AP Falls For Phony Downloading Propaganda

This is the beginning of an AP wire story which has appeared in almost identical form across the country today.

Teen Convicted Under Internet Piracy Law
By THE ASSOCIATED PRESS

Published: March 8, 2005 -- Filed at 12:19 a.m. ET

PHOENIX (AP) -- An Arizona university student is believed to be the first person in the country to be convicted of a crime under state laws for illegally downloading music and movies from the Internet, prosecutors and activists say.

University of Arizona student Parvin Dhaliwal pleaded guilty to possession of counterfeit marks, or unauthorized copies of intellectual property.

To put it mildly, the prosecutors and activists (the RIAA) have intentionally misrepresented what happened. The AP story never bothers to refute the validity of the lead paragraph and it is the very last line of the story that reveals the real reason this guy got busted.

A federal task force that monitors the Internet caught on to the student and got a warrant, Garza said, adding that Dhaliwal was copying and selling the pirated material.

This is further reinforced by the Maricopa County Attorney's office which said in a press release that Dhaliwal "was charged with uploading digital copies of recently released movies and music."

Dhaliwal was also not convicted under an "Internet Piracy Law" as the headline states. The Internet is not mentioned in this law at all (Arizona Revised Statutes: 44-1453). Neither is uploading, downloading, sideloading or frontloading. It concerns counterfeit goods in a general context and could just as easily apply to Chuck E. Cheese tokens.

To say that this person was convicted for "illegally downloading" is simply not true. It actually seems to place the blame on the only activity this guy did that is arguably legal in and of itself. It wasn't the downloading that got him into trouble, it was what he did after -- sharing it and selling it.

This was willful infringement for commercial gain and they could have nailed him for $150,000 per item infringed. He plea bargained down to the lesser offense -- possession of unauthorized copies of intellectual property.

"We surf peer-to-peer music networks," Jonathan Lamy of the RIAA communications office says. "We look for people who are offering songs, and if they have a substantial number of songs, we take note of all the songs they are offering for distribution and their IP addresses."

Of the 8,400 suits filed (8,100 of which were filed against John Does) by the RIAA, there have been about 1,700 settlements to date. None have gone to trial.

So let this be a lesson. Erase that RIAA garbage from your hard drive before the Don't Boogie Man comes after you. Please steal our songs instead. Downloading is not illegal.