Posted on 09/02/2003 9:34:50 AM PDT by chance33_98
Google sucked into RIAA/P2P fight
By Dinah Greek [02-09-2003] Search firm removes links to certain P2P sites following complaint from Kazaa creators
Popular search engine Google has been sucked into the ongoing legal battle between the Recording Industry of America (RIAA) and peer-to-peer sites (P2P). Following a court ruling in favour of the RIAA, Sharman Networks, the developers of the popular Kazaa P2P site, sent a letter to Google requesting that it remove links to certain sites.
Fifteen sites are thought to be in breach of the US Digital Millennium Copyright Act (DMCA), and are said by Sharman Networks to be running unauthorised copies of its Kazaa P2P software.
The letter demanded that Google should "immediately remove or disable all access to the infringing material".
Google has now removed the URLs from its search listings.
In a statement posted at the foot of its search results, Google said: "In response to a complaint we received under the DMCA, we have removed eight result(s) from this page. If you wish, you may read the DMCA complaint for these removed results."
Google has also posted a link to the letter from Sharman.
It has listed the full URLs of the sites it has removed, of which all but three still worked when tested by vnunet.com.
The right people in the right places were paid. I hope Microsoft was taking notes at its last spanking. ;-)
Verily.
Do us a favor and give trollWilson a lesson in proper Free Republic debate. I took umbrage at his sly equating of DU and FR, and I think it stepped over the line. We don't need that here.
All that is being asked for is a legal right to be able to backup your own media whether it is shackled with DRM like DVDs are or not.
No, but it probably created the first need for copyright law. After reading all of the posts here, I am convinced that a lot of people think that 'information' just happens and is free for the taking. Anyone involved in the production of creative products, unless they want to work for free, needs to wake up. This thread has been an eye-opener to me.
Aren't the verbal gymnastics of the RIAA trolls fascinating? He turns the question of you backing up your own CDs and DVDs, on your own PC, with your own software, into the specter of other companies replacing dog-chewed couches or child-tested Wateford crystal for free. A similar theme is reflected in the "thievery" allegations: guys that are ripping you blind (a double sawbuck for a CD or $150 for a college text that they'll give you $20 for at the end of the term) paid off the legislature and the courts to grant them a literal copyright cartel. The bold-faced bluff and swagger is unbelievable.
How does the golf commercial go? "These guys are good"
Not at all. I've digitized my entire CD collection (no small feat considering the numbers).
I regularly drag and drop MP3 songs from my 100 Gb slave hard drive (None of which get shared via Kazaa et al) to the CF card for my NexII MP3 player. I take that sucker everywhere. It's much easier to carry one 256 Mb Compact Flash card than to tote half a dozen CDs around.
I had a go at copying DVDs but it was very labor intensive. I also have no need for backups of the DVDs. With no small children around and extremely severe penalties advertised for mishandling or losing them, they are very safe.
Would that I had the time. Besides, learning in here is best done by the method I was forced to use...By diving into the pool and learning how to stroke the belly of the crocodile so it doesn't bite you.
I was here. I tend to stay on the side of these P2P/RIAA debates. I've been through the mill far too many times with the likes Bush2000 and others who take the "all MP3 users are thieves" stand.
You are aware of the fact that several major members of the recording industry were actually convicted of price-fixing and forced to pay out a rather sizeable settlement, right?
Indeed. The law needs to explicitly define the prerogatives of copyright holders, and the fair use prerogatives of individual purchasers, and enforce them with equal rigor.
Fair enough. I think this will have to evolve to strike a fair balance. This thread has been referring quite a bit to plastic media but this could all be moot soon - most expect that it won't be long before all/most content is delivered electronically.
My concern is more with what happens when your digital copy disappears (hard drive crash/computer replacements, etc.) or gets corrupted.
I think I did read about that. I didn't feel it affected me since I rarely pay retail for CD's; I tend to look for deals and regardless, I never pay a penny more for something then I think it's worth to me at the time.
Didja notice how the troll neatly side-stepped the question of micropayments versus paying a double-sawbuck to the information cartel? :-)
Just an idle observation: forcing the handicapped to go brick-and-mortar is an egregious violation of the ADA. Wonder where the RIAA's bought legislators are on this one? **crickets**
Because sometimes my wife borrows my CDs. Weeks later, I find them in the flooboard of her SUV, caked with makeup and with my daughter's footprints and fingerprints on them. Sometimes I rescue them just in time. Sometimes they are a total loss. Now, when I buy a CD, I always make a CDR copy and give that to her.
Until you allow my wife to borrow your CD collection, you're just blowing smoke.
lol! I stand corrected.
Back in the 70's I lent a friend my entire 8-track collection (about 10 of them in the carrying case). Never saw them again. And 8-tracks were tough to back up...
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