Collective Licensing for p2p in France

Editor, France, Spain Step Up Anti-Piracy Initiatives, Digital Music News, 20 December 2005

As France considers anti-circumvention laws, one proposal gaining support is the adoption of a collective P2P licensing scheme.


Red Herring "France Toys With Legal P2P"
Bloomberg "French Parliament Votes to Allow Web File Sharing"
CNet "France may sanction unfettered P2P downloads"
P2Pnet "P2p file sharing is legal, says France"
audionautes.net "France is the First Country to Propose the Legalization of P2P Downloading"

File Sharing UP

So suing 17,000 of your customers is clearly not helping the situation:

"According to data supplied by tracking firm BigChampagne, the average number of simultaneous P2P users reached 6.86 million in the US, and 9.47 million globally. In the US, that represents a 4.78 percent increase over October figures, and a 20.6 percent jump over comparable figures in 2004. Meanwhile, the numbers represent a 3.14 percent increase month-over-month globally, and a 21.3 percent increase year-over-year."

As reported by Digital Music News, 19 December 2005

iTunes Terms of Sale

iTunes Terms of Sale

These are the parts of the contract that worry me:

"You shall be authorized to use the Product on five Apple authorized computers... Apple reserves the right to change the terms and conditions of sale at the iTunes Music Store at any time."

Here's what was said when the iTunes DRM was cracked in January 2004:

"The RIAA can at any time change the DRM rules... and considering their history, it's likely that they will when the majority of consumers have embraced DRM and non-DRM products have been phased out..."

Fred Von Lohmann said:
"The restrictions are very frustrating for consumers, and frankly, are unnecessary... Every song on iTunes Music Store has been available on the Peer to Peer networks within four hours. All the DRM does is frustrate legitimate consumers; it doesn't stop file sharing..."

Read the full story here.

iTunes

Can anyone tell me what this means?

"iTunes is licensed for reproduction of non-copyrighted materials or materials the user is legally permitted to reproduce."

Sounds a whole lot like they're selling public domain materials to me - and if so, and if the RIAA succeed in destroying p2p, does this mean the future lies in an artificially infinite copyright term?

Christmas Shopping

Christmas shopping as a substantial non infringing, DRM hating, democratist can be a little confusing.

Never let it be said that I don't support the music industry - I just bought 8 CDs- none of them copy protected - made sure of that. I would really have rather purchased iTunes credits but couldn't bring myself to do it, even though I know the people I were buying for don't care about DRM. The thing about DRM on iTunes is that it is wide enough at the moment (debateable) but I for one bet that it doesn't stay that way. There is absolutely nothing stopping the recording industry from insisting that it be narrowed with massive ramifications for fair use. It will happen, along with creeping prices.

The minute iTunes start selling DRM free music I will be the first one there.

The minute they start individual prosecutions in this country it will be the last cent they see from me.

The CD I bought for myself is even available as an authorised download (see EFF's site for a list) but I chose to pay. In fact I have never downloaded unauthorised music only stuff on that list and classical music. What I have actually been doing with p2p software in fact, is just searching - for terms like 'cover' and 'live' and 'remix' - I have been trying to nut out a way to demonstrate the way file sharing allows for the participation in culture... I plan to do a comprehensive study next year but averages is the most sophisticated methodology I have come up with so far. Its really hard to structure because the content of the networks is so dynamic.

RIAA sues ANOTHER 751 file-swappers

Another 751 Americans have just won the lottery - I read somewhere recently... (forgive me for not referencing - I read a lot!)... that in the USA you have about the same chance of winning the lottery as you do of being sued by the RIAA.

Another 751 cases that will never make it to trial; with one report suggesting only 2% of paid music consumers say they do so out of fear of litigation.

It seems however that there might be a file sharing (film) case going to trial in Pennsylvania where summary judgement was denied.

J. Borland, RIAA sues 751 file-swappers, CNET News, 15 December 2005

R. Menta, Ipsos-Reid: Only 2% of Consumers Care About Legal Issues With Downloading Music, mp3newswire, 8 December 2005

http://www.paed.uscourts.gov/documents/opinions/05D1458P.pdf

Kazaa survives until after Christmas

Kazaa lives to fight another battle - 30th January 2006 is the date set for the contempt hearing.

Anonymous, Kazaa survives. For now, p2p.net, 15 December 2005

S. Deare, Kazaa owners risk jail, ZDNet Australia, 15 December 2005

Benefits of Sharing Music

Editor, Research Group Highlights Benefits of Sharing Music, Digital Music News, 15 December 2005

Digital Music News are reporting on a new study undertaken by Harvards Berkman Centre and Gartner suggesting that sharing of music is becoming an increasingly important part of the success of the music industry. The viral nature of file sharing contributes to the sampling and selection of songs.

The Report: Consumer Taste Sharing Is Driving the Online Music Business and Democratizing Culture

The Distribution of Digital Property

Southern Cross University held a Community Forum on the Distribution of Digital Property today (11/12/05) in Byron Bay. Speakers were Tony Morris QC and Quentin Cregan, senior and junior Counsel for the defendant in the Universal Music Australia Pty Ltd v Cooper [2005] FCA 972; John Hennessey, junior Counsel for the applicants in the case of Universal Music Australia Pty Ltd v Sharman License Holdings [2005] FCA 1242; and Peter Coroneos, Chief Executive of the (Australian) Internet Industry Association. Here are some of the highlights from what they had to say:

John Hennessey outlined the basis of the Kazaa litigation (authorisation) and made reference to the "minuscule" quantity of legitimate works relied on by Sharman to justify their business operations. He stated that the Kazaa has repeatedly "demanded" licenses from the recording industry which they were not given but in correspondence concerning the potential to license works, Kazaa indicated that they were in a position to filter out offending content. He commented that the failure to implement key word filters by the 5th December 2005 has resulted in further legal action with the parties going back to court this Thursday for a contempt of court hearing.

