Posted on 03/24/2009 9:47:56 AM PDT by max americana
Under pressure from the big record labels, several countries around the world are cracking down hard on illegal file-sharers with a "three strikes, you're out" policy — and the United States may be next. The basics are simple: Get caught three times sharing files illegally, and your Internet access gets cut off. But in a day and age when Internet access is almost as essential as a cell phone or electricity, should the music industry or Internet service providers [ISPs] have the power to determine who can and can't get online, particularly without criminal charges being filed? And what if there's no legal recourse for the customer whose service gets cut off? "In this country, you don't punish people with just allegations ... in Russia, it happens differently," says Gigi B. Sohn, president of Public Knowledge, a Washington, D.C., non-profit group specializing in digital rights. "It gives the RIAA [Recording Industry Association of America] way too much power, but it's going to take acquiescence from the ISPs [to happen]," Sohn says. "I think it's unfair and un-American in many different ways. No copyright holder should have that much power based on an allegation." SNIP: Details are hard to come by, and the ISPs aren't talking, but the ultimate punishment for repeat infringers who ignore warnings might be termination of Internet access. Internet speed could be slowed for those who ignore warnings but haven't quite reached termination level. "That is one possible outcome. That is not the only outcome," RIAA President Cary Sherman told FOXNews.com in an interview.
(Excerpt) Read more at foxnews.com ...
This makes no sense,
so somebody with a netflix download account has to PROVE they are innocent?
It’s really sad what’s happened to music business. People dont’ buy music anymore. How is a musician supposed to make money? Why bother making music? So you can sell ringtones? It’s just sad. And it’s sad that people feel no responsibility towards paying the artists for their work. They just glom it off the net. Cheapskates.
LOL. Looks like it. Verizon snd Comcast are known to throttle connections BTW.
I pay the artists I enjoy for their work happily and freely. I just don’t buy the 92% of music that’s utter garbage. And unfortunatly quite a few of the big record labels specalize heavily in that 92%. I will say I did quite a bit of music downloading in my teens but that I now own pretty much every album I’ve ever downloaded. Not to mention the fact that for 15 dollars a month my zune pass gives me almost all of the music I could want.
If artists whine about not making sales I’d tell them to take a hard look at what they put out and that we’re not obligated to buy their garbage just because some record label puts them on TV.
Yes and no,
People throughout Asia, Africa, Eastern Europe, and South America don't play by the rules (They never did)
But America, Canada, and western Europe MUST?
Either it's a fair playing field or not.
And this isn't just music. It entails all aspects of the entertainment business.
So they won’t terminate your access if you “share” child porn, but don’t even think about sharing music.
Makes total sense. /sarc
I would feel worse about it if more than 2 out of 12 songs per CD were any good.
How do they determine who is “sharing files”? Is it based on protocols? Applications? If you use BitTorrent, do they know whether you download/share “Presentation.ppt” or StarWarsIV.avi”? Many businesses use Torrent.
Well, all the music thieves are definitely driving up ticket prices, that's for sure. But I'm not talking about live shows. I'm talking about sound recordings. Why bother making them if people are going to steal them?
Why bother doing anything that you love to do?
It depends what it is, and what it costs. I can go fishing for next to nothing. Making sound recordings takes money. Why bother?
Did you ever take a cassette and record a song from the radio? Same difference when it comes to public transportation of media.
No, it's not the same thing at all. How do songs get from a CD to the net? It's called "ripping" for a reason. Short for ripping-off, as in stealing.
Lame rationalization. You don’t have to buy entire cds. You can purchase single songs. But you choose to steal them. Why?
Because I believe it's an unjust law. Like slavery. So it's a form of civil protest. Like throwing tea in the harbor.
I peRsonally use BT for my DL’S but I am guessing they are now going to concentrate on BT’s instead of straight DL’S. I DL from Mininova for my ‘stuff’ and most of the uploaders cover up their uploads with WINRAR to compress the file. BUT it’s redundant because the file is in pieces, which is the selling point of BT.
Imagine a rural vegetable stand. The kind where they leave a basket out for payment, and trust the good will of people to pay for what they take. Downloaders are basically driving up to the vegetable stand, loading up on tomatoes, and stiffing the farmer. It's not right.
What is an unjust law? Copyright? It’s in the Constitution.
You are a symptom of what is wrong with America. No integrity. No respect for others. Just a selfish utilitarianism. Rationalization of adolescent appetite. Pathetic, really. And a symptom of our fading national character.
This whole idea is a mess. Suppose your Internet connection is paid for by your employer because you need access from home. Your access gets terminated by your ISP for something teen does. Now what?
ISPs have no business enforcing this unless criminal charges are involved.
>> How do songs get from a CD to the net? It’s called “ripping” for a reason. Short for ripping-off, as in stealing.
Trasferring purchased CD music or DVD movies to your computer is entirely legal — “fair use” doctrine of copyright law. Distribution is illegal. Downloading that which you did not pay for is illegal. But “ripping” is entirely legal and legitimate.
I have personally “ripped” every CD and DVD I own onto my PC for use with my AppleTV (a badass little device, by the way). Some were easy. Some required decryption. But, so long as I don’t distribute, I’ve broken no copyright law.
SnakeDoc
So were the people who threw tea into the Boston harbor all those things too? Or the people who fought against slavery? It's an unjust law, and I'm protesting it. Nonviolently, mind you. What's wrong with that?
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