23 February 2004
Piracy & Anit-Piracy

Michele Scimeca of Rockaway Township, New Jersey, filed a civil lawsuit Thursday accusing the RIAA, a group representing the major record label conglomerates, of violating anti-racketeering statutes by using scare tactics to extort money from alleged file-sharers. Her complaint argues the lawsuits filed by the RIAA are intended to extract financial settlements.
Scimeca is the second alleged downloader to sue the RIAA. A California man is accusing the association of misleading people into admitting their guilt through its Clean Slate program, which alleges to offer amnesty to remorseful file-sharers. (link MTV News)
That isn't stopping the RIAA. The future of Music, software, video-game and DVD packages will include the following FBI stamp and warnings about piracy. An FBI official had the following to say:
"It is our hope that when consumers see the new FBI warning on the music they purchase, both physically and online, they will take the time to learn the dos and don'ts of copying and uploading to the Internet," said Brad Buckles, vice president of antipiracy at the Recording Industry Association of America. "These are serious crimes with serious consequences -- including federal prosecution -- if the wrong choices are made about copying or uploading music without permission."
Antipiracy seal 1 / 2 (link Wired)
And finally, you all may be aware of Grey Tuesday already. Grey Tuesday will take place tomorrow where websites will post Danger Mouse's Grey Album on their site for 24 hours in protest of EMI's attempts to censor this work. The site also list a growing number of participants for Grey Tuesday. The Grey Tuesday protest is being organized by Downhill Battle, a music activism project that has no affiliation with Danger Mouse.