NEWS: Only One Fourth of Students Threatened By RIAA Pay

Apparently, of the 400 or so students sued only around 100 of them have responded to the RIAA's threats against them. As seen in the Merchant case, these letters have no legal weight and most students recognize this. It's still to be seen how the RIAA will respond to this non-reaction. If they can identify students to IP addresses and can confirm they are the ones sharing the music, the lawsuits they could create would be disastrous. Only time will tell if the RIAA's bite is as big as its bark.

NEWS: Two Schools Fight Back Against RIAA

There has been an interesting turn of events in the RIAA vs college students battle of late. Apparently two of the colleges with students being sued have decided to fight back in their own ways. The University of Wisconsin has said that it refuses to divulge the names of the students being sought. It will only comply if the RIAA gets a subpoena from a judge to divulge the information. Even more interesting is the University of Nebraska who cannot comply because their IP addresses are reset each month leaving no way of identifying the students in question. Apparently that answer isn't good enough for the RIAA considering a spokesperson criticized the university for not keeping this information. Obviously upset with the criticism and the nagging the University of Nebraska has demanded that the RIAA pay them for their wasted time in this case. Hopefully other universities will follow suit in defending their students from the clutches of the RIAA and their cronies.

NEWS: The RIAA is Dumb

Yes, it's true, the RIAA isn't the smartest group of people out there. In response to Steve Job's essay about record labels dropping their DRM types they issued this statement:

"Apple’s offer to license Fairplay to other technology companies is a welcome breakthrough and would be a real victory for fans, artists and labels. There have been many services seeking a license to the Apple DRM. This would enable the interoperability that we have been urging for a very long time."

The best part about this statement is that Jobs mentions absolutely nothing in his essay about opening up Fairplay. He merely wanted the music industry to be a little bit more mac friendly, Fairplay and all. Maybe we should all do as Bill Gates says and "just buy a cd and rip it."

NEWS: Steve Jobs condemns DRM use by record labels

In one of the more hilarious stories of late, Apple's Steve Jobs openly condemned major record labels' use of DRM protection on certain CD releases. According to him there is no reason for them to "protect" 10% of their albums at the risk of stifling usability by the users. This is extremely funny considering Jobs' company is notorious for their FairPlay DRM which keeps all iTunes songs exclusive to Apple brand products. It is so notorious that Norways consumer board has taken up talks with Apple threating legal action if they refuse to allow their media to be used on other mp3 players beyond the iPod series. This seems fairly typical of Apple's hypocritical approach towards digital media.

In another release Apple recommended that users avoid upgrading to Microsoft's new operating system Vista. This seems like an obvious statement but their reason for users to delay this upgrade is because iTunes has several critical conflicts with Vista keeping it from functioning properly. All of this after Apple made quite a few jokes at Microsoft's expense due to the time it took Microsoft to finish developing their OS. With five years since XP's release it seems that Apple had more than enough time to get their software functioning on the new operating system.

NEWS: Woman successfully countersues RIAA

Debbie Foster has been successful in her counter suit against the RIAA for their actions taken against her last summer when it was decided that actions taken on her isp account are not necessarily her responsibility. She will receive $50,000 for legal fees along with time away from work. This case is extremely important since it sets precedent for future cases where the RIAA might be less likely to sue since they will be forced to pay all legal fees in case of a loss. More can be read here.

NEWS: Teenager Sues Record Industry

Sixteen year old Robert Santangelo is counter-suing the Record Companies that are currently in the process of suing him. His lawyer claims that the actions of the labels were "damaging the boy's reputation, distracting him from school and costing him legal fees." He might be able to pull it off considering his mother successfully challenged the lawsuit placed against her for his actions earlier on refusing to settle like most people attacked. More information can be found here.

NEWS: Music Industry Threatens to Sue ISPs

The IFPI (International Federation of the Phonographic Industry) is threatening to sue ISPs directly if they don't disconnect music pirates. The move comes after the IFPI had much success in 2006 with major wins in court against file sharing programs like Kazaa and thousand of individuals. A Spokesman from the Internet Service Providers Association claimed that there was no way to monitor all the packets being sent over their networks and claimed that it is not their responsibility to monitor their customers. For more information read The Independent's story here.

NEWS: RIAA arrests mix-taper

According to the New York Times the RIAA raided the Atlanta office of famous hip-hop executive DJ Drama, whose real name is Tyree Simmons on accounts that he had been illegally distributing unlicensed materials. DJ Drama is famous in the hip-hop world for his "Gangsta Grillz" mix-tapes that have set the tone for the highly popular "Dirty South" rap movement which is the top selling of all hip-hop genres. These mix-tapes (actually on cd-r) were distributed featuring rare tracks, alternate versions, free-styles and other songs not easy to hear otherwise. The artists themselves love the opportunity to be featured and the labels that present them have taken a blind eye, if not even being supportive of the practice for the free publicity and credibility they provide. These mixes are sold for cheap at credible record stores, including online music stores like iTunes (who carry several of Drama's mixes.) Bail for him and his assistant has been set for $100,000 and while this isn't the first mix-tape arrest by the RIAA it is the most large profile one to date. Once again the RIAA has decided to play god "representing" artists and the labels they are on despite the true wishes of these groups. For more information you can read the Times article here.