New
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Is RIAA in Germany also? To me, this falls under the category of frivolous lawsuits.
Full story: Wireless owner responsible for someone else's download - The LocalWireless owner responsible for someone else's download
Wireless internet subscribers who don’t properly secure their connection with a password can be held partly responsible if third parties use their account to illegally download music, a German court ruled late Wednesday.
The Federal Court in Karlsruhe ordered a wireless subscriber to pay legal costs after someone else used his connection to download the Sebastian Hämer song Sommer unseres Lebens (“The Summer of our Love) while he was on holiday.
However, the court rejected the record label's claim for compensation, meaning the verdict was only a partial victory for the music industry and other copyright holders, whose revenues are being hammered by illegal downloading over the internet.
Is RIAA in Germany also? To me, this falls under the category of frivolous lawsuits.
This court order sucks, but it's now official here in Germany.
Music industry celebrates:
The Music Industry Association also welcomed the verdict, with head Stefan Michalk saying: “No one can dodge responsibility with the commonly used defence that a third person abused their WLAN connection.”
Wow. Only a matter of time before that nonsense hits the USA.
This is equivalent to having your car stolen, and the thief kills someone in a hit and run, then being held responsible for the death, because you didn't change the key and ignition switch from what it had new.
There is sense in the legal system, however there is a tremendous amount of technical ignorance. The judge and jury are generally all pretty "Stupid" when it comes to things that get technical. Well most of us are in any technical area we are not already experts...
So unfortuantely technical or high concept cases like this very frequenly go very bad.
I don't think "stupidity" is an excuse here for this ruling. Take another member's analogy of a car.
Or what if someone uses Bill Gates's telephone to commit a crime. Should Bill Gates be liable and be fined or sent to prison for another person's crime?
If Bill Gates leaves his house doors unlocked and an intruder falls down the steps, should Bill be held responsible? No.