xpire used our newssubmit to tell us about an article on Rollingstone.com. Again an article about MP3 trading.
Did you all also notice that there are a LOT of articles about audio copy protections and MP3 file sharing nowadays ? The article on Rollingstone gives us some in depth information on the recent 'bust' in Arizona
The news comes from Tempe, Arizona, where a Web development company called Integrated Information Systems has been hit with a $1 million penalty for allowing its employees to trade digital music files over the firm's computer network. "Wow" is right: So much for that blissful feeling of invulnerability. The bust occurred after the Recording Industry Association of America received an e-mail from someone who alerted them to the violations. Upon investigation, the RIAA discovered that Integrated Information Systems had dedicated an entire computer server specifically for the trading of MP3s -- kind of like a company fridge filled with free snacks. The RIAA threatened to sue. Rather than endure a lengthy and pricey lawsuit, Integrated Information Systems haggled the seven-figure settlement. This is the first time a company has had to pay even a nickel -- let alone a million bucks -- for facilitating music trades within its own office. |
The Arizona bust is clearly meant to send a message to corporations, large and small: Police your employees' file trades or pay big time. For years, of course, the obvious solution to digital piracy has been to bust the bootleggers themselves. Though the RIAA fined a couple students a few years ago for swapping digital tunes over a university networks, it has since pretty much dropped such pursuits; nailing every bootlegger in the world, after all, would cost a ton of money and piss a lot of consumers off. So instead, the RIAA focused on trying to bust the software development companies -- Napster, Aimster, Streamcast, etc. -- that provide the means for online trades to occur. But despite the high-profile downing of Napster, this tact has done little to stop the trades. The Arizona bust represents a new and, initially, successful strategy: Neuter the workplaces where trading occurs.
Read the entire article and opinion of the writer here.
Source: Rollingstone
