thats another reason why the blogosphere should be free of gnr. seriously.

oh, this is from the "Criminal"'s site: antiquiet.com

If I read the affidavit correctly, it looks like he complied with the C&D and deleted the files when asked. But that didn't stop the RIAA from sending the feds after the poor guy anyway.

...and I guess we need to keep our fingers crossed that the RIAA decides to limit getting the feds involved to ONLY those sorts of cases. I'm not sure I'm willing to rely on the RIAA using discretion.

I think the guy is getting what he deserved. Axl Rose (as much as I dislike him) has been working on his damn album for years, and for someone to go and post it is pretty messed up. 9 songs pre-release without permission is pretty much the same as taking money out of an artists wallet and handing it out.

Ok, waking up to the FBI and being incarcerated is something I don't wish on my worst enemy, but I thought one of the "rules" of legitimate mp3 blogging is to only post approved tracks and to wait at least 2 weeks before posting anything that wasn't approved and to not post more than a few tracks.

It makes us bloggers look really bad and you know the media will run with this.

It makes us bloggers look really bad

yes, because that's the big issue at stake here

it seems staggeringly dumb that anyone would take songs from CHINESE DEMOCRACY, put it on their personal website and assume nothing was going to happen. no sympathy for this dude from me though i don't think anyone should go to jail for file-sharing.

The fact that it was pre-release was crucial.

According to this article, the blogger is accused of violating the Family Entertainment And Copyright Act, which imposes special criminal penalties for sharing unreleased works that the copyright owner intends to release commercially.

Incidentally, the RIAA employee who tipped off the FBI is, herself, a 23-year veteran of the FBI.

I think it is the big issue at stake here Dave.

If you take issue with someone getting arrested for posting 9 songs off a pre-release album, clearly a violation of the laws set forth in this fine nation, then you need your head examined. The guy screwed up, bigtime. It's unethical and he needs to pay for his crimes.

I'm going to be putting up the money to release a 7 inch record. Small potatoes indeed, but the last thing I want is people having copies of the tracks before I have even have a release party unless I or the artist whose record I'm releasing decide they want to.

The RIAA might be giant jerks for calling the FBI on him but they were not out of their boundaries on this. Especially when every major CD has an FBI warning on it.

So in effect, there really is no issue except this guy is making things harder for us bloggers who love music and want nothing more than to see an artist succeed.

what worries me more is that this guy was hauled off by a bunch of FBI agents in the wee hours of the morning like some drug dealer. 

when the RIAA decides to come after you, underdog, they are not going to care about any made up rules about legitimate mp3 blogging.  afterall, the guy had already been contacted and removed the files.  then they sent the FBI after him.  their methods were clearly meant to terrify this person and spread fear among the online community.  i don't think anyone is taking issue with the fact that the guy got in trouble with the FBI for leaking the album; it's more the malevolent way that it was handled.  the RIAA being "giant jerks" is the understatement of the week.

that FBI warning on every CD doesn't just apply to leaking pre-release albums, so i'm not sure why you're coming with this legalistic "clearly a violation of the laws set forth in this fine nation" attitude.  someone could make the same argument after you're arrested.

Posted by: Thomaswhat worries me more is that this guy was hauled off by a bunch of FBI agents in the wee hours of the morning like some drug dealer. 

 

Well you can always post a "how-to" for blogger to post anonymously online...
the tools and techniques are all out there. Even if the point is to attract traffic to single page using r ia a material.

Tho' I am not very sure why anybody wants to post crappy music for public to hear it.

Posted by: underthedog Axl Rose (as much as I dislike him) has been working on his damn album for years,...

 

rofl

If the RIAA were really opposed to ANYBODY posting ANYTHING, then it could shut down the whole out-in-the-open/"legitimate" mp3 blogging world (i.e., the blogs on Hype) in a matter of months. All they would have to do is start filing civil infringement suits. The fact that they haven't done so yet (combined with major lables actively using blogs to promote certain artists) indicates some form of tacit approval by the RIAA.

Everyone is getting their panties in a knot over an isolated incident revolving around a very high profile album that, for all we know, might never be seeing the light of day.  Six of those songs have made the rounds on websites and blogs in various incarnations over the last five years.  They're out there already.

The dude who did this behaved incredibly irresponsibly, but he did so of his own accord by violating an unspoken/unwritten ethical margin adhered to by (probably) everyone who is reading this.  He also violated federal copyright law.  At the point which his violation has the potential to cost the copyright holder considerable and reasonable damage to his livelihood (9 songs is way too far), he has pushed the envelope of the law to its limit.

It's not bad for all bloggers.  It's bad for stupid people.  Things should be bad for stupid people.  They should be made to pay the price for their stupidity and their ignorance.

Here is the reasoning behind my point of view. When I was a teenager I was into rave parties as most everyone else was at the time in my neck of the woods. In the period of 2 months something called PMA was being sold as extacy and several people overdosed and some of them died. The local and to some extent the national media ran their scare tactic journalism and pretty much portrayed rave parties as decadent hedonistic all night dance parties of death. While that may have been true to a degree, there was tons of people who were drinking red bull and dancing all night long staying sober.

The elbows community is akin to the raver kids who didn't have to overdose to have a good time. The media likes to generalize and oversimplify and I believe that this does affect us all.

Posted by: underthedogHere is the reasoning behind my point of view. When I was a teenager I was into rave parties as most everyone else was at the time in my neck of the woods. In the period of 2 months something called PMA was being sold as extacy and several people overdosed and some of them died. The local and to some extent the national media ran their scare tactic journalism and pretty much portrayed rave parties as decadent hedonistic all night dance parties of death. While that may have been true to a degree, there was tons of people who were drinking red bull and dancing all night long staying sober. The elbows community is akin to the raver kids who didn't have to overdose to have a good time. The media likes to generalize and oversimplify and I believe that this does affect us all.

 

I understand your point, but I don't see a lot of kool-aid sippers in the bunch who read this forum.  The paranoia over blogging is a non-issue because people from all walks of life, of all different economic and social backgrounds, famous and unknown, are doing it.  They are feeding the world their thoughts, ideas and information.

Until intelligent discourse becomes an actual crime in this country, which I don't think this is any harbinger of, I don't want to give the subject of this whole debacle or his act of ..... well, whatever he thought he was doing .... any greater level of thought than "what a total dumbass."

The majority of music blogs (and art and entertainment blogs) are about a simple, rational and deeply important tool in our society: access to art.  Without this tool, the internet would be nothing more than advertising, viruses and rickrolling half the time.

I don't want to live in the world where that's all there is.

I mean, bloggers, post what you gotta post but please don't do it under the ridiculous illusion of "I'm not getting nasty e-mails, so artists and labels must totally read my blog and approve of me giving away their intellectual property!"

I'm sure they're very happy that we're having ongoing conversations. Whether or not they like seeing "Born to Run" on Hypem is another story but they've got bigger fish to fry. I'd love to think that they just don't care/tacitly approve (I post my fair share of classic rock jamz) but somehow I doubt it.