reuters: Record Labels Seek OK for Online Music Sabotage
A US House of Reps committee has heard arguments from the RIAA in favour of Berman and Coble's "Hollywood hacking bill", which would allow copyright holders to use denial-of-service tactics against file sharing networks. Rick Boucher made some interesting claims about overblocking by copyright enforcers. The article also notes that many of the tactics permitted by the bill are already in use; critics should take note that defeating the proposal won't stop those attacks. Berman's bill is a red herring - the real solution is technological, not legal.
[Virginia Rep. Rick Boucher] noted that overzealous copyright enforcers have already mistaken a photo entitled "Portrait of Mrs. harrison williams 1943" for a song by former Beatle George Harrison, and demanded that Internet provider UUNet terminate the account of a customer who posted a book report on Harry Potter. [...] While the recording industry was able to persuade a California court to shut Napster down, it has so far been less successful against next-generation services that are based overseas or operate in a decentralized manner. The industry has tried different tactics recently, targeting individual users with automated tracking software and launching an advertising campaign to discourage illegal downloads. Record labels have also turned to Los Angeles technology firm MediaDefender Inc., which floods peer-to-peer services with decoy songs in an attempt to crowd out copyrighted material. - Reuters, Record Labels Seek OK for Online Music Sabotage.Declan McCullagh has an article over at CNet quoting Coble and the RIAA defending the bill.
"There has been a lot of misinformation about this bill," said Hilary Rosen, CEO of the Recording Industry Association of America. "Some have characterized it as allowing copyright vigilantism or letting record companies and movie studios hack into people's computers and crash networks. These irresponsible descriptions at best reveal a misunderstanding of the text and purpose of the bill, and at worst purposely cloud the real issues." - CNet, P2P foes defend hacking bill.Meanwhile, the RIAA is spending its ostensibly declining profits on a series of advertisements featuring expensive pop stars pushing the message that copying is theft.
"We want to hit fans with the message that downloading music illegally is, as Britney Spears explains, the same as going into a CD store and stealing the CD," said Hilary Rosen of the Recording Industry Association Of America (RIAA). "Too many people don't realise that when you download a song you like from a peer-to-peer network or some other unauthorised internet service, you're stealing music," she said. - BBC, Spears warns against piracy.