Music Industry Unveils Tracking Methods (RIAA alert)

Yahoo! News ^ | August 27, 2003 | TED BRIDIS

[El Conservador]

F*** RIAA!!!

They ain't gettin' nuthin' from me!!!

[JoJo Gunn]

Notice the Gestapo that is the RIAA, those hackers, called her same as a shoplifter?

[Tuxedo]

Coleman will put a stop to this. Let's see, RIAA comprises of how many voters? Not many. How many sharers are there? Millions. Millions of votes. Hmmm...guess where this is going.

[feedback doctor]

I have downloaded a lot of songs from Napster and Kaaza. But I only have downloaded songs that I have bought legally on CDs. I think I have every moral and legal right to have those tunes in digial form even if I was NOT the one who converted them to that form.

[Michael.SF.]

Open question to those who believe we should be able to download music w/o paying royalties to the artist:

With automated copy and scanning machines, should we also be allowed to buy a book, such as Ann Coulter's 'Treason,' then copy or scan it, post it on a website and allow anyone who wishes to down load it?

How does that differ?

[upchuck]

RIAA = outmoded, broken business model.

Change, adapt or die.

[battousai]

"most from other countries. "

wouldn't be j-pop by any chance ;).

I wonder when RIAA got access to her computer, did they have legal authority to do so? Maybe a counter suit using DMCA is in order. I know verizon is using DMCA to fight RIAA, who is also using DMCA to fight the user, this should be interesting.

anyway guess its time for someone to make a file sharing client that also encrypts data in transit, then as long as your home pc is also protected, firewall etc, then RIAA can try to match their databse of hashes all they want.

Another technique would proabably be to make a program that just alters every mp3 randomly in a non destructive way, bye bye hash signatures again.

Thanks for coming out RIAA, have a nice day.

[P.O.E.]

Ever try getting Kazaa off your PC? Good luck!

[Windcatcher]

The horse is not only out of the barn, it's already trotted down the road, been run over, and been served at a fast food restaurant.

None of my friends are downloading music. Not because of fear of the RIAA, but because *they already have all they music they want*. To put it simply, they're done. Britney, J-Lo, and the other manufactured trash just doesn't sell in my thirtysomething circle of friends, and from what's remaining to download, *none of them want it*.

For myself, I was buying used CD's at a local store for years before the downloading craze. I have everything I want at this point, too. Britney? J-Lo? N'Sync? To quote a funny movie, I'd rather have my hair set on fire and have it put out with a sledgehammer.

[chachacha]

The recording industry has been ripping off artists for years. After they are done recording material the the artist owes more money to the Company recording sessions and promotion then the returned value of any royalties. The performer makes their money on personal appearances.

Been there done that.

This recording industry will end up agreeing to paid services and the artist still will not see a dime. All they want is, what they will lose when all the artists get tired of being ripped off go it alone at their own studios.

And Guess What? Sell the recordings through the "NOW" owned Studio paid web sites.

Look around! who's investing in paid services? Not the artists!

[lmr]

Grokster is worse. I still have adware that none of my spyware removers can find.

[Lael]

anyway guess its time for someone to make a file sharing client that also encrypts data in transit, then as long as your home pc is also protected, firewall etc, then RIAA can try to match their databse of hashes all they want.

Is there a version of PGP to encrypt MP3's???

Then sneakernet the encrypted songs to the computer attached to the net...and do a thorough ERASER (Google it) to erase the file 999 times with ERASER's strong scrubbing algorithm.

Or VPN it!!

[Lael]

anyway guess its time for someone to make a file sharing client that also encrypts data in transit, then as long as your home pc is also protected, firewall etc, then RIAA can try to match their databse of hashes all they want.

Is there a version of PGP to encrypt MP3's???

Then sneakernet the encrypted songs to the computer attached to the net...and do a thorough ERASER (Google it) to erase the file 999 times with ERASER's strong scrubbing algorithm.

Or VPN it!!

