Spectator editorial: Fight the power
Professor justified in taking on RIAA, hopefully will win
Spectator Staff
Issue date: 11/20/08 Section: Editorial/Opinion
Stop, collaborate and listen. The once-popular lyric could be used to describe a new counterattack against the Recording Industry Association of America.
According to a Nov. 16 Associated Press article, a Harvard Law School professor has launched a constitutional assault against a Federal copyright law at the heart of the industry's aggressive strategy and will defend a Boston University graduate student being targeted by the music industry's lawsuit. Professor Charles Nesson, famous for defending the man who leaked the Pentagon Papers, argues the Digital Theft Deterrence and Copyright Damages Improvement Act of 1999 is unconstitutional because it effectively lets the group carry out civil enforcement of a criminal law.
Props should be given to Nesson for taking on the RIAA. For too long, the group has been bullying people into settlements that are disproportionate to the crime committed. Since the group began in 2003, they have simply been suing people and reaching settlements because they could and would get away
with it.
Being only the second case involving the RIAA to ever go to trial, it is additionally great to see the defense represented in one of the best possible ways. With Nesson knowing what taking on controversial cases is all about, it is nice to know he will be the one attempting to prove the RIAA is abusing the legal process. Along with this, the case will take place in Boston, where media coverage and attention will be heightened. With most cases occurring in relatively low key areas of the United States, perhaps the environment of the case will positively affect the case's outcome.
Hopefully the case gets people to talk more about illegal file sharing over the Internet. Along with this, the RIAA needs to look at themselves and develop a better way to punish offenders. Things such as bundling music online with ads could easily be done by the group to deter piracy and make them out to be more than just a bully, but an actually beneficial group.
According to a Nov. 16 Associated Press article, a Harvard Law School professor has launched a constitutional assault against a Federal copyright law at the heart of the industry's aggressive strategy and will defend a Boston University graduate student being targeted by the music industry's lawsuit. Professor Charles Nesson, famous for defending the man who leaked the Pentagon Papers, argues the Digital Theft Deterrence and Copyright Damages Improvement Act of 1999 is unconstitutional because it effectively lets the group carry out civil enforcement of a criminal law.
Props should be given to Nesson for taking on the RIAA. For too long, the group has been bullying people into settlements that are disproportionate to the crime committed. Since the group began in 2003, they have simply been suing people and reaching settlements because they could and would get away
with it.
Being only the second case involving the RIAA to ever go to trial, it is additionally great to see the defense represented in one of the best possible ways. With Nesson knowing what taking on controversial cases is all about, it is nice to know he will be the one attempting to prove the RIAA is abusing the legal process. Along with this, the case will take place in Boston, where media coverage and attention will be heightened. With most cases occurring in relatively low key areas of the United States, perhaps the environment of the case will positively affect the case's outcome.
Hopefully the case gets people to talk more about illegal file sharing over the Internet. Along with this, the RIAA needs to look at themselves and develop a better way to punish offenders. Things such as bundling music online with ads could easily be done by the group to deter piracy and make them out to be more than just a bully, but an actually beneficial group.
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