IFPI 'First Wave' Sues 247 In Europe & Canada 304
securitas writes "AP and many others report that the International Federation of the Phonographic Industry - IFPI - has sued 247 accused file-sharers in Germany, Denmark, Italy and Canada as part of an unprecedented, coordinated attack. The IFPI represents the global recording industry through its members - national associations like the IFPIG, DRIA, FIMI, CRIA and RIAA - and says it will launch more international lawsuits in the months ahead. You may also want to read the official IFPI 'first wave' press release/related documents and a statement by the IFPI's chairman and CEO. Lots of coverage at AP/AJC, USA Today, the New York Times, Reuters/CNN Money, ZDNet/CNet, Bloomberg , netimperative and the BBC. The timing of the international legal attacks is especially interesting in light of the recent study that indicates file-sharing has a negligible impact on music sales."
Re:Someone clue me in here... (Score:5, Informative)
Re:Someone clue me in here... (Score:2, Informative)
It is illegal to distribute copyrighted materials. You Can download an mp3, you cannot share an mp3 (Distribution).
You can make a personal copy of a CD, you cannot make a copy for someone else (Distribution)
Assume that when they say they are suing file sharers, that they are after those who make the files available...
Comment removed (Score:5, Informative)
How You Can Fight Back (Score:5, Informative)
If you work to reform the copyright laws, you can make the sharing of any file legal.
Here are some steps you can take to do this:
The reason I ask you to googlebomb my article in my signature here is that I'm trying to educate the peer-to-peer network users. I attract the readers by offerring links to lots of free, legal downloads, but give them a political education while I've got their attention.
Re:How You Can Fight Back (Score:3, Informative)
Re:Ignoring a Common Cause? (Score:1, Informative)
If true, then p2p is perfectly legal there (Score:2, Informative)
So if I have a song on my hard drive (legally ripped from my own CD), and I open the door for you to come to my hard drive and download that song, I haven't uploaded anything. Therefor, under Canadian copyright law, running p2p software such as bittorrent should be completely legal. Everything is being downloaded
File sharing LEGAL in Canada (Score:2, Informative)
"On March 19, 1998, Part VIII of the (Canadian) Copyright Act dealing with private copying came into force. Until that time, copying any sound recording for almost any purpose infringed copyright, although, in practice, the prohibition was largely unenforceable. The amendment to the Act legalized copying of sound recordings of musical works onto audio recording media for the private use of the person who makes the copy (referred to as "private copying"). In addition, the amendment made provision for the imposition of a levy on blank audio recording media to compensate authors, performers and makers who own copyright in eligible sound recordings being copied for private use."
-- Copyright Board of Canada: Fact Sheet: Private Copying 1999-2000 Decision
See: http://techcentralstation.com/081803C.html