Rip a song to your ipod and you are a thief..(RIAA)

[RedjackRyan]

"Sony seems to think we should not be allowed to rip CDs we own (http://arstechnica.com/news.ars/post/20071002-sony-bmgs-chief-anti-piracy-lawyer-copying-music-you-own-is-stealing.html) to our iPods. In fact, doing so is stealing, and we should all re-buy songs, preferably one copy for each device. Says Jennifer Pariser, the head of litigation for Sony BMG: 'When an individual makes a copy of a song for himself, I suppose we can say he stole a song. Making a copy of a purchased song is just a nice way of saying 'steals just one copy'.' I guess somebody should tell Sony about all the devices Sony produces that allow this stealing to occur!"

[aabram]

What planet are they on, Ben???? They're just out for one thing and one thing only..... money, and they're the greediest of the lot..... SO glad to have my laptop back... You should see the music that's in there. :) Sony would have a prosecution field day..... shh.... don't tell anyone I said .... :D

[RedjackRyan]

I just wish they'd share the drugs they're taking :p


In a way i do pity them, these folks just can't seem to understand or embrace the multitude of ways they could increase profits just by giving people what they want. Unencumbered *QUALITY* music, free of Drm.

Every artist I know (and thats a small sample) who has offered music downloads for free has seen their sales jump dramatically.



In the end the music execs will either adapt or go the way of the dinosaur, but they'll never ever put this genie back in the bottle.

[Rickster]

Ben, In my mind, If you have already bought a cd...I think you have bought the rights to rip them on an Ipod. Duh? They really need to give it a rest. Oh wait...I'll call the RIAA before I rip another song. Lol

[Dee]

Says Jennifer Pariser, the head of litigation for Sony BMG: 'When an individual makes a copy of a song for himself, I suppose we can say he stole a song.'

Nice try! http://i90.photobucket.com/albums/k267/deemark/Emoticons/ROFL.gif They are really going nuts now aren't they? How lame.

[RedjackRyan]

I suppose i'll be in the cell next to ya Rickster.. I've been collecting off my digital cable, the sirius channels have greatly enhanced my music collection.


Very lame indeed Dee, but the scary thing is an uninformed judge/jury might just buy that arguement. All that music is just falling down the internet tubes anyway.

[Rickster]

I wonder if Ms. Jennifer Pariser has kids. I wonder if they have ever recorded from any cds to an Ipod? This is all so petty. I have not heard of any of these record companies mention any of the artists (oh yeah...like they give a crap about them) Money, Money, Money,Money,Money.

[DaveM]

The first downloading lawsuit (brought by Sony) to go to trial began today in, of all places, Duluth, Minnesota. Not sure of all the details, but the defendant is a teenaged girl who is accused of downloading something like 1700 copyrighted songs. Thus far her attorney and witnesses have been doing a rather good job of demonstrating that it really isn't possible to determine who downloaded what when--she claims the files on her machine were at least in part copied from disks loaned to her by friends and that someone else spoofing her IP address may have downloaded the material in question.

At any rate, I don't expect Sony to get very far, given the amount of "reasonable doubt" that exists and their almost complete lack of documentary evidence.

"They" tried this with tape recorders, VCRs, D.A.T (remember when that was the competing format to CDs? CDs won the battle because no one believed a home-recordable CD would ever be possible), and who knows what else. Perhaps this latest attempt will be the beginning of the end for the mp3 controversy.

[Dee]

Well they hate our guts up here in Canada, I'm sure of that. This is an old article and the jury is still out, I believe.

Canada Deems P2P Downloading Legal

By John Borland

Story last modified Fri Dec 12, 2003

Downloading copyrighted music from peer-to-peer networks is legal in Canada, although uploading files is not, Canadian copyright regulators said in a ruling released Friday.

In the same decision, the Copyright Board of Canada imposed a government fee of as much as $25 on iPod-like MP3 players, putting the devices in the same category as audio tapes and blank CDs. The money collected from levies on "recording mediums" goes into a fund to pay musicians and songwriters for revenues lost from consumers' personal copying. Manufacturers are responsible for paying the fees and often pass the cost on to consumers.

The peer-to-peer component of the decision was prompted by questions from consumer and entertainment groups about ambiguous elements of Canadian law. Previously, most analysts had said uploading was illegal but that downloading for personal use might be allowed.

"As far as computer hard drives are concerned, we say that for the time being, it is still legal," said Claude Majeau, secretary general of the Copyright Board.

