Verizon Must Reveal Internet Song Swapper

[RommelS]

What do you think of this?

Verizon Must Reveal Internet Song Swapper
Tue Jan 21, 7:42 PM ET

By Andy Sullivan

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Recording companies won a victory in their fight against online piracy on Tuesday when a U.S. court ordered Verizon Communications (NYSE:VZ - news) to turn over the name of a customer suspected of downloading more than 600 songs in one day over the Internet.

U.S. District Judge John Bates said Verizon must cooperate with recording industry efforts to track down online song swappers, rejecting the telecommunications giant's assertion that such a move would violate customer privacy and turn it into an online copyright cop.

Verizon said it would appeal the decision.

The case could set an important precedent as the recording industry asks schools, businesses and Internet providers to help them track down individuals who they believe are cutting into CD sales by trading digital songs through "peer to peer" services like Kazaa.

While the industry managed to shut down pioneer service Napster (news - web sites) two years ago, others have sprung up in its place and have attracted millions of users.

Under the 1998 Digital Millennium Copyright Act (news - web sites), Internet providers have voluntarily shut down Web sites that contain infringing material, but they have balked at requests to disconnect users who trade songs with each other directly over peer-to-peer networks.

Recording-industry investigators, using automated software, have been able to track down the numerical Internet addresses of file traders, but have not been able to match those addresses with individual names.

Investigators asked Verizon last summer for the name of one customer believed to have downloaded more than 600 songs in one day, but Verizon said they would have to jump through a few more legal hoops because the alleged infringer did not store the songs on Verizon servers but only used its wires to transfer the material.

Bates rejected Verizon's argument, saying that "Verizon has provided no sound reason why Congress would enable a copyright owner to obtain identifying information from a service provider storing the infringing material on its system, but would not enable a copyright owner to obtain identifying information from a service provider transmitting the material over its system."

JUDGE DOESN'T BUY IT

"It is unlikely, the Court concludes, that Congress would seek to protect copyright owners in only some of the settings addressed in the DMCA, but not others," Bates wrote.

Verizon Associate General Counsel Sarah Deutsch said the decision could allow any copyright holder, not just major recording companies, to pry into private communications if they believe their copyrights are being infringed.

"We're obviously disappointed in the decision, and we believe that this has very troubling ramifications for consumers," Deutsch said.

A recording industry spokesman said the decision validated its efforts to contact copyright pirates directly.

"Now that the court has ordered Verizon to live up to its obligation under the law, we look forward to contacting the account holder whose identity we were seeking so we can let them know that what they are doing is illegal," said Cary Sherman, president of the Recording Industry Association of America (news - web sites).

Over the past several months the RIAA has sent out thousands of letters to schools and businesses asking them to monitor their networks for peer-to-peer use and implying that they could be held liable for infringing activity.

The U.S. Naval Academy seized the computers of 100 students in November and is investigating them for possible court martial after it determined they downloaded copyrighted material.

The industry has also accused Internet providers of profiting from illegal downloading. On Saturday, RIAA CEO Hilary Rosen suggested that Internet providers should pay a fee to offset losses from file trading.

The RIAA represents the five largest recording companies: AOL Time Warner (NYSE:AOL - news)'s Warner Music; Sony Corp (news - web sites).(6758.T)'s Sony Music; Bertelsmann AG (news - web sites) (BERT.UL)'s BMG; Vivendi Universal (NYSE:V - news)'s Universal Music Group; and EMI Group Plc (news - web sites) (EMI.L).

[Duckman]

The Recording Industry is not going to back down from this issue ever. Over the last few months, things like this are happening:

TORRANCE, Calif., Jan. 21 — Music retailer Wherehouse Entertainment Inc. on Tuesday said it filed for bankruptcy protection as it struggles to gain a foothold with consumers, increasingly turning to the Web to build music collections.

Best Buy is closing 110 Musicland stores because sales are down.

What does this mean to the Recording Industry? Less avenues for selling their product, therefore less dollars in their pockets.

Now, I am in no means, defending the Recording Industry. They have been overcharging for their products for far too long, and it is about time that they take it in the shorts. (IMHO) :devil: But, they are going to need to put up a fight to keep their dominance in the music sector. So if they can prove a point with one individual, they are going to try to at all costs.

There has to be a happy medium somewhere. The Recording Industry has to come up with a way that they can make money, yet take advantage of the mediums available. All they have done so far is complain.

The Recording Industry did not think proactively enough. We all knew that the tools were coming out to make digital music transfers possible, but they sat on their butts and didn't try to take advantage. What I am trying to say is, they made a HUGELY BAD business decision and stayed with the status quo. (Can you say IBM circa 1980's). Now they are trying to cover their butts by blaming everyone for taking advantage of the new mediums available.

[RommelS]

In fact, Best Buy closed a Sam Goody store close to where I live, and some Suncoast Motion Picture store are also closing.

[MooMooFarm]

Man.. They are really determined to shut this internet trading down...

[Radwags]

It does look like they are actively taking the first big steps to shutting it all down. You know I remember when the record industry wanted to shut down cassette taps as well because you could copy the records (WOW now I am dating myself :innocent: ) and not buy the cassette tape.

Guess we will have to see where they go, and more importantly how fast they go.

:w00t:

[DarkEmerald]

I remember when the record industry wanted to shut down cassette tapes as well because you could copy the records

I was real involved in the e-book world a couple of years ago, and these issues were never resolved in that arena either. The difference is, a lot more people listen to music than read, so the market in this instance is bigger, and the fight will be, too.

What the publishing and recording industries are failing to understand is the profound shift the internet represents. And heck, who can blame 'em? I'm not sure anyone really understands it.

That said, I'll just add that they'd all better think of something, 'cause data file exchange isn't going to stop happening. That genie's out of the bottle.

[Duckman]

And you cannot tell me that the Motion Picture Association is not paying attention. They have already started to fight the proliferation of DVD-RW systems out there and design some technological ways of preventing copying.

As an example of the fear that they have, 2 weeks before the release of the James Bond movie this summer, you could download it on line.

If we think that the Recording Industry is bad.....mess with the Motion Picture Association, they will stop at NOTHING to protect their interests.

[Elyod]

Yeah and its already gotten personal where I work.

All of the employees were emailed the article that started this topic and warned that "our systems are for business use only" and if anyone requests info on our users that were thought to be breaking any copyright laws they are on their own.

They will only protect their corporate info.

Ouch, and I have to agree with the decision as they are making a valid point (in my opinion).

[Duckman]

My company purges any file with an extention of .mp3 on it automatically when you log into the network. :angry2:

[Duckman]

Oh yeah!!!!! Kazaa on the offensive!!!!!

From MSNBC.com

The owners of the Kazaa file-sharing network are trying to defend a copyright-infringement lawsuit by alleging that the entertainment industry promotes piracy by failing to work with them to create a legal alternative.In court papers filed in Los Angeles, Sharman Networks Ltd. accused several movie studios and recording labels of antitrust violations.

“THE PLAINTIFFS HAVE FAILED to reasonably act to discourage infringing conduct, and the plaintiffs thereby promote the very infringing conduct about which they complain,” Sharman said Monday.

You can read the entire article here