authorities are trying to shut down. I don't think that this analogy holds. With Kazaa, I can effortlessly distribute thousands of perfect copies of the same piece of music. Copying off of the radio results in much lower quality recordings, and it only works on a scale several orders of magnitude smaller than what is possible with the Internet. Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
FallRate 0 #18 April 3, 2003 Quote I think it's a shame for the music industry that people feel no need to support the artists. Yeah they may only make 10 cents off the sale of a CD, probably less, but think about it...if 100,000 people decided that they would rather support their favorite artists...then that artist makes an extra 10 mil. It adds up. 10 mil...Huh??? By "mil" do you mean "million" or "thousand". FallRate (And yes, for the anal among us, I know that "mil" or "mille" technically denotes one thousand.) Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
FallRate 0 #19 April 3, 2003 QuoteWith Kazaa, I can effortlessly distribute thousands of perfect copies of the same piece of music. No digitally induced manifestation of any piece of music should ever be referred to as "perfect". While CD's swept the world of recorded music, most everyone forgot to ask whether or not it was worthwhile. It wasn't. As Neil Young succinctly put it: "We are living in the Dark Ages of recorded music." FallRate Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
BlindBrick 0 #20 April 3, 2003 Quoteif you steal something....you should be punished...it's the same as taking a CD right from the store shelf...only thing is now people hide behind computer screens... That's not quite accurate. When you steal from the store you are hurting the store and it's customers(who have the cost passed on to them). When you downlaod MP#'s, you're hurting the artists and music industry. -Blind"If you end up in an alligator's jaws, naked, you probably did something to deserve it." Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
JayhawkJumper 0 #21 April 3, 2003 Actually the radio broadcasted music is probably of a higher quality than music on Kazaa. I've talked to record execs who have researched the quality of music on Kazaa and they have said it is very far below average which is another reason they don't like it being distributed as the artists and record labels feels it misrepresents the artists as the quality of sound is much worse. Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
billvon 3,006 #22 April 3, 2003 >No digitally induced manifestation of any piece of music should ever >be referred to as "perfect". Agreed; but it is certainly higher fidelity than any other common distribution medium (1/4 inch tape or LP.) Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
billvon 3,006 #23 April 3, 2003 >?I've talked to record execs who have researched the quality of music on Kazaa . . . I thought Kazaa used primarily MP3 encoded files. Is that not the case? Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
PhreeZone 20 #24 April 3, 2003 Kazaa uses mainly MP3's but you can get WMA files too. To achive "Near CD quality" here is the break down of the bitrates that are needed for each codac. Codec Bit Rate Compression Ratio Layer 1 (MP1) 384 kbps 3.7 Layer 2 (MP2) 192 kbps 7.3 Layer 3 (MP3) 128 kbps 11.0 AAC* 96 kbps 14.7 To achieve FM quality you need to encode at only 64kbs. MP3 blows any non digital tranmission away.Yesterday is history And tomorrow is a mystery Parachutemanuals.com Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
FallRate 0 #25 April 3, 2003 Quote...but it is certainly higher fidelity than any other common distribution medium (1/4 inch tape or LP.) Nope Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
