__NOTOC__
Rabid Neurosis (RNS) was an
MP3
MP3 (formally MPEG-1 Audio Layer III or MPEG-2 Audio Layer III) is a coding format for digital audio developed largely by the Fraunhofer Society in Germany under the lead of Karlheinz Brandenburg. It was designed to greatly reduce the amount ...
warez
Warez refers to pirated software and other copyrighted digital media—such as video games, movies, music, and e-books—illegally distributed online, often after bypassing digital rights management (DRM). The term, derived from “software wa ...
release organization which was founded in 1996, following in the footsteps of Compress 'Da Audio (CDA), the first MP3 piracy group. In 1999, the group claimed to have released over 6,000 titles a year. RNS occasionally used the tagline "Rabid Neurosis - Spread The Epidemic." RNS were best known for releasing highly anticipated albums by
hip hop
Hip-hop or hip hop (originally disco rap) is a popular music genre that emerged in the early 1970s from the African-American community of New York City. The style is characterized by its synthesis of a wide range of musical techniques. Hip- ...
,
pop,
rock
Rock most often refers to:
* Rock (geology), a naturally occurring solid aggregate of minerals or mineraloids
* Rock music, a genre of popular music
Rock or Rocks may also refer to:
Places United Kingdom
* Rock, Caerphilly, a location in Wale ...
and
dance
Dance is an The arts, art form, consisting of sequences of body movements with aesthetic and often Symbol, symbolic value, either improvised or purposefully selected. Dance can be categorized and described by its choreography, by its repertoir ...
artists weeks and sometimes months before their official release date.
RNS is known to have greatly contributed to the mp3
scene. After their group was mentioned in an
MTV News
MTV News was the news production division of MTV. The service was available in the US with localized versions on MTV's global network and an online news team. In 2016, MTV refreshed the MTV News brand to compete with the likes of BuzzFeed and ...
article about the early leak of the
Eminem
Marshall Bruce Mathers III (born October 17, 1972), known professionally as Eminem, is an American rapper, songwriter, and record producer. Regarded as one of the greatest and most influential rappers of all time, he is credited with popula ...
album ''
Encore'', RNS stopped including their initials in filenames and
ID3 tags.
Their last release was
Fall Out Boy
Fall Out Boy is an American Rock music, rock band formed in Wilmette, Illinois, a suburb of Chicago, in 2001. The band consists of lead vocalist and rhythm guitarist Patrick Stump, bassist Pete Wentz, lead guitarist Joe Trohman, and drummer A ...
's ''
Infinity on High
''Infinity on High'' is the third studio album by American Rock music, rock band Fall Out Boy, released on February 6, 2007, by Island Records. Recorded from July to October 2006 at Pass Studios in Los Angeles, California, its music was compose ...
'' on January 19, 2007.
On September 9, 2009, four members of the defunct group were indicted by the
United States Department of Justice
The United States Department of Justice (DOJ), also known as the Justice Department, is a United States federal executive departments, federal executive department of the U.S. government that oversees the domestic enforcement of Law of the Unite ...
for conspiracy to commit copyright infringement. They included Adil R. Cassim (who used the handle 'Kali' and later 'Blazini'), Matthew D. Chow ('rl'), Bennie L. Glover ('adeg') and Edward L. Mohan II ('MistaEd'). Adil Cassim took over leadership of the group in 2000 after the departure of the former leader 'Al_Capone', and had previously been a member of other mp3 warez groups HNA and RPB before they merged with RNS.
On March 19, 2010, Matthew Chow, identified as a member of the group, was found not guilty of conspiracy to commit criminal infringement. Federal authorities charged Chow with a single count of conspiracy to commit
copyright infringement
Copyright infringement (at times referred to as piracy) is the use of Copyright#Scope, works protected by copyright without permission for a usage where such permission is required, thereby infringing certain exclusive rights granted to the c ...
, which carries a maximum sentence of five years in prison and a $250,000 fine. Of the five other members of RNS, Adil Cassim of California was also found not guilty. Four other RNS members pleaded guilty to copyright infringement.
See also
* ''
How Music Got Free''
*
Warez scene
The Warez scene, often referred to as The Scene, is an underground network of piracy groups specialized in obtaining and illegally releasing digital media before their official release date. The Scene distributes all forms of digital media, incl ...
*
Warez group
A warez group is a tightly organised group of people involved in creating and/or distributing warez such as movies, music or software ("warez") in Warez scene, The Scene. There are different types of these groups in the Scene: ''release groups'' an ...
*
Topsite (warez)
Topsite is a term used by the Warez (scene), warez scene to refer to underground, highly secretive, high-speed File Transfer Protocol, FTP servers used by Warez group, release groups and couriers for distribution, storage and archiving of warez rel ...
*
Standard (warez)
The Warez scene, often referred to as The Scene, is an underground network of piracy groups specialized in obtaining and illegally releasing digital media before their official release date. The Scene distributes all forms of digital media, incl ...
References
Further reading
*
External links
* {{Official website, 1=https://web.archive.org/web/20190915063359/http://rabidneurosis.org/, name=Archive of the Official Website
Warez groups
* ShiZZa OaK o
AOL Underground Podcastpart 1part 2
an
part 3
- Oakleez hosted an internal RNS topsite at the end of the nineties in his dorm room.