[IncPen]

How does that differ?

This horse has been beaten to death here so many times it seems fruitless to try to explain it to you, but I'll try.

We live in an age where copying of digital files is transparent, or to quote the vernacular, 'frictionless'.

Opponents of IP law (I am one) argue that it is construed to give protection not to the artist,but to the pretenders to the art, in this case the bureaucracy of the RIAA. But I digress.

The concept of frictionless duplication (that which requires virtually no effort) negates just about any hope RIAA has of prosecuting all criminals of this class (which renders the prosecution moot - a favored argument of the pro-dopers, by the by). The difference between the RIAA and the War on Drugs is that people tend not to OD on MP3s and thereby harm others.

The gist of it is that the RIAA is arguing a forgone conclusion. Digital copying is here to stay, RIAA missed out due to their own ignorance as the ship left the harbor. Selectively prosecuting and using what to most any casual observer is dubious law will get them nowhere. Much like prohibition, RIAA is doomed because it cannot recork the bottle. It's just a question of how much they can take down with them.

Finally, two salient points: Ann Coulter's book has tremendous "friction" (most books do), but if someone within the publishing house wanted to do her harm, no doubt they could slip her book out and post it on the web as a digital file. This seems unlikely, as the web is cumbersome for such long tomes, and people seem inclined to buy her work in an almost cheerleaderly fashion. I expect little harm would come of it.

The last point is that I have no interest in downloading MP3s and the like, it's not my bag.

I am a bemused observer, however, and lest you think that I have come to these opinions as some sort of interloper, I will tell you that I am a content producer - on a national and international scale (you may have some of my stuff on your shelf or in your VCR) and I frankly see the duplication of my digital creations as part of the cost of going to market. It induces me to keep creating and stay ahead of the 'curve'.

For better and more detailed analysis of the views I've put forth, I recommend Tom Bethell's "The Noblest Triumph: Property and Prosperity Through the Ages"

[battousai]

"Or VPN it!! "

God forbid :) it might actually do what RIAA wants and stop file sharing if all the end users had to bring up VPN tunnels to use the clients, the ones I have to sheppard have enough trouble reading their e-mail in the morning :)

[battousai]

heh cool, you name kind of gave it away, and I must agree , especially given all the "urban" junk played on air now, I end up listening more and more to j-pop, lets hope the urban craze doesn't take over there as well :)

[justanotherfreeper]

Digital copying is here to stay, RIAA missed out due to their own ignorance as the ship left the harbor

I couldn't agree with you more -- look at Apples download service, which is going gangbusters in spite of being (right now anyway) only for Mac or Ipod. People will gladly pay for a good download service, they just won't pay as much, or buy a whole album. RIAA has set their price above market level, and is not giving the market what it wants. Just plain stupid business. I will never, ever, understand why the RIAA just didn't BUY Napster and turn it into a subscription or per-song download service -- they would have owned the digital market. Instead, the market turned to P-to-P services like Kazaa and Morpheus that are much harder to prosecute, and programmers are coming up with programs like FreeNet that are programmed to make it impossible to identify users (although it isn't very user friendly yet.) How dumb was that? Ten years from now Harvard Business School will be teaching RIAAs decision to prosecute Napster instead of own it as a classic business screw-up.

[Michael.SF.]

I frankly see the duplication of my digital creations as part of the cost of going to market. It induces me to keep creating and stay ahead of the 'curve'.

I would think that your attitude differs from most in your industry.

I fully understand your arguements and the salient points made, but I still believe that the recording industry has a right to protect their product, the ease of duplication not withstanding.

I commonly combine and mix my own CD's to produce a CD which is more to my liking. Combining artists, eliminating certain songs, etc. This is a form of duplication, which I think the industry accepts and would not prosecute, after all I purchased the CD's originally. That however, is a far cry from my then selling those duplicated or remixed CD's to the general public. That is primarily the type of duplication that I feel the industry has a right to protect itself from.