In terms of logistics, it's much better for the RIAA to go after heavy seeders (which they tend to do), because A) the people who are spreading the files around are - as a rule - vastly outnumbered by the people downloading their music, and so it's far more effective to get rid of a seeder than a leecher. It's also very difficult to track downloads compared to uploads - incoming data can be spread over a variety of ports, but outgoing tends to stick in one piece, so it's easier to figure out what people are putting out there as opposed to taking. Finally, someone using plenty of upstream bandwidth is much more suspicious than a heavy downloader; while a youtube user could pull a gig or more of data in a day with a little bit of determination, you'd be hard pressed to think of why someone would be uploading that much.
I would also guess that suing someone who just downloaded music would earn them penalties that aren't so stiff as for someone who was uploading, but that I'm not sure of.
So, can they sue you for downloading? Absolutely. Will they? The odds are against ANYONE getting sued (as the article says, 6000/9000000 or 1 out of every 1500), but given the extra difficulties, it's a good bit less likely for a downloader to get hit than a seeder.
Keep in mind this mainly applies to music; movies are rather different due to their size and the fact that the MPAA and not the RIAA is after you.
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
John @ Aug 31st 2007 8:16PM
In terms of logistics, it's much better for the RIAA to go after heavy seeders (which they tend to do), because A) the people who are spreading the files around are - as a rule - vastly outnumbered by the people downloading their music, and so it's far more effective to get rid of a seeder than a leecher. It's also very difficult to track downloads compared to uploads - incoming data can be spread over a variety of ports, but outgoing tends to stick in one piece, so it's easier to figure out what people are putting out there as opposed to taking. Finally, someone using plenty of upstream bandwidth is much more suspicious than a heavy downloader; while a youtube user could pull a gig or more of data in a day with a little bit of determination, you'd be hard pressed to think of why someone would be uploading that much.
I would also guess that suing someone who just downloaded music would earn them penalties that aren't so stiff as for someone who was uploading, but that I'm not sure of.
So, can they sue you for downloading? Absolutely. Will they? The odds are against ANYONE getting sued (as the article says, 6000/9000000 or 1 out of every 1500), but given the extra difficulties, it's a good bit less likely for a downloader to get hit than a seeder.
Keep in mind this mainly applies to music; movies are rather different due to their size and the fact that the MPAA and not the RIAA is after you.