Well we knew it was coming sooner or later. Earlier this week, the Canadian legal system declared downloading copyrighted files off the Internet via P2P a legal right. Apparently, they failed to grasp the concept that in order to download a file someone has to upload the content to that law obiding citizen, because that was deemed illegal. So the action was much to do about nothing. All it really did was give the Canadian branch of the RIAA, aptly known as CRIA or the Canadian Recording Industry Association, a starting block for a legal campaign.
According to the Tuesday edition of the Canada's National Post, who were citing unidentified sources, they stated that the CRIA was planning to take legal action against music uploaders.
A CRIA spokeswoman declined to comment on the piece. Instead, she pointed to a press release issued on Dec. 4, a day after the RIAA issued 41 lawsuits against individuals in the United States, that offered bold comments about the CRIA's stance on file sharing. "CRIA has invested in excess of one million dollars to date in an effort to educate young people on the issues of Internet piracy and we will continue to do so," Roberts said in the release. "For the hardcore group, however, it appears that education has and will not make any impression. They are killing the music they profess to love. They should be aware that they may face legal consequences for their actions." |
Here is a snippet from the CRIA website Internet Piracy page: "CRIA is participating in a global response to internet piracy that is orchestrated by the International Federation of the Phonographic Industry (IFPI) along with the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA). High tech automated web crawlers search for sites on the internet where unauthorized copies are available for down loading and identify the location and site operator or service provider. CRIA takes action to secure evidence of infringement of copyright in sound recordings offered on the identified sites in Canada. Notification in writing is sent to the website operators, service providers or both, informing them of the infringing copies of sound recordings on the music files of the sites they host and the legal implications if they do not voluntarily cease and desist offering the infringing copies on these sites."
They must mean "available for uploading" now that downloading is legal. Any of our members that are living up there in Canada you are welcome to discuss these developments in our Music Download, P2P and Legal Issues Forums.
Source: ZDNet
