Korean record companies got a major boost a few days ago when the association of P2P service providers decided to block the transfer of MP3 files by their customers.
P2P service providers in South Korea like Soribada and Purna had been charging 50 won, (0.0522545 USD), to download an entire album with the actual copyright holder receiving “nada,” nothing.
Though the activity was ruled illegal by South Korean courts last year, the practice apparently continued unabated as a deal between the P2P service providers and record companies could not be agreed upon. Apparently the charging price per song was the major sticking point. Though isn’t some money charged per song better than none at all? I think they must be using the same playbook as those brainiacs at the RIAA here in the United States.
An urgent meeting between 8 of the 11 P2P service providers in South Korea was recently held to address the demands of the recording industry. In the end they decided to simply halt further transfer of MP3 files by their users until a way to charge them is decided upon and the technical issues concerning a copyright protection system are solved.
“The online service companies are worried the government only listens to the copyright holders. We will request the government to take a more balanced stance on the matter,” Jun of the P2P service providers association said.
The P2P service providers have been given a June 12th deadline by the record companies to “show them the money” or else they will pursue further legal action. Considering the P2P sharing has already been deemed illegal and money collection is their only concern, maybe a group of “money collection guys,” like the ones in Mob movies are in order.
sigh South Korean filesharing programs are the only ones excluding mp3′s. Jump on a gnutella client bit torrent client or anything else and you can share mp3s.
lol you tell em shawners
Pretty soon we wont be able to tell south korea from north korea except on a map or google satelite images… Yeah i see you communist pigs. I know where you hide the nukes.