Oregon A.G. RIAA Bully-Buster
Here's the thing about bullying. When you do it in public, champions will arrive on the scene to do battle. According to the recent ABA article Oregon ‘Ground Zero’ in RIAA Battle Against File-Sharing,
in filings this week, Attorney General Hardy Myers' office said the Recording Industry Association of America's litigation tactics may violate his state's data-mining laws . . . [and] called for an investigation of the recording industry's tactics.
In response to the RIAA's muted characterization of the AG's attempts to protect its citizens as "misguided," New York lawyer, Ray Beckerman (The Recording Industry vs. the People) . . . says that the "the Oregon AG's move to question the RIAA's tactics is long overdue."
"The RIAA has been bringing fake copyright infringement lawsuits, the sole purpose of which is to get the names and addresses of John Does. . . . The strategy is then to drop the case and pressure individuals to settle, he added.
For those who missed our first post on this issue here, we once again provide an explanation of bullying from the social scientists.
Bullying, they tell us, is the repeated and deliberate abuse of power by one person or group over another person or group.
The social context in which bullies flourish? Relatively stable social groups with a clear hierarchy and low supervision.
Why? Because hierarchy – a system that ranks people one above the other -- makes low-status individuals visible, easy to get at and less likely to receive protection by their peers.
When you bully a State's citizens in full view of that State's arm of justice, however, you can't expect that you -- the sixth grade bully -- can continue to shake down the third graders for their lunch money.
Kudos to the State of Oregon for riding to the rescue!
For college students targeted by the RIAA -- and those who might be -- attorney Beckerman provides his practical and legal advice here.
