ARIA Threatens To Sue Internet Service Providers

tymbow writes "It seems that ARIA (The Australian Record Industry Association, like the RIAA) is threatening to sue ISPs who allow the illegal download of copyrighted music. Could this lead to a situation where Australian ISPs are forced to actively censor websites and P2P protocols? What happens to legitimate P2P content like Linux distributions? It will be interesting to see where this goes."

Re:Question

[petabyte]

To that I offer two things to look at. The Great Firewall of China and the book "Code" by Lawrence Lessig.

The latter gives a very very good idea of how they could put a stop to it and things like it. Change the code. Which, incidently, various companies are doing.

Cheers.

Might as well sue the telco

[mrnick]

Most ISPs don't own their own fiber so it's just as much a farse to sue ISPs as it would be to sue the telco that does own the fiber.

Nick Powers

Re:Most people download Linux distros from website

[tepples]

Pirating recordings over the telephone wouldn't work too well. Public switched telephone networks typically run a band-pass filter, rejecting most energy outside 300-3300 Hz. Much of the "groove" (non-pitched element) of a pop recording lies outside this range.

Pirating songs over the telephone, on the other hand, might get the music publishers riled up. A dial-a-song service would need a performance license from performance rights organizations. (American performance rights organizations include BMI, ASCAP, and SESAC.)

Re:All you get

[jred]

As much as I might like the various P2P apps, I don't think you can honestly lump BitTorrent in with Kazaa & the like. I mean, most users of Kazaa (that's the only one I really use) use it to download music/video/apps that they have no legitimate right to have. I know I never use it for legitimate use (I have a weird obsession with 80's music videos).

BitTorrent is different. I'm sure it exists, but I've never seen BT used for illicit activities. I use BT to download demos & isos. Legitimate uses. I suspect most other users are the same.

If I read the article correctly, ARIA is complaining about the use of ISPs networks for illegal downloads. Not quite the same as all P2P(BT) use.

That said, I disagree with all expectations of the ISP to censor access. I think that's wrong. I am US-biased, I realize other coutries have different laws & traditions. Still, I hope all the ARIA & RIAAs go away. It's true we will only find other methods. It's always been that way, and it won't change soon.

Moving to Acronym City

[EverDense]

At a rough guess I'd say 90-95% of mp3s downloaded in Australia, are NOT Australia content.
(Yes, I am just guessing).

ARIA are SUPPOSED to work for Australian artists.
If the mp3s downloaded aren't Australian content, then ARIA are obviously just working as a sub-branch of the RIAA.

As Australia DOES NOT have a free trade agreement with the United States, could someone please tell ARIA to STFU.

Hard to monitor

[bnet41]

I did some work recently for a large off campus college housing community. We were using packet sniffers to detect blaster worms and the like. Kazaa, and programs like that have some sneaky ways of hiding themselves, the only way we found them were to look for a lot of broadcasting of packets. I don't know, it just seems like these programs find away around various measures to stop them.

Infinite loop?

[CelticWhisper]

What will likely happen is that it'll hang in court forever as arguments over legitimate uses drag out. ISPs will say that there are legitimate uses of P2P protocols, ARIA will argue that intent is still to infringe on copyright, ISPs will counter by demanding proof, ARIA will say there are differences between documented purpose and implied purpose, and it'll just go on and on. And in the end, users will simply use proxies located outside of Australia, or use encrypted transfers. Difficult to stop a ball this size once it's gotten rolling, and it looks like ARIA might be poised to find that one out the hard way.

Re:Answer, more or less.

[darkewolf]

The problem, as others in this whole article-thread may have already replied, that what happens when there is legitimate mp3 downloads?

I 'write' music. I encourage people to download my tracks and distribute them far and wide. I have thrown a few on P2P services for the sake of curiousity.

Then there are websites about learning languages and so forth. They have legitimate MP3s. Blanket blocking is very short sited.

Re:Punish the act, not the catalyst

[arb]

They aren't going to punish the copyright infringers AT ALL.

In fact they are. If you read the article, you will see that they have gone after the infringers who illegally make the music available for download. They have merely stated that they will not go after the downloaders, but the uploaders are clearly in their sights still.

Ideal solution

[darnok]

What's needed is something that ISPs can use to block Britney, Aguilera and the remainder of the dross that passes for popular music at present.

Is there a filter than can detect bimbo?

More seriously, there seems to be some sort of sensible middle ground here. If the record companies loosened the reins a bit and allowed people to download selected old stuff that's never going to sell zillions of copies again, they could provide their own P2P/download tool, their own encryption and their own tracking system. They could actually build a market around downloading free music, rather than trying to police it.

I'm quite certain there's musicians around who'd love to have their (old) music available for free download from record company sites, since it might trigger some interest in their new stuff that isn't getting airplay. For example, Duran Duran released music all through the 90s, but nobody bought it because the radio stations weren't playing it and their audience from the mid-80s had grown up. If they had the option of making a few of their old hits available for legitimate free download, they may have picked up a new audience for their newer stuff, and the record companies may have found a nice earner in enhanced sales of their new music.

At the very least, if they tracked stats on downloads from their own sites, they'd be able to work out which artists are ready for their next greatest hits compilation, how to pair up old artists for comeback tours, and so on.

Possibly trivial but useful observation

[programmeratarms]

In the hypothetical "worst case" scenario - all currently useful P2P ports blocked, traffic monitored, suspicious packets reported to the music Gestapo - there remains the possibility of routing the traffic of a P2P network solely through encrypted email. I can hardly envision POP not getting on the allowed protocol list. The limitation on bandwidth would be horrific, especially if hard-core censorship of the net leads to steganography becoming a must.

I suspect that in places such as Australia, where there is no legal protection of the right to use strong encryption, steganography may become an absolute necessity. Let them try to prove that the Bible passage has an MP3 encoded by means of whitespace variation, or that the photo of your dog you just sent is hiding a few kilobytes of the latest film.

The fundamental problem is then designing a medium of steganographic transmission that defies analysis by determined Polizei. If the stream of "contraband" packets becomes mathematically indistinguishable from the flow of "innocent" packets, even the most corrupt politician would have no choice but to relieve ISPs of the responsibility of trying to distinguish them - lest the nation lose its connectivity entirely, for the lack of censorship-specific supercomputing iron at most ISP facilities. Of course, this is rather fanciful speculation; other, possibly more extravagant things (i.e. nationwide covert P2P wireless) have been proposed. It just seems to me that steganography is a rarely discussed subject when methods of resisting hardcore censorship are discussed - which is a shame, because it may well become necessary - sooner than expected.

Re:Informative My Arse!

[Ronny Cook]

The Australian Performing Rights Association - which administers collection of fees for public performance of music - seem to have a rather different view to ARIA: Music industry professionals agree: change private copying laws [apra.com.au].

Briefly, they suggest that the floodgates are open, that the rush to restrict music distribution is a lost cause, and that the way to go at this point is to collect a levy on blank CDs.

While I'm not sure I agree on the last point, it's nice to hear from somebody in the music industry with a fairly firm grip on reality.

...Ronny

Canadian equivalent

[CanadaDave]

Is there a Canadian equivalent of the RIAA as well? Should I stop downloading off Kazaa? Actually I think in Canada I am allowed to download, as long as I don't share. Haha, suckers!