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Aurous, a recently-launched music player application created by developer Andrew Sampson in Florida, has been sued by the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA). The application sources pirated music from Russian site Pleer and may include BitTorrent integration in the future, should the developer prevail against legal challenges:
The RIAA also references several comments the developer made in the media before the official launch, confirming that Aurous will be used to pirate music. After the debut of the alpha release, Aurous allegedly provided technical assistance to pirate specific tracks.
In addition, the complaint also mentions Sampson's torrent search engine Strike, which he released earlier this year. "As a stand-alone search engine, Strike Search finds infringing content on BitTorrent but needs to be used with other software and services in order to download the content onto users' computers," the RIAA notes.
The complaint lists a total 20 popular tracks that are freely available through Aurous. This means that Sampson faces up to $3 million in statutory damages if the case goes to trial.
Finally, the RIAA requests a broad preliminary injunction which would prevent domain registrars, domain registries, hosting companies, advertisers and other third-party outfits from doing business with the site.
However, in comments posted to Twitter tonight, Sampson seems unfazed. "Don't worry, we're not going anywhere, empty lawsuits aren't going to stop the innovation of the next best media player," he said. "Hey @RIAA @UMG and everyone else, we challenge every CEO to an arm wrestling competition, we win you drop your empty suit."
Popcorn Time is/was a streaming BitTorrent client that has been the latest and most-discussed bane to the film and television industries.
Complaint [PDF]
(Score: 2) by bzipitidoo on Thursday October 15 2015, @04:36AM
RIAA, the business model of selling copies is dead, dead, dead.
Been 20 years since I bought music regularly. Even if I was willing to pay these thieves who screw over real musicians all the time, I sure don't want a plastic disc. It's thanks to the Internet, and services that search lyrics, or listen to a few notes and identify the song, Napster, and Radio Data System (before it was corrupted into another vehicle to carry ads) that I am at last able to identify the songs and see the music videos I could never get when I was a teen. I listened to the radio, but there was no RDS in those days, and the low fidelity and noisy environments, not to mention the singing styles, made it difficult to hear what the words were. We did not have cable TV, still don't, so I never got to see MTV. Didn't miss much, no doubt, but still, it was a barrier that kept me from being as informed about current culture, and definitely kept me from buying as much music.
Now I can find all kinds of things, even very obscure things, on Youtube and pirate sites, no thanks to the RIAA.
(Score: 2) by SanityCheck on Thursday October 15 2015, @11:14AM
RIAA, the business model of selling copies is dead, dead, dead.
Yes but their new model of "rent them digital copies" has not yet taken hold! I know it's light-years more outrageous.
(Score: 2) by Phoenix666 on Thursday October 15 2015, @11:16AM
I still miss Napster. What a great thing. I discovered the Plastic People of the Universe, an obscure Czech band from the 60's, through them. Also Vladimir Vysotsky.
When Metallica and the RIAA took them down I never bought another CD again.
Washington DC delenda est.
(Score: 4, Insightful) by SecurityGuy on Thursday October 15 2015, @02:35PM
I don't think that means what you think it means.
Ah, that's it. Their business model is alive and kicking because there are still lots of people who do. The last time I bought music was about a week ago. I just don't mind (at all) paying a buck for a song I'll enjoy for a while. That said, I'd rather pay that buck to the artist than the distribution chain, but mostly I just wanted that song more than I wanted the dollar it cost.