Kazaa trouble

Single mother Heather McGough from California, 12 year old Brianna LaHara from New York, a 71-year-old grandfather from Texas and a Yale University photography professor are all music lovers. They are among the millions of people who download music off the internet for free using services such as Kazaa and Grokster ltd.

But they are also included among the 261 people that were all sued on September 8 alone by the RIAA for up to $150,000 per copyrighted song downloaded on their computer.

The Threat and Its History

The Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA) which represents music companies and the Motion Picture Association of America (MPAA), which represents movie studios, have recently launched a campaign to identify and sue file sharers in hopes of discouraging further downloading. According to the RIAA's 2002 Yearend Statistics data, CD sales from 2001 to 2002 were down 7.8%. The RIAA attributes this decline in sales to people who download music for free.

Under current law, copyright holders can subpoena the records of Internet service providers and force them to disclose the names and addresses of their customers who have visited file-sharing sites like Kazaa. Once the RIAA knows the identity of a Kazaa user, they can bring legal action and sue them for steep fines.

Blair's Reaction

Music consumers differ on the ethics of file-sharing. Junior Cary Retterer has never been a part of the file-sharing craze because he feels that it is theft. "It's stealing music and it's stealing the source of income of musicians," Retterer said.

But other consumers, such as information technology consultant and avid file swapper junior Robin Weiss, find the RIAA's tactics unreasonable. "Doesn't anyone else think it's absurd that the RIAA has become the first company in history to sue people for not buying their product?" Weiss said.

Despite the threat of legal action, many Blair students continue to file-share because CDs are expensive. "Everyone out there downloads," said senior Matthew Everhart.

A recent informal poll of 100 Blazers found that the majority of students support this view. About 83% of the students interviewed download using free services such as Kazaa. Of these people, about 73% knew about the potential penalties for copyright violations and continue to download in spite of them. "I'm not that worried," said freshman Gabe Barouh. "They're not going to go knocking on doors for 100 [downloaded] songs. I think people are just being really paranoid about it."

For some Blair students the threat has been enough to discourage them from further file swapping. "I'd rather spend twenty bucks [on a CD] and get a couple songs than spend a $1000 dollar fine for each song," said junior Robert Duncan. "I just don't feel like taking the chance because it's not worth it."

Ways to Protect Yourself

Some Internet users have begun to take measures to protect themselves from legal action by the RIAA. "There are anonymizer services that can anonymize [your computer]," says computer expert Mark Falsone. "It's probably the only real way to protect yourself on public file-sharing networks." "Anonymizers" are Internet access providers who aggregate traffic from individual users and channel it to the Internet but do not follow the usual practices for keeping track of which traffic belongs to which user. This makes it impossible to associate visits to particular web sites, such as Kazaa, with particular users. These services can be purchased.

According to Falsone, other users are capitalizing on the emergence of wireless internet service or "WiFi" technology to hide their identify. So-called WiFi "hot spots" are locations where anyone with a wireless card in their computer can access the internet. Because the wireless network comes through a central computer in the hotspot, downloaded material can only be traced as far as the hotspot, not to the users' individual computers.

Of course, the best way to make sure that you are not at risk is to simply pay for what you download. There are many new services that sell music for downloading, such as Apple's iTunes Music Store where users can pay 99 cents per song to download without violating any copyright law.

The RIAA has also provided another guaranteed way to avoid getting sued. In response to a number of file sharers expressing concern over their actions, the RIAA has decided not to pursue users who step forward and start fresh by signing a declaration promising to delete all files that they have downloaded illegally and swearing to never illegally download again. For more information on how to apply to sign the declaration click here.

File-sharing is a new phenomenon with the potential to force the music and movie industries to re-think their whole business approach. Or not. When cassette recorders and VCRs were first developed and sold to consumers, the music and movie industry insisted that the new technologies would drive them out of business and therefore should be outlawed or regulated. But people kept on paying for music and movies even after they bought cassette recorders and VCRs. Whether the same will be true for file-sharing, or whether the music and movie industry will use the courts and their political muscle to crush file-sharing in its infancy, remains to be seen.

For more information, visit the following sites

Check here to see if your username or IP address is on one of the subpoenas filed with the D.C. District Court.

Click here for more excellent advice at "How Not To Get Sued By The RIAA For File-Sharing (And Other Ideas to Avoid Being Treated Like a Criminal)"

For more, and updated information on the issue
www.news.com
www.eff.org
http://www.subpoenadefense.org/

For ways to get involved on the issue
www.publicknowledge.org
www.publiccitizen.org