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The story about the Penn State astronomy department's "usher.mp3" file would be funny if it weren't so scary. In a society where we are supposedly "innocent until proven guilty" the RIAA is assuming in its draconian dragnet, that anyone that has a file that conincidentally has a similar sounding name to something they are "protecting" that it is a target for threatened legal action. Even though the case didn't make it to court, the faculty had to spend time away from academic pursuits to "explain" their perfectly legal activities and defend themsleves against the RIAA legal-action leviathion.
The letter on the site which asks if the artists on the "free" CD that the RIAA sent to "compensate" the school got any compensation themselves raises a good point. I'd be willing to bet that the RIAA didn't give the artists a sliver of a cent, even though they use the lack of paid royalties issue as a rationale for going after so-called "pirates" who trade files online (which is what they were mistakenly accusing those using the school's network of doing) .
Burke
What you DON'T say may be held against you...
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