From
http://www.nme.com/news/105464.htmBritish music fans could soon face the same huge lawsuits about to hit those in the US targeted for file-sharing.
Responding to the news that the RIAA (Recording Industry Association of America) planned to sue individuals who swap music over the internet, the BPI (British Phonographic Industry) admitted that "litigation can't be ruled out" for British users.
That means that thousands of NME.COM readers who regularly use the internet to burn off songs, or to listen to an album before buying it, could end up with huge fines and a criminal record.
Last week, the RIAA announced that they would gather evidence against users of 'peer-to-peer' software and file $150,000 (£90,000) lawsuits against them.
The organisation, which represents huge record companies such as Sony, Vivendi Universal, AOL Time Warner and EMI, said it will target the heaviest users.
"We're going to begin taking names and preparing lawsuits against peer-to-peer network users who are illegally making available a substantial number of music files to millions of other computer users," said RIAA President Cary Sherman.
"What is happening in America shouldn't come as a surprise," BPI Communications Manager Sarah Roberts told NME.COM. "America is further down the line in terms of legitimate services, such as the Apple application. And they are further ahead with broadband, which helps illegitimate downloads.
"But as a last resort, litigation can't be ruled out in this country."
So far, the BPI has only taken out one major suit against illegal file sharing in Britain. The organisation sued easyinternetcafe, part of easygroup, for £1million. They were charging users £5 to access songs on the internet and then burn them onto CDs. easygroup were finally ordered to pay £80,000 plus costs.
Sarah Roberts says that the BPI are more interested in education than taking punitive action.
"We have done some things in terms of education," she said. "We sent information to colleges and workplaces - common-sense stuff, really - to see if they are protecting their systems and blocking the software on their machines. We also gave information on sites that offer a legitimate service."
An estimated billion tracks are swapped online in Britain each year. And while Roberts admits it's a serious problem that needs addressing, she refuses to join those sounding the death-knell for the music industry in Britain.
"Well, you know there were sales of sheet music before there were wax cylinders before there was vinyl. The music industry exists because of technology," she said. "All the other aspects, the finding of talent etc - remain the same. It may be going through a difficult time at the moment, but the industry will adapt and survive as it always has done."
Anyone going to stop downloading AND sharing?
Will they sue sharers AND downloaders. Could it be you?
― Trever McDonald, Tuesday, 1 July 2003 10:00 (twenty-two years ago)
its impossible for them to enforce this 'law' with an appropriate degree of fairness. but the worst case scenario to me seems to be that people sharing the most files - regardless of online will be the ones who get their knuckles rapped...so if you have a 200GB hard drive and 1MB connection then you could get caught out
the alternative and more effective method would be just to target people entirely at random. but the legality of that seems too dubious for them to bank on.
they either have or will have to change the law because as it stands its illegal to UPLOAD copyright material without permission but its not illegal to DOWNLOAD it. i could be wrong there but thats how i read it last. this means p2p sharin has flourished because you dont need to upload anything - you're just making it available to other people.
― stevem (blueski), Tuesday, 1 July 2003 10:35 (twenty-two years ago)