Tony Morris and Quentin Cregan offered an alternative perspective on the issue of authorisation, suggesting that while they do not condone the misuse of Intellectual Property, they considered the Cooper case to have important legal ramifications both within Australia and overseas. Tony gave a background to the litigation indicating that Cooper was very much a low level and amateurish operator. Cooper was by and large honest with his website, MP3s4Free, registered under his own name and address and hosted within Australia despite the alternative option of perhaps operating from countries such as China. The way the website was set up allowed visitors to post links on the site, the problem being that some of the links led to pirated recordings. The critical issue in the case was whether merely providing links was enough to establish authorisation rather than merely facilitating a connection. The court held that Cooper had the ability to review and remove offending links and as such he was found guilty of authorisation. At no time was the offending material on his website. The disclaimers on his website were also held to be ineffective. Cooper's ISP was also held accountable as he had an arrangement with them by which he posted an advertising banner in exchange for free hosting. The court held the ISP to have a financial benefit from the operation of the website.

Tony suggested there to be potential for the matter to be appealed and suggested that it may be joined with the Kazaa matter for High Court determination of the scope of 'authorisation'. He also suggested that the Record Industry was playing catch up and although they have won the Cooper case and will most likely win the Kazaa case it will change nothing in terms of sharing illegal content.

Peter Coroneos gave a bigger perspective on the battle between old and new methods of content distribution. He questioned the ongoing relevance of copyright law and particularly noted how out of step it was with what was happening on a day-to-day basis. He noted the progress of file sharing technology, the fact that the Internet is a truly revolutionary architecture and ultimately suggested that what we are witnessing in the content industry today is MARKET FAILURE. He suggested that content itself is not under threat by peer-to-peer networks but it is the intermediaries - the recording companies - that are under threat.

A general question and answer time was then held. I asked John Hennessey to elaborate on the potential for Audible Magic filtering of the Kazaa network and he merely indicated that only key word filtering and gold file flood filtering were considered immediate options and that the failure to implement these within the time specified by the court meant that Kazaa would be shut down. When questioned as to the motivation behind the Kazaa case John Hennessey indicated that the recording industry needed to do something while it implemented a legal download model. Tony Morris commented that the Kazaa litigation was based on sheer stupidity. Most speakers seemed to think there was no immediate threat of individual prosecutions within Australia, however Peter Coroneos indicated that the American ISP Verizon, was receiving in the vicinity of 300,000 requests for personal information a year and that in Europe the Cybercrime Treaty means that end user data may now be available to prosecute copyright infringement.

The speakers and some of the participants then met for drinks and for over an hour discussed cyberlaw further. At no stage did I mention that I was a blogger (isn't everyone?) so ethically I can't divulge the exact responses to my questions.

I asked about whether Wilcox's comments in the Kazaa case, where he indicated that individual prosecutions were not a viable option, would prevent ARIA from taking that step in Australia. Generally it was thought to be unlikely that that would prevent individual prosecutions from occurring.

We talked about the privacy implications of companies like Media Sentry and the monitoring of networks by private companies, and about individual prosecutions in the USA. I said to John Hennessey: "come on - you would have to agree that that is extortion!"

I also asked about the hope for collective licensing but generally it was suggested that it was unlikely to happen. I stated that the warnings on the Kazaa website had stopped me from using that software and had shifted me to another network.

At some stage I showed John Hennessy a book I was carrying in my bag - The Future of Music - I told him it was a good book. When all the others were talking among themselves, I said quietly to him: "I know you can't see this - but it would be a real shame for Kazaa to be shut down."

We all talked about other countries that it would be more legally viable to start a peer-to-peer network in. I suggested that the Kazaa litigation merely meant that the digital music revolution would not be owned by an Australian company.

As we were parting company I said - "thanks for your time - I hope you lose" - John Hennessey said: "we wont". He really thinks he is doing the right thing...

KOREA seeks to supervise P2P Networks

This is enough to make you weep !

Cho Jin-seo, KOREA: New Internet copyright bill under fire, The Korea Times, 7 December 2005

Kazaa Filtering

The media coverage concerning the decision of Kazaa to filter out Australian users rather than employ key word filtering suggests the parties will be heading back to court in the near future with ARIA pushing for the whole network to be shut down pending the appeal on 20th February. This follows the failure of the parties to agree on the implementation of the Audible Magic software - here's some links:

Editor, Big Music drops Audible Magic, P2P Net, 2005

I. Leshem, The 'idea that may save Kazaa', P2P Net, 7 December 2005

I. Ferguson, Sharman cuts off Kazaa downloads in Australia, CNET News, 5 December 2005

I. Ferguson, Kazaa blocks, warns Aussie users, ZDNet, 6 December 2005

A. Colley, MIPI to seek shutdown order, The Australian, 6 December 2005

K. Needham, Kazaa music ends on a sour note, Sydney Morning Herald, 7 December 2005