sidz used our news submit to tell us about this mind boggling situation Down Under. Apparently, Stephen Cooper ran a song-sharing website from his home in Bellbowrie, in Brisbane"s west, that attracted 190 million visitors a year! At first, it was just a hobby whilst he looked for gainful employment in the "computer industry". Near the end, authorities figure he was pulling down 64 thousand dollars a month. Well, that ought to tide him over until he can find a real job.
He better have saved some of that dough, as now is he has been named in a civil lawsuit, one that has the potential of being worth some 500 million dollars. Of course, Mr. Cooper says he didn't know he was doing anything wrong and quickly shut down his site. But, not quickly enough according to documentation from the ARIA.
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It will precede another ARIA-brought case against Kazaa, the restructured parent of pioneering Internet song "file sharer" Napster. But Mr Speck said the action against Cooper and ComCen would test the common defence that, because the downloaded songs originated from other Internet users, the websites were not breaking the law. "This is the most important Internet piracy case before the Australian courts and the result will have an impact around the world," he said. "The court's judgment will be the definitive answer to the mythology that allows people like Mr Cooper to act as if they didn't know anything was wrong. "If our claims are upheld in the court, then that can no longer be a defence." |
We need to keep an eye on this story as it will have far reaching implications. This case is important on the level of being responsible for others actions on a website or file sharing network. This is Coopers defense. He says he wasn't actually selling artists music directly, he was just "connecting people to the music".
Take a minute to read the whole story, it's a good
one. If you have a hobby, that instead of costing you money, you're making
64,000 dollars a month with advertising revenues due to 190 million
people that are visiting your site, either you are on to something good or
you're breaking the law. Let's see what the court
decides!
Source: News.com Australia
