The RIAA Strikes Again

On Wednesday, the Recording Industry Association of America filed lawsuits against 405 students at 18 different colleges and universities around the country for illegally sharing copyrighted music files. The students were using Internet2, a super-fast high-speed internet service used primarily for educational and research purposes. This very new technology is not available to the public, but students at these universities were able to receive access to the server. They then used the application i2hub to download and share nearly one million music files.

For those of you who were here two years ago when Ohio State had Direct Connect, the idea of this is very similar, just kicked up a few knotches. Internet2 is much faster that ResNet, the internet service provided in the residence halls, and much faster than the server those students used to run DC. While I was able to download a movie in about five minutes with DC, the students using i2hub on Internet2 were able to do the same in 30 seconds. At speeds like that, you could easily download an album in a few seconds.

As you can probably imagine, Ohio State was one of the schools listed in the lawsuits filed on Wednesday. According to the Lantern, OSU's student-run newspaper, the RIAA filed lawsuits against 25 OSU students. The Motion Picture Association of America also filed a lawsuit against one student. As far as I know, I don't think I know anyone who was named in the lawsuit.

But there's shady business involved. First, the RIAA didn't even inform the CEO of Internet2 that they were planning on filing these lawsuits until Monday night. Second, the RIAA has yet to explain how they were able to monitor Internet2. The Internet2 organization insists that the situation was not caused by a breach in security, but one has to wonder with information like that.

I'm a bit torn on this issue. As you should all know by now, I'm a fan of piracy. I have currently stopped sharing and downloading files using applications like Soulseek and Kazaa, but I still accept albums on AOL Instant Messenger, although I have decided to stop making my music and videos available over the share file feature since I worry about the security of it. That having been said, part of me thinks that these students may have gotten what was coming to them. Access to Internet2 is very limited and requires a binding contract that includes an agreement to refrain from using it illegally. That having been said, I've had to accept many Terms of Agreement from different programs that I have used illegally in the past. What makes me any different? I'm not sure. I support file sharing, but something of this magnitude I don't think I would either support or partake in unless file sharing became legal. Then again, I did use Direct Connect. I just don't know what to think about it.

In other news...

I can't get over how long this Bravery vs. Killers war of the words has been going on. Just when I thought they had finally shut up about everything, Brandon Flowers has some interesting things to say to Arjan. Among his many claims, Flowers insists that The Bravery were offended by being compared to The Killers and that they should be more appreciative of the fact that The Killers "cultivated this road for them." Once again, I get the feeling that Flowers has delusions of grandeur. Sure, The Killers may have helped some. So they gave them a tour bus. That's great. But to take all the credit for another band's success? That's a little pompous.

A new war of words is being waged against Oasis, and it's not just fans who hate the band's new single, "Lyla." While Noel Gallagher insists again that this album is their best yet, a story which I believe we've heard a few times before and have been sadly disappointed, young brit-rockers Bloc Party are taking their first baby swings at Oasis. Insults include calling them "lazy" and "unambitious." Isn't it cute? It's their first public ridicule of another band. Someone grab the camera.

Noel's actually throwing a few punches as well, but not at Bloc Party. He likes to go for bigger bullies, like Sony Records. Apparently the band didn't want to have "Lyla" for their single, but Sony insisted on it. As much as I want to feel sorry for the guy, I keep feeling like he's just blaming another failure on someone else because he's tired of taking it himself. I didn't think "Lyla" was awful, but it wasn't great, and when the lead singer is heralding this CD as his best yet, it leads me to believe that maybe it's just wishful thinking.

Hopefully David Grohl isn't of the same mentality. The Foo Fighters frontman is going on record again to say that In Your Honor is the best album they've ever made. He even goes as far as to say that you'll tell your children to buy it someday. Sometimes it worries me when people say their album is super great before it's come out. It might be just a big PR stunt to hype the album, or it might be him trying to convince himself that the album is great, or maybe he's right. I guess we'll just have to wait and see.

While The White Stripes aren't exactly heralding their new arrival, Get Behind Me Satan, their fans certainly are. Straight from a New York listening party, The Modern Age gives a complete review/preview of the album, song by song, to give you a difinitive look at what you can expect. From the looks of things, it's pretty darn good.

You don't have to wait to find out whether the "new" Figurine album is any good. All you have to do is pick up a copy of The Heartfelt and you'll understand. According to Music For Robots, the Jimmy Tamborello (a.k.a. Dntel, of Postal Service fame) side project is planning on re-releasing the album. This is a good thing, because it's one of my favorite albums from Jimmy Tamborello. I highly recommend it.

I love summer. Seems like everyone is on tour. Today we have tours from Damien Jurado, Prefuse 73, Bloc Party, and Deerhoof.

Sub Pop has made available the new Shins video for streaming.

The Lexington Herald-Leader has a really nice article about Iron and Wine.

Upcoming Columbus Shows

4.18 - The Juliana Theory - The Basement
4.19 - M. Ward (solo) w/ Norfolk & Western and DeVotchKa - Little Brothers
4.20 - m83 w/ Ulrich Schlauss (feat. the Moog documentary prior to performance) - The Mershon Black Box
4.21 - Clem Snide w/ The Sure Things, Langhorne Slim and Marbles - Little Brothers
4.21 - Damon and Naomi w/ The Black Swans and Brian Straw - High Five
4.26 - House of Heroes w/ New Republic - Little Brothers
4.27 - Mute Math w/ Mat Kearney - Little Brothers
4.27 - MTU Campus Invasion feat. Muse w/ Razorlight - Promowest Pavilion
5.04 - The Wedding Present w/ The Organ and Tiara - Little Brothers
5.04 - Electric Six w/ VHS or Beta - Skully's
5.07 - The Decemberists w/ Willy Mason - Little Brothers
5.08 - The Books - Wexner Center
5.13 - Mae w/ The Academy Is... and Jamison Parker - Little Brothers
5.15 - Andrew Bird w/ Antenna - Little Brothers
5.17 - Stereo Total w/ Les Georges Leningrad - Little Brothers
5.27 - The Killers w/ Hot Hot Heat - Promowest Pavilion
6.08 - Modest Mouse - Promowest Pavilion
6.13 - Iron and Wine - The Newport

Daily Downloads (from regnyouth archives)

Hot Hot Heat - Elevator (link)
Modest Mouse - Good News For People Who Love Bad News (link)
Modest Mouse - The Moon And Antarctica (link)
Boards of Canada - Twoism EP (link)
Apples in Stereo - Science Faire 2 (links)
Mogwai - Peel Sessions 2 (links)
Her Space Holiday - Home Is Where You Hang Yourself (link)