The decision is likely to ruffle feathers on many sides, from consumer-electronics sellers worried about declining sales to international entertainment companies worried about the spread of peer-to-peer networks.

Copyright holder groups such as the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA) had already been critical of Canada's copyright laws, in large part because the country has not instituted provisions similar to those found in the U.S. Digital Millennium Copyright Act. One portion of that law makes it illegal to break, or to distribute tools for breaking, digital copy protection mechanisms, such as the technology used to protect DVDs from piracy.

A lawyer for the Canadian record industry's trade association said the group still believed downloading was illegal, despite the decision.

"Our position is that under Canadian law, downloading is also prohibited," said Richard Pfohl, general counsel for the Canadian Recording Industry Association. "This is the opinion of the Copyright Board, but Canadian courts will decide this issue."

In its decision Friday, the Copyright Board said uploading or distributing copyrighted works online appeared to be prohibited under current Canadian law.

However, the country's copyright law does allow making a copy for personal use and does not address the source of that copy or whether the original has to be an authorized or noninfringing version, the board said.

Under those laws, certain media are designated as appropriate for making personal copies of music, and producers pay a per-unit fee into a pool designed to compensate musicians and songwriters. Most audio tapes and CDs, and now MP3 players, are included in that category. Other mediums, such as DVDs, are not deemed appropriate for personal copying.

http://www.news.com/Canada-deems-P2P-downloading-legal/2100-1025_3-5121479.html

[AceOn6]

Well, the RIAA is made up of companies who did NOT even notice the digital revolution until it was too late. Lets see... We have business model 1 where the customer stumbles across a song they like on the radio, then drives to a brick and mortar store to buy a CD of 12 songs that contains the one they want. Now we have business model 2 where the music flows directly to the customer on demand. Helllllllooooooo.

[DaveM]

The woman in Duluth was nailed in a complete finding for the plaintiff (Duluth....sigh). Hopefully she's got enough money to appeal--they assessed damages of over $200,000.

Yet another reason to move to Canada.

[RedjackRyan]

Feh, i was hoping for a longshot... I'm sure she will appeal and i wish her luck.

[Dee]

Yet another reason to move to Canada.

As the article I posted makes clear, she would have been nailed here too. It is only legal to download in Canada. Uploading or sharing (as she did) songs via P2P is the illegal part. In any case, this $220,000 judgement is asinine. A blatant scare tactic.

[aabram]

I just wish they'd share the drugs they're taking :p

Aaaahhhh.......so THAT'S why they want to hammer innocent citizens for.... :p :D :eek:

[Dee]

The Canadian Recording Industry Association this week quietly filed documents in the Federal Court of Appeal that will likely shock many in the industry.

The CRIA, which spent more than 15 years lobbying for the creation of the private copying levy, is now fighting to eliminate the application of the levy on the Apple iPod since it believes that the Copyright Board of Canada’s recent decision to allow a proposed tariff on iPods to proceed “broadens the scope of the private copying exception to avoid making illegal file sharers liable for infringement.”

Given that CRIA’s members collect millions from the private copying levy, the decision to oppose its expansion may come as a surprise.

Yet the move reflects a reality that CRIA has previously been loath to acknowledge - the Copyright Board has developed jurisprudence that provides a strong argument that downloading music on peer-to-peer networks is lawful in Canada. Indeed, CRIA President Graham Henderson provides a roadmap for the argument in his affidavit:

“First, the Board has stated, in obiter dicta, on several occasions that the Private Copying regime legalizes copying for the private use of the person making the copy, regardless of whether the source is non-infringing or not. Therefore, according to the Board, downloading an infringing track from the Internet is not infringing, as long as the downloaded copy is made onto an ‘audio recording medium’…

Second, also in obiter dicta, the Board stated that the private copying exception in Section 80 is not conditioned on the existence of a tariff to collect royalties covering the medium onto which copies are made.

Third, in combination with the aforementioned obiter dicta in the Board’s other decisions, the Decision [the iPod decision] could potentially be interpreted to allow the copying of music files from any source - whether legitimate or illegitimate - onto any type of device ordinarily used by individuals to copy music, such as personal computers…”

http://www.p2pnet.net/story/13327

[DaveM]

Sigh. Guess it'll have to be Belize, then. Either that or people need to start sitting on street corners with laptops and iPods and holding "Rip-Ins".