Files brief with FCC asking it not to adopt strict net neutrality rules that would prevent ISPs from having the “flexibility” to implement anti-piracy measures to deter illegal file-sharing.
Late last week the RIAA filed comments on proposed net neutrality rules with the FCC asking that it adopt “flexible rules” so that ISPs can still “limit online theft,” and in fact wishes that the FCC would “actively encourage” their efforts to do so.
“The music industry has fully embraced the Internet as a major channel for connecting with consumers to market and provide access to our copyrighted works,” it says in an apparent bid to convince the FCC that it’s finally listening to music fans. Too bad it’s not true.
It blames illegal file-sharing for a more than 60% reduction in the workforce at the major record labels and a loss of more than $25 billion id direct revenue losses to American copyright holders. This too is not true.
Their figure always take a 1:1, one illegal download equals a lost sale, approach to their figures, contradicting repeated evidence that for creative industries like music P2P actually increases consumption.
The job losses are also partially to blame on the economic downturn and the fact that music consumers are cherry picking digital singles to purchase. Previously $20 physical album purchase have been relegated to a $1.29 treat on Apple’s iTunes.
The RIAA says that P2P is taking a “social toll,” that as “artists rosters are pared and future artists opt for other careers, digital theft has the effect of quieting countless voices we will never have the privilege to hear.”
Funny thing is that a Harvard Business School study conducted last June found that the number of albums produced since 2000 has in fact doubled!
So much for a “social toll.”
Trying to round out the bases it adds that P2P traffic “notoriously hogs bandwidth” and has an “ill effect” on the ability of others trying to “use the Internet for lawful purposes.”
Taking their statistics that P2P consumes 20% of total traffic at face value, the RIAA ignores the fact that ISPs seem to be handling the problem just fine. It also conveniently forgets the fact that the cost to increase network capacity gets cheaper by the day.
Comcast, for example, told investors last April that the equipment necessary to provide 50Mbps costs less than it had paid for the 6Mbps equipment. Even more infuriating is that it said it only costs an average $6.85 per home to DOUBLE the bandwidth capacity of an entire neighborhood. Think about how much your broadband connection costs each month and then stop to consider that your ISP is concerned over a measly seven bucks!
All of this leads to the RIAA’s central theory, that “ISPs are in a unique position to limit online theft” and should therefore be a central figure in their plans to limit illegal file-sharing.
They desperately want the FCC to “adopt rules that not only allow ISPs to address online theft, but actively encourage their efforts to do so.”
A group of critics has blasted the notion of ISPs becoming copyright cops in comments also submitted to the FCC.
“The Commission should be extraordinarily reluctant to adopt any exception that permits ISPs to block lawful activities as a side effect of efforts to block copyright infringement or unlawful conduct,” reads their submission. “After all, ISPs are poorly placed to determine whether or not transfers of content are infringing or otherwise unlawful, a task generally reserved to attorneys, courts, and law enforcement. An exception permitting overbroad mechanisms would encourage ISPs to use systems that would encourage more false positives—and thus more blocking of lawful transfers of content—than otherwise.”
Precisely. ISPs should merely be “dumb tubes,” onramps to the Internet and not turned into checkpoints where thoughts and ideas are screened by private businesses before they are allowed entrance.
Stay tuned.
jared@zeropaid.com
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It’s a really good thing we voted in such a hip President. He is as committed to net neutrality as you are.
I am a working musician, have been for 15 years. Ive been in a few bands but the one I’m a part of now has been together for 10 of those years. 6 years ago we almost broke up over stress about a “record deal” that went so sour that we, the artists, were left holding the bag. For all of the studio expenses and even some publicity work. Its very typical and thsi story is only one out of thousands Ive heard before.
Here’s the kicker. 4 years ago we decided to cut out own record and market it ourselves. No studio, no label. We did all the recording with pro-sumer computer equipment and software. We toured aggressively and marketed our music ourselves. We got the word out about us and got wide exposure to our music through our own efforts only. We’ve done really well but here’s the real point: THIS IS THE VERY FIRST TIME EVER, IN 15 YEARS OF MAKING MUSIC, THAT MYSELF AND MY BAND MATES ARE MAKING A LIVING WITHOUT WORKING SIDE JOBS TO SUBSIDIZE OUR LIFE’S PASSION.
The consumers don’t take advantage of the artist, the Recording Industry does. So go **** yourselves RIAA.
fcc to riaa you need to eat your losses (write them off),
work with the groups to make exclusive goodies that can be gotten with purchase like concert tickets.
also why should we bother with making isps copyright police when the original content the quality is so crappy.
we are not talking the small crappiness that makes audio and video philes unhappy we are talking about so crappy that customers dont want to buy.
will the madness ever stop? hey, let’s strip search every public transportation passenger!!!
surely subways and buses are facilitating the transport of pirated materials!
And how about checkpoints on freeways? there must surely be pirated material being transported on them.
i’m so tired of their drivel. i used to spend like 3 grand on iTunes a year while BT’ing maybe 6 or 7 albums I wasn’t sure I wanted to buy or not.
Now I won’t spend 1 friggin’ cent on music anymore, until they change their greed-driven fascist crusade for total control.
has there ever been an industry so open about seeing consumers as cattle on the way to the slaughterhouse as the friggin’ entertainment industry?!?
I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again. ACTA is a last resort for these criminals (AKA groups like the RIAA), they are actively trying to put in place a three strikes law sooner partially because they can’t have ACTA fast enough.
They will not stop until the internet is completely destroyed from the ground up. It’s about time we did something about it to stop the destruction of our freedoms.
The punchline is that most of the people this affects aren’t even that much into p2p. The idea of curtailing the internet is simply a fantastic way to stop dissent coupled with owning 100% of the markets related to entertainment. I would not be surprised if more artists who give away their music for free online as part of an alternative business model wind up being amongst many who are disconnected for sharing content online for free.
The RIAA doesn’t want to screen “thoughts and ideas.” It wants to stop crime. The proposed FCC rules would aid and abet criminals.
Folks, ignore Brett Glass. He is a well-meaning small WISP, but instead of running his business, he trolls blogs all day looking to tear down anyone who defends net neutrality or the FCC as criminals. Brett blocks legal P2P on his network, instead of legally managing his network. He makes his money off of selling access to the public internet provided over free public airwaves, but abuses the public trust in return.
Brett, get back to work. Spend less time on blogs and more time managing your network.
Brett Glass, if the RIAA dont want to ‘screen thoughts and ideas’ why do they specialise in copyrighting thoughts and ideas??
Go LOBBY my congressman you sneaky ‘agent of influence’
lisbon treaty anyone?
remember that?
‘it wont work if everyone is not involved’
they had TWO referendums and ‘votes’ shoved down their necks in Ireland until they picked the ‘right’ one!
An economic hitman at least ‘earns’ his manipulation…
@Brett
read your mprmcomments. Basically, it appears you want to regulate your customers without being subjected to any regulation yourself.
See the irony?