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IFPI 'First Wave' Sues 247 In Europe & Canada
securitas writes "AP and many others report that the International Federation of the Phonographic Industry - IFPI - has sued 247 accused file-sharers in Germany, Denmark, Italy and Canada as part of an unprecedented, coordinated attack. The IFPI represents the global recording industry through its members - national associations like the IFPIG, DRIA, FIMI, CRIA and RIAA - and says it will launch more international lawsuits in the months ahead. You may also want to read the official IFPI 'first wave' press release/related documents and a statement by the IFPI's chairman and CEO. Lots of coverage at AP/AJC, USA Today, the New York Times, Reuters/CNN Money, ZDNet/CNet, Bloomberg , netimperative and the BBC. The timing of the international legal attacks is especially interesting in light of the recent study that indicates file-sharing has a negligible impact on music sales."
How can they sue file sharers in Canada? I thought they had a media tax to make it legal to share files?
Jay | http://oldos.org
"This is our first co-ordinated effort to take this campaign over the range of countries where file stealing is a problem," said Allen Dixon, IFPI's general counsel and executive director.
Maybe I was asleep, but since when did copyright infringements become known as "file stealing"!?
These cartels have had it too good for too long.. they're trying to sell us both media, and a license, then claim the license is non-transferrable and the media is non-replaceable.
In effect, you're being sold a hunk of plastic along with a very limited set of rights as to what you can do with your hunk of plastic. This business model is now crumbling thanks to the Internet, and I say good riddance to them and their Executive Directors.. go back to the dirty holes you crawled out from, and make room for real musicians, that make music for the love of it.. they've have no trouble embracing the 'net as a distribution mechanism.
DJ kRYPT's Free MP3s!
In reaction, the german Chaos Computer Club (CCC) has called for a boycott: German Page
This banner with the motto "Industry kills Music" is especially nice. The german text at the bottom translates to "And you are surprised that things are going badly?" and was part of a recent speech at a german music price ceremony where except for one indie band only badly casted, out-of-TV and largely joke-"stars" were on stage.
Oh, and the big bosses of the german music industry were present. According to news articles, they didn't exactly like being told the truth so bluntly and on live television...
Assorted stuff I do sometimes: Lemuria.org
Copyright law in many countries prevents you from distributing somebody elses work, plain and simple. These people are not being sued because they had some kind of tangible impact on sales, but because they were distributing copyrighted material to anybody (ie: nothing to do with fair use rights here).
These are the people that are making it bloody hard for the rest of us to get non-crippled CDs, because the recording industry thinks this is the way to fight them (which it incidentally is not, but that's a whole different story).
I'm glad the record industry is suing, because this is the way copyright conflicts should be dealt with: in court. Not with half-assed technological countermeasures that are making it a pain for the rest of us, and certainly not with lobbying legislation that will obliterate 'fair use' for their works.
Okay... I'll do the stupid things first, then you shy people follow.
[Zappa]
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but does this mean in the entire area they can cover, they only found enough proof to accuse 247 of them? I'm sure more are to come, but why not just file suit against more? also, yes, I thought it said pornographic...
Well realistically they probably can't afford to file suit against all the thousand (perhaps millions) online sharing music at any given time. Even if they could financially (and what am I saying, they probably can), logistically coordinating it would be a nightmare.In the real world one would expect those 247 sued to be the biggest sharers they could find, but history (RIAA suits last year into this year) have taught us that the recording industry doesn't seem to share our reality. I will not be surprised if the IFPI finds itself in the same quagmire that the RIAA did. It'll be quite amusing if it's worse and over half the sharers are little kids or grandparents whose grandkids put the software on their computer without them knowing. Now that'd be a public relations nightmare! (Not that the IFPI and/or RIAA seem to care what anyone thinks of them anymore though.)
The artists are represented by their recording company. The companies are represented by the RIAA, and the RIAA is represented the IFPI? I think the artists are far enough removed at this point that the IFPI is a purely political organization only interested in money / power / self.
IFPI Switzerland seems to go down the same road according to this article (german).
As in Canada, only uploading copyrighted music is illegal here, not downloading. As Switzerland is not member of the EU, the laws between the EU and Switzerland are quite different in some points. Cracking copy protection for instance isn't illegal (yet) AFAIK.