http://www.businessweek.com/technol...ies/5081469.htm
This could destroy the RIAA lawsuits across the board as it opens up the "broken chain of custody" argument. If access to the DHCP logs at ISPs is not tightly controlled, could be modified by anyone, or might not be accurate in the first place, the RIAA is SOL. This is very important. When filing lawsuits, the RIAA only has two pieces of evidence - 1. the IP address of a person sharing a given song on Kazaa 2. the DHCP log that they subpoena from the ISP showing what user was assigned that IP address at the time the song was being shared. That's it. It's not like they have the person's computer with the mp3's on them or any other physical evidence. It you can prove that either of those two pieces of "evidence" COULD have been tampered with or been inaccurate in the first place, the RIAA has NO case.
And for those who say FILE sharing is theft?
Intellectual property is an artificial construct created by the government and protected through copyright and patent laws that are really nothing more than monopolies granted by the government to an individual. The whole notion that someone can "own" ideas or sounds or words is absurd. Theft requires that one person gains something and one person loses something which is not the case with file sharing
This could destroy the RIAA lawsuits across the board as it opens up the "broken chain of custody" argument. If access to the DHCP logs at ISPs is not tightly controlled, could be modified by anyone, or might not be accurate in the first place, the RIAA is SOL. This is very important. When filing lawsuits, the RIAA only has two pieces of evidence - 1. the IP address of a person sharing a given song on Kazaa 2. the DHCP log that they subpoena from the ISP showing what user was assigned that IP address at the time the song was being shared. That's it. It's not like they have the person's computer with the mp3's on them or any other physical evidence. It you can prove that either of those two pieces of "evidence" COULD have been tampered with or been inaccurate in the first place, the RIAA has NO case.
And for those who say FILE sharing is theft?
Intellectual property is an artificial construct created by the government and protected through copyright and patent laws that are really nothing more than monopolies granted by the government to an individual. The whole notion that someone can "own" ideas or sounds or words is absurd. Theft requires that one person gains something and one person loses something which is not the case with file sharing
