Copyleft: the magazine

Ars Technica has written a couple of scathing articles over the last week on SoundExchange’s attempts to force digital rights management on small Internet radio broadcasters in exchange for capping the exorbitant royalty fees the Copyright Royalty Board has ordered them to pay over the next three years. This is certainly a move the music industry would love, as it would help eliminate the ability for many listeners to rip music from the audio streams. Of course, the old fashioned way of exercising one’s rights under the Audio Home Recording Act of 1992, a simple male-to-male audio cable from one’s headphone port to the mic port, still sounds like a viable option.

The basic principle of what SoundExchange is allegedly trying to do would set a dangerous precedent. The music industry has not been able to force the government to mandate DRM for Internet radio, so instead it has turned to “leveraging” royalty fees that, if enacted, would put most small operators out of business. That was the point of the Day of Silence in the first place. However, it seems clear that the music industry is desperate to find some way of regaining control of its product (which is, we might like to add, not technically owned by anyone as it is part of culture) and will destroy the only very medium that could save it from its own failed business model just to prove that it is right.

(from Ars Technica)

According to Ars Technica, Judge Lorenzo Garcia of the US District Court of New Mexico has denied the RIAA’s request for discovery against 16 unnamed individuals using the U of New Mexico’s networks to allegedly infringe copyrights. Judge Garcia noted that the RIAA could not prove “irreparable harm” if it was not able to subpoena the University for the John or Jane Does’ identities, then, presumably, send them a nasty-gram demanding money or threaten to sue. Given that people are counter-suing the RIAA for extortion at this point and the music industry group is, at this point, one of the most hated organizations in the country (we’re sure that the Nazis are at least slightly more despised, but we sadly have no statistics to confirm that gut feeling). While this particular case’s direct reprecussions are confined to New Mexico, it sets a strong precedent that (1) the music industry is not suffering irreparable harm from supposed copyright infringements and (2) fighting back against the RIAA’s tactics can be successful. Gives us a little more faith in the judicial system. Just a little.

(via Ars Technica)