THE BATTLE is heating up between the recording industry and those who download copies of their favorite music. the Recording Industry Association of America is bringing hundreds of lawsuits nationwide against home users of peer-to-peer (P2P) software, including students at Boston College and Massachusetts Institute of Technology.
Republican Senator Orrin Hatch of Utah recently used a Senate hearing to suggest that copyright owners should be able to warn home users once or twice, and then actually destroy the computers if the apparently infringing songs were not removed.
Overlooked in the heated rhetoric has been a victim of the RIAA’s campaign – the privacy of all those who surf the Internet or send e-mail. On the RIAA view, your sensitive personal information on the Web would be available to anyone who can fill out a one-page form. Congress can and should step in to fix this problem immediately.
The problem began in late 2002, when the RIAA demanded that Verizon Online, an Internet service provider, identify one of its customers based on an accusation that the person may have violated copyright laws by swapping files.
Verizon declined, citing the threats to customer privacy, due process, and the First Amendment. Was Verizon overreacting? No.
Read the full article here.
Related Posts
- RIAA Plans New Lawsuits Soon
- Supreme Court Decides Not to Listen to the RIAA
- Lawmaker gives thumbs-up to RIAA clampdown
- RIAA turns up heat on subpoena fighter
- RIAA Quickie Subpoenas Shot Down by Judge
Loading ...
