The Gnu and the RIAA’s worst nightmare
p2pnet news | RIAA News:- The Gnu is helping to take on the RIAA and in the process, the RIAA’s worst nightmare is about to come true.
The one major element missing in virtually all the RIAA cases has been the lack of examination of RIAA so-called expert witnesses, the notable exception being Ray Beckerman’s grilling of Dr Doug Jacobson, whose expert testimony he reduced to rubble, with more to come.
Beckerman was, to an extent, able to do this with help from the online P2P communities, with Slashdot and Groklaw to the fore.
Now the Free Software Foundation has stepped in to help establish an Expert Witness Defense Fund for RIAA cases.
The killer is:
Contributions to the fund are entirely tax deductible.
Donors, says the FSF, will also get a listing on our ‘Thank GNUs’ web page for donations of $500 or more (if desired), the satisfaction of supporting the defense of the RIAA lawsuits and, definitely more importantly, the deep and heartfelt thanks of not only the P2P community, but also RIAA victims who before this innovation were forced to watch the likes of Jacobson attempt to snow technically ignorant judges with junk science.
Says Beckerman on Recording Industry vs The People:
Quote:
1. The sole use of the funds will be to pay fees and/or expenses of technical expert witnesses, forensic examiners, and other technical consultants assisting individuals named as defendants in non-commercial, peer-to-peer file sharing cases brought by the RIAA, EMI, SONY BMG, Vivendi Universal, and Warner Bros. Records, and their affiliated companies, such as Interscope, Arista, UMG, Fonovisa, Motown, Atlantic, Priority, and others.
2. The Fund will be advised by Ray Beckerman, the author of Recording Industry vs. The People, along with a group of selected attorneys acting as advisors. These attorneys will submit payment requests to the Fund, based upon their views as to which cases are most deserving of assistance, and in what at amounts, and at what time.
3. Among the criteria to be considered in making recommendations to the Fund will be the following:
A. The importance of the case to critical legal issues.
B. The demonstrated commitment of the defendant, and/or of the defendant’s attorney if the defendant has an attorney, to seeing his or her case through to conclusion, and to fighting for important legal issues.
C. The facts and circumstances of the particular case.
D. The level of investment made by the defendant, and/or by the defendant’s attorney if the defendant has an attorney, in time, money, and labor, in defending the case.
E. The legal posture of the case.
F. The need for assistance.
G. The need for technical expertise in the case.
H. The quality and commitment of technical expertise which may have been contributed to the case.
I. The competing needs of other cases.
J. And other similar factors.
4. Defendants, or attorneys representing defendants, who request funding for experts or technical consultants, should send requests by email to Ray Beckerman, the subject field reading “Technical Expert Funding Request”.
