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Canadian Recording Industry Goes After P2P Users
Txiasaeia writes "Taking its cue from its American counterpart, the CRIA (Canadian Recording Industry Association) has begun the hunt for music file swappers. Unlike the RIAA, the CRIA are trying to find 29 (!) swappers only who use either Shaw, Telus, Rogers Cable, Bell Sympatico or Quebec's Videotron. Some companies like Shaw are openly opposing the request, whereas others, like Videotron, are pretty much planning on rolling over once the paperwork is done. Videotron customers beware: they say that they're 'actually delighted that the CRIA is doing what it's doing.' Arguments in the case begin on Monday in Toronto."
Article sez:
Videotron is in a unique position because its parent company, Quebecor, also sells music, Videotron says it is concerned about copyright protection and considers file sharing to be "theft."
Well, there we have it. ISP attitudes on copyright and privacy issues are completely tied to how much content the ISP's parent company owns. Road Runner customers beware, and Comcast customers better hope the Disney deal doesn't go through.
Why does Canada have to imitate the U.S. in all things? It would be nice to have our government to take a stand against the oppressive RIAA and stop this litigation before it gets going too far. The Canadian people do not want Big Brother to be accusing and convicting the 12 year old swappers like the U.S.
Stay tuned for new sig...
Why doesn't it surprise me that videotron is willing to roll over? Videotron is a Quebec based company.
Typical French, "We surrender!"/
Maybe its because they are owned by a huge media conglomerate that's also has music label?
This is a bit scary for a province that values its independence in culture and language so much to have just one major media owner.
Does this mean the CRIA is going to rebate or cancel the levies I pay on every CD-R I buy so that I can presumably burn CRIA content?
Videotron customers beware: they say that they're 'actually delighted that the CRIA is doing what it's doing.
they're delighted because that would reduce users bandwidth usage. in videotron's POV, they only care about the company saving money. i dont think they really care about the "non-ethical" aspects of music sharing. they're one of the first ISPs in quebec (quebequeers) that started the monthly download quota limit. and of course by saying they're delighted, it just makes themselves look "ethical".
i used to use bell canada, and all of a sudden in a month they charged me $100 because of going over the bandwidth download limit. i didnt get any sort of notification. about 12 months later, many people started to complain and they took off the cap. it's all about ISPs making and saving money.
my blog
"This is the country that already has some pretty high media levies based on the assumption that illegal copies are being made. It's currently $0.21 (data CD) and $0.77 (audio CD), but there are proposed increases, including an $840 levy on each 40GB iPod! ($0.021/MB)"
The beauty of this levy is that it doesn't matter whether you're backing up Quickbooks or sending grandma some jpegs of your trip to Disneyworld - you're paying the music industry money for each CD-r. That's one of the best laws the entertainment industry ever bought.
-- "Government is the great fiction through which everybody endeavors to live at the expense of everybody else."
Hasn't the CRIA hurt us enough with CanCon?
The CD itself probably costs less than $0.21 to manufacture. What it boils down to is this: the music industry (and all of its lined pockets) want, pure and simple, a welfare program that's tailored specifically to them. And they have it. Hope all these CEOs feel good about being on the public dole.
If this happens in the US, it will be a blatant violation of due process, as such a tax implicitly accuses, tries, convicts, and sentences someone without ANY indication that they've even so much as THOUGHT about copying something.
PunchMonkey is right in his reply to your post. They aren't a single entity at all but let's forget about that for a moment and for the sake of argument lump them all together and call them one. Having done that then the answer is indeed "Yes, the want it all ways".
They've always wanted it all or rather both ways. That's what they do. That's how they've always done it.
"The Recording Industry" is based on a business model that can be summed up neatly as "Fuck everyone above and below you as hard and as often as you can" and it's been an accepted way of doing business for so long that they'll fight to the death to continue doing it.
I don't doubt for a moment that they see absolutely nothing wrong with how they go about their business.
Appended to the end of comments you post. 120 chars.
You enumerate some valid points. But you miss mine:
The Collateral Damage aspect.
It has become cemented into general mindset, by propaganda, that it is always illegal to copy or distribute any creative work that is copyrighted.
The problem is, this attitude does not take into consideration any copyrighted work whose author *wants* distribution. Should the author be expected to surrender his copyright entirely? Or should there be only a finite number of tightly controlled distribution methods available? Or is it the author's choice?
When the music industry clamps down under the umbrella of "copyright protection", what they are *Really* doing is trying to eliminate a competing distribution method, and they are also laying the groundwork for a fundamentally different sort of copyright than what has historically existed.
You should be able to copyright *and* distribute your work. You should NOT be forced to choose between keeping your copyright and distribution. But I believe that is going to be the net effect of the current trends. Write all the songs you want, but you need to either put them in the public domain or else sign the rights over to "Us" if you want them distributed.
I realize that publishing companies have a right, even a duty to protect their interests, but their right to do so ends abruptly when, in order to make the effort to protect their rights, they abridge MY rights. I am on SOLID legal ground to insist that their rights end where mine begin.
I'm just waiting for the day that a distribution medium is shut down on the basis of copyright infringement, even though the copyright holders had approved of the distribution. I'd think of it as winning the lottery if someone presses charges against me for copying my own music, that I wrote, produced, performed and recorded, that I hold the copyright to, and whose distribution is MY business, and not anyone elses.
-fb Everything not expressly forbidden is now mandatory.
This is awesome.
From that site, Stacie Orrico's quote about file sharing (emphasis added):
"Well, I do realize how much the picture of artists is skewed when I get questions all the time like, 'Oh, so what kind of car do you drive? How big is your house?' It's like, 'No you don't understand, like I'm just trying to pay for my gas. I don't drive a nice car and I'm just trying to pay the bills and trying to have enough to buy groceries.' People just assume that the second you have a song on the charts," [i.e. you've earned millions of dollars of revenue for record labels] "you're a millionaire and truth is I've been in the industry for six years and still working towards the financial benefit. You put so much financial support into building an album. Between the clothes, and the sets, and the recording, and all the other people who are involved taking little bits of your money as you go along. So, especially if there is an artist that you really like and you're really enjoying, support them, support them with your $10 bucks." [out of which they'll see about 50 cents.] "Show you're a true fan, I think it's important."
Who wants to bet that not a single RIAA/CRIA exec has any problem paying their bills? Perhaps without traditional record labels, an artist like Orrico could record her music herself with a few thousand dollars of studio time (credit card), then sell just 50,000 copies of the single on the iTMS, and actually come out way ahead!
What's that I hear? Oh, it's the moans of agony coming from the RIAA headquarters. The past called. They want their distribution model back.