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CRIA Prepares To Sue P2P Copyright Violators
ergo98 writes "The Canadian version of the RIAA, the CRIA (Canadian Recording Industry Association), has begun laying the PR groundwork for an initiative similar to that pursued by the RIAA in the US - threatening to file lawsuits against individual file sharers (specifically uploaders). They claim that CD sales have dropped by 23 per cent since 1999, attributing that drop to P2P, and apparently it isn't enough that the Canadian music industry gets a hefty presume-you-are-a-criminal levy attached on various devices and media."
Many readers also point to the Globe and Mail's version of the story. dsanfte writes "They will apparently only be targetting uploaders, because in the Copyright Board's judgement, P2P downloading is legal under Canadian law."
Er, wait, they are doing something I *don't* like this time? That's hardly fair.
In Canada, it is legal to borrow content (a CD, movie, etc) from a friend (or stranger), and copy it for your own personal use.
It is not legal to MAKE copies of content you own, and distribute it to friends (or strangers).
This is why downloading is legal (you're 'borrowing' a copy, and copying it), but uploading is illegal (you're copying what you presumably own, and distributing it.)
We pay additional taxes on media to support this system. I think its just gone up again, with MP3 players now being taxed as they represent blank media on which you might copy somebody else's content.
This is my udnerstanding of our system. Corrections are invited.
"Old man yells at systemd"
Please copy and distribute this article. It has a Creative Commons license.
Request your free CD of my piano music.
When my car is stolen, when my house is broken into the police says "sorry, no resources" to catch them...
Should taxpayers really pay police, FBI, etc. for playing collection agent for the RIA?
BTW, in Russia downloading music is too expensive. Average home broadband bandwidth is around 0.1$/MB. However pirated CDs full of MP3s cost about 2$ and are on sale everywhere - flea market, regular shops (govt. doesn't give a fuck). The choice of MP3s is amazing - rarities, bootlegs, full discographies, etc....
So, USA people, welcome to Russia!
Hmm...could be a good idea for business... "Fuck RIAA, buy our exclusive 'Russia CD-Tour'.".
-- grmbl woz heer
...IF THEY GET RID OF THE LEVY
I thought the justification for the levy was to legitimise downloading mp3s? If they now want to get rid of that "service", where's the justification for the levy? Maybe they're trying to pull another scam like when CDs were new;
1980s
1. raise prices because of set-up costs
2. forget to lower after making money back
3. profit
2000s
1. raise prices because of mp3 traders
2. forget to lower after putting traders in jail
3. profit
I'm sorry. I didn't know you had it that bad up there.
Stop the Slashdot effect! Don't read the articles!
Its a lose-lose situation for the parties involved except for the lawyers and Celine Dion.
They won't be able to go after as many file swappers (per capita) as they have in the U.S. because Canadian law does not allow you to subpeona their ISPs without a warrant signed by a judge. We have no DMCA yet. Also, there is also no legal precedent a la RIAA vs Verizon to get the names of file swappers from ISPs.
How does the Canadian RIAA plan to track down these uploaders without names, addresses and phone numbers from ISPs?
Of course, once we sign on to the FTAA, we will be forced to ratify it and adopt the insane IP provisions of that "free trade" agreement, including jail terms for file swappers, making open source software outright illegal, and allowing corporations to copyright everything except 12 distinct processes (ex calendars). I'm really looking forward to the human genome being copyrighted and having to pay licensing fees for my very existance.
I can't believe it! I'm *actually* planning on voting NDP in the next federal election, despite the fact that I'm a small "c" conservative. That would have been unthinkable for me as recently as two years ago. This fact that our government is whoreing us to virtually criminal organizations like the RIAA/MPAA and Microsoft makes me sick to my stomach.
Actually it's probably more due to competition from the DVD arena. When I spend money on entertainment, it's in the form of a couple DVDs that I can pick up for 17-23 USD, a much better bang-for-my-buck than even $13.50 for CDs. And no, I don't download mp3s. My DVD collection has fast outpaced my CD collection, and I wouldn't compare DVDs to VHS, as I rarely touched that God-awful format. For Christmas I used to have people asking for CDs, but as my friends and relatives started aquiring DVD players, they also started replacing their CD requests with DVD requests.
Of course, this is all anecdotal
common sense: noun
What those who are ignorant of the subject matter think; usually wrong.
Disguise it all you want, music has declined.
(Ready for the real shocker? I'm 16.)
Etiquette is etiquette. He kills his mother but he can't wear grey trousers.
Because most of the time there's one good song per CD of 10-20 tracks. One song is not worth $15, so people download it.
God save our Queen, and Heaven bless The Maple Leaf Forever!
Impossible. They play it so often that by the time they quit playing it, you never want to hear it again.
Assign weights to each as you deem fit.
--
Power to the Peaceful
You are missing one thing that isn't a constant, yhe number of titles released. As the RIAA members merge into larger and larger companies they are releasing fewer and fewer titles each year.
A CD that isn't released will sell ZERO copies
The RIAA is pushing formula music and not releasing as many titles, and it's the bands that haven't made it big that are getting hit the hardest. Some of these bands could have been this years big run away hit, but they never got recorded because they didn't have the formula sound the RIAA is looking for.
Quemadmodum gladius neminem occidit, occidentis telum est