AllofMP3.com May Hinder Russia Joining WTO

gitana writes "The New York Times is reporting that American trade negotiators may demand the shutdown of AllofMP3.com as a condition of Russia joining the World Trade Organization." From the article: "Music industry officials say AllofMP3, which first came to their attention in 2004, is a large-scale commercial piracy site, and they dismiss its claims of legality. "It is totally unprecedented to have a pirate site operating so openly for so long," said Neil Turkewitz, executive vice president of the Recording Industry Association of America, who is based in Washington ... AllofMP3.com says on the site that it can legally sell to any user based in Russia and warns foreign users to verify the legality within their countries for themselves. The site features a wide selection of Russian music, but is written in English with prices listed in United States dollars."

Comments

Re:Just as well

[Cyberax]

Why was the parent marked as a flaimbait?

I live in Russia and I don't really want my country to join the WTO, and it's a very widespread attitude here. WTO imposes too much unpopular restrictions (for example, we'd have to raise internal prices on gas and petrol).

Re:if it seems too good to be true

[Kjella]

The prices are 1/10 the iTunes rates, and while the article doesn't say, it would seem allofmp3 has no contract or agreement to sell these tracks.

No, they have a compulsory license based on russian law. They pay a pittance to some collection agency and in return operate legally, not in violation of russian copyright law. Sure, the RIAA are getting their panties in a bunch and it's a pretty huge loophole, but currently it's not illegal. That's why they're changing the law this autumn.

Maybe the US...

[abigsmurf]

Should stop imposing illegal tarrifs on goods from other countries before it starts making demands?

Re:if it seems too good to be true

[TubeSteak]

AllofMP3 asserts its legality by citing a license issued by a collecting society, the Russian Multimedia and Internet Society.

In most countries, the collecting societies that receive royalty payments for the sale or use of artistic works need reciprocal agreements with overseas copyright holders...

According to Russia's 1993 copyright law, however, collecting societies are permitted to act on behalf of rights holders who have not authorized them to do so. Collecting societies have thus been set up to gather royalties for foreign copyright holders without their authorization...

The result is that numerous organizations in Russia receive royalties for the use of foreign artistic works, but never pass on that money to the artists or music companies

So, either the NY Times incorrectly summarized the way things work in Russia, or All of MP3 is doing nothing wrong & the RIAA should be going after the collecting societies.

On a seperate rant: I guess the third possibility is that Russia's copyright laws are morally wrong and need to be changed. Hmmm... how could the RIAA & their Euro counterparts accomplish this?

I know!!1 By inviting Russia to join the WTO!.

For those of you who don't know, the WTO is like one big Westernized cluestick handcrafted by corporations w/the support of their (large) governments.

The RIAA/MPAA/Software industry would love to get Russia into the WTO and Eastern European (former Soviet) Countries into the EU, later into the WTO. Once they accomplish that, they can use their handcrafted cluestick to beat the laws of those countries into a nice compliant & westernized form.

Those untapped 'markets' can only be tapped if the legal, political and enforcement landscape is appropriate for the making of large quantities of money.

MADNESS!!

[Anonymous Coward]

So wait - selling Cold War NBC leftovers doesn't even muster a UN slap on the wrist, but pirating trivial pop culture content is a showstopper?

Please explain to me how it is a recording industry group concerned about its monopoly could hold up a former world superpower, a nation of significant landmass, natural resources, goods, services and consumers, from joining the World Trade Organization?

While the WTO itself is a seperate subject of discussion, what part of reality did world leaders abandon to put such significance on any one single market as to exclude an entire nation's industry?

What a supereme coup these guys and their ilk have pulled off - the world now cow-tow to the notion owning and controlling ideas, instead of not just preserving and protecting, but fostering the creation of new ones. How shameful, and how disappointing, I see so little concern for this insane set of priorities.

Sorry for the bad spelling and words - I only started learning English 3-4 years ago. Ironically I started to learn so I could come to America, after reading my country man Alexis de Tocqueville and listening to my Dad's old college stories of how independant and voiceful Americans where - so why have not Americans been the first country to say no to what is clearly short sighted greed?

Re:I knew it was illegal! WTO let china in

[Zeio]

This is egregious. Think about this. China belongs to the WTO. They use slave labor, actively kill and imprison union organizers. They allow massive pollution. They built the environmental holocaust the three gorges dam which now clogs itself with Yangtze river silt. They ban its citizens from owning firearms and use the military and as a police force. They use Yahoo and Google and Cisco technology, services and infrastructure to imprison and execute political dissidents. China executes over 10,000 people a year in an undocumented fashion with a maximum of two appeals.

China can barely call itself anything but a state holding its people hostage with fear and brainwashing. Recently someone in China who was being interviews by Nova or front line was shown a picture of "Tank Man" from Tiananmen square and they DIDN'T EVEN KNOW WHAT THE IMAGE WAS OF! Maximum censorship OR total fear of even admitting that something against the government ever even happened. This was 4 students in the interview either feigning not knowing what "Tank Man" is or genuinely not knowing about the incident.

Russia who has valuable oil resources and a more European disposition and a moratorium on the death penalty sells a few MP3s in accordance with their local laws - something the pricks at Google (Schmidt) and Yahoo (Terry "Terrorist" Semel) say makes their anti-Chinese citizen policies in assisting the totalitarian authoritarian government with their persecution - and they cant join the WTO.

WHAT A JOKE. This is a total sick joke.

And this is what I'm talking about.

[Belial6]

This is what I'm talking about. The "IP" nutcases throw accusations and threats at anyone who isn't also a nutcase. They see 'Pirates' and 'Theives' behind every tree. I simply point out that AllOfMP3.com (to the best of my knowledge) is a legal business, and that calling them theives is liable. What happens? I get accused of commiting a crime, and a threat that I will end up in jail is made.

Given that I have never purchased anything from AllOfMP3.com, I certainly have not broken any copyright, and I certainly will not go to jail for it. (Well... given the current political climate, the lack of commiting a crime is no guarantee of not going to jail for copyright violation.) But, somehow the "IP" zelots seem to think that recognizing Russia as a soveriegn nation makes you a criminal.

Seriously, until the "IP" folks can start to carry on conversations without seeing the boogie man around every corner, they cannot be taken seriously.

Re:I knew it was illegal!

[ronanm]

Hmmm. Too bad for Canada, Australia, New Zealand, Scotland and Northern Ireland (not technically part of England), the Republic of Ireland (definitely not part of England) and -- oh, let me see -- a good chunk of the Caribbean, no doubt a number of African countries ... I'm sure there are a whole bunch more I've left out ...


Well you forgot Wales, but that's ok everyone else does too:
Eurocrats leave Wales off EU map

Re:I knew it was illegal! WTO let china in

[Jugalator]

This is egregious. Think about this. China belongs to the WTO. They use slave labor, actively kill and imprison union organizers. They allow massive pollution. They built the environmental holocaust the three gorges dam which now clogs itself with Yangtze river silt. They ban its citizens from owning firearms and use the military and as a police force.

But how many dollars do US lose on these activities?

This is about the World Trade Organization -- making money.

Re:Just as well

[shutdown -p now]

Indeed, and the way Russian economy has been managed so far was by the Western recommendations. Especially in early 90s which brought the economy to what it is now.

Re:I knew it was illegal! WTO let china in

[snuf23]

I'm sorry sir you seen to have an improper understanding of value in current American culture. Let me illustrate:

value of song copyright > value of human life

Now is it clear?