Posted on 08/04/2003 2:26:36 AM PDT by yonif
The Internet isn't the anonymous playground of free goodies that many once thought it was.
In fact, your online behavior could land you across the courtroom from a multibillion-dollar industry.
The Recording Industry Association of America is cracking down on Web surfers who it claims have shared copyrighted music files over the Internet.
The organization, which represents record labels, has sent hundreds of subpoenas in the past month to Internet service providers for the identities of file sharers, and it plans to begin filing lawsuits later this month and next month.
The following questions and answers are intended to shed light on the issues at stake in the battle over Internet music swapping.
What is the RIAA attempting to prevent?
Since the record industry killed Napster, a popular file-sharing company, a few years ago, more decentralized computer programs have emerged, enabling computer users to swap copyrighted songs and videos.
Because it's difficult to sue a company to stop this form of file sharing, the RIAA is pursuing individual computer users. The industry plans to seek hefty fines in civil court, claiming violations of copyright law.
Who is the RIAA considering suing?
For now, the association is targeting only music consumers who make copyrighted files available to other people for uploading via file-sharing programs such as Kazaa.
Those who only download are not at risk of being sued now, although RIAA spokesman Jonathan Lamy said downloading over free file-sharing networks also is illegal.
"There's no distinction in the law or what the courts have said," Lamy said. "I don't think anyone should take comfort in the fact that they're safe."
Fred von Lohmann, senior staff attorney at the Electronic Frontier Foundation, a technology consumer-advocacy group, said Internet users with fast computers and high-speed Internet connections are most likely to be on the RIAA's hit list.
Because college students often share large quantities of music, they are considered to be among prevalent subpoena targets.
File-trading programs such as Kazaa don't require you to enter your real name. How is the RIAA tracking down file sharers?
The association uses software to scan file-sharing networks such as Kazaa for computers offering "substantial" amounts of copyrighted files.
It records the user's name within the file-sharing network and unique numerical Internet address. With that information, it can locate the uploader's Internet service provider. It then includes that information, along with a list of some songs the computer had offered to other users, in a subpoena that asks the ISP for the identity of the subscriber.
How many files does the RIAA consider to be substantial?
"There's no hard and fast rule or number," Lamy said.
But the more songs that file sharers offer, the more likely the RIAA is to target them, he said.
"It benefits the RIAA in their efforts to be as ominously vague as possible," said Mike McGuire, research director at research firm GartnerG2 in San Jose, Calif.
The Electronic Frontier Foundation's von Lohmann said the RIAA has been subpoenaing information on computers that file-sharing networks have randomly chosen to be "supernodes," which coordinate traffic on the file-sharing network.
It is difficult to tell whether your computer has functioned as a supernode, but you can avert such use of your computer by selecting an option in your file-sharing program.
Will my ISP reveal my identity?
It depends.
Some ISPs have complied in light of a recent federal court ruling in Washington, D.C., that required Verizon to hand over names of file sharers. Pacific Bell Internet Services, a subsidiary of telecom giant SBC, has challenged the subpoenas' legality and won't release the names. But Comcast, the largest cable company in Oregon and the United States, has not publicly challenged RIAA subpoenas for information on some users of its high-speed Internet service.
"At Comcast, our customers' privacy comes first," the company said in a statement. "However, we will comply with a subpoena in situations in which we are legally bound and when the request meets specific legal criteria."
Has the RIAA revealed a list of the subpoenas it has filed?
No, but EFF's Web site, www.eff.org, offers a free search engine that enables you to search a database of publicly available subpoenas to see whether your user name or Internet address are listed on a subpoena.
If you don't find yourself there, it doesn't necessarily mean you aren't a target. Only about 250 case listings appear on the U.S. court's Web site, and the Associated Press late last month reported that RIAA had filed more than 900 subpoenas. Lamy said the RIAA will not reveal how many subpoenas it has issued.
Have any Oregon file sharers been subpoenaed?
Oregon ISPs and universities are not among the publicly available subpoenas.
A review of 30 publicly available subpoenas for Internet subscribers to Comcast did not reveal any Internet addresses that were traced to Oregon. Most of the Comcast subpoenas sought information about users in Massachusetts and California.
"The Northeast and California may have a lot more colleges," GartnerG2's McGuire said. But because many subpoenas are not publicly available, it is possible that Oregonians are among those the RIAA is targeting.
Can I download music without uploading?
Most file-sharing programs allow you to choose to stop sharing your files with other users.
That prevents you from uploading and, presumably, landing on the RIAA's hit list. But there is no guarantee that the industry won't eventually go after downloaders.
Why does the RIAA care?
When people download songs for free rather than buy them in stores, they take money away from the artists and labels, the RIAA says.
And downloading is pervasive. According to surveys conducted this year by the Pew Internet & American Life Project, 35 million U.S. adults download music files online.
"We'd much rather spend time making music then dealing with legal issues in courtrooms," RIAA President Cary Sherman said in a written statement. "But we cannot stand by while piracy takes a devastating toll on artists, musicians, songwriters, retailers and everyone in the music industry."
Why do people download music if it violates copyright law?
Downloading proponents say most Internet users download as well as buy music, and they blame the record industry for not quickly creating alternatives that enable people to purchase music online.
CenterSpan Communications, which once employed 87 people in Hillsboro, has downsized to two employees after unsuccessfully trying to sell software that would enable record companies to charge for music online.
"The labels and the studios have always viewed themselves as having complete control of their content and distribution channels," said Frank Hausmann, CenterSpan's chief executive. "The Internet represents a new channel they would have no control over."
McGuire said copyright holders tend to fight threatening technology.
"Whenever a new technology comes along for copying something, like the VCR, the initial thrust from the copyright holders has been to fight it and stop it," McGuire said.
But haven't companies recently launched ads for music download sites that charge money?
Apple's iTunes.com and the recently launched BuyMusic.com are among the industry's most notable efforts at selling music online.
A few years ago, Lamy said, RIAA's opponents may have had a point in arguing there was a lack of music-industry online alternatives. But that is no longer the case, he said.
"If fans want music online legitimately, there are a host of great services that have great content from every major record company," the RIAA's Lamy said.
Will these industry-backed sites catch on?
Some technology experts say the pay sites don't yet have the range of songs available on the free sites.
And because the industry has been slow to adopt file-sharing technology, they say, it may be difficult to win over subscribers.
"They're trying now," said Anthony Davis, a partner with Davis Dixon Kirby, a Portland law firm that specializes in intellectual-property cases. "The real problem is that it's too late. Everybody got used to getting it for free."
Jeffrey Kosseff: 503-294-7605; jeffkosseff@news.oregonian.com
CD prices are so silly that if one wanted to get the soundtrack to a movie it would only cost a few dollars more to just get the DVD and have the music, the movie, and extra stuff !
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.