Supreme Court Takes Hard Look at P2P

Patrick Mannion writes "Supreme Court justices quizzed attorneys for file-swapping software companies and Hollywood studios Tuesday, in a case that will help determine the future of both the technology and entertainment industries. In their questions, the justices were critical of the entertainment industry's proposal, which would hold companies "predominantly" supported by piracy liable for copyright infringement. However, they showed little sympathy for the file-swapping companies' business model."

Supreme Court Takes Hard Look At P2P...

[ElVaquero]

...finds it delicious!

Supreme court takes hard look at P2P

[Winckle]

P2P says "what are you staring at?"

Actual Court Transcript

[superpulpsicle]

RIAA: We are getting screwed.

Supreme Court: How?

RIAA: They are giving our product away.

Techie: I got a one line perl script p2p software.

RIAA: Arrest that thief.

Supreme Court: We'll just rule out that script as illegal and take it off the market.

Techie: Sure.

RIAA: WTF, he's got like 20 scripts in 20 languages.

Justices

[Excen]

I'm honestly surprised that the Supreme Court Justices even know what a computer is. Then again, I suppose they have to get their porno some way, now that the Meece commission is no longer in business.

Thank God there's UseNet

[almound]

Don't tell the Supremes about it, OK?

Re:More proof the Supremes work for Business

[rholliday]

Last I checked the Supremes worked for Diana Ross, and they were kind of pissed about it.

Re:More proof the Supremes work for Business

[bonch]

More proof that you, enforcer999, are working not for small business, but big business. Sigh.

Re:More proof the Supremes work for Business

[hey!]

Yeah, but the Temptations are on the side of the little guy.

Re:What /. pirates don't want you to know

[Anonymous Coward]

Don Henley, Sheryl Crow, the Dixie Chicks and other musicians are backing the major recording labels, saying their livelihoods are threatened if millions of people can obtain their songs for nothing.

And that's a bad thing because...?

Several questions . . .

[mmell]

First -- what do RIAA and MPPA plan to do about individual coders who are working all the time on P2P programs such as LimeWire? After all, it seems that the "powers that be" are trying to uninvent P2P file sharing -- rather like the U.S. trying to stuff the nuclear genie back in the bottle after bombing Hiroshima and Nagasaki.

Second -- when will RIAA and MPPA go after the DVD and CD manufacturers for creating a digital medium with little-to-no effective protection against copying? After all, it seems to me that unencoded audio CD's and CSS encoded DVD's (being readily copied in both cases) are technologies which foster and encourage illegal copying.

And let's not forget television and radio broadcasters, who's offerings can be recorded and re-disseminated without any technical work on the part of the end-user (consumer?). Are they responsible for all of the (VHS,BetaMax) pirated content which they helped create? I still have the first three season's of Star Trek TNG on VHS (shredding tapes now to stave off assault by MPAA).

Re:What /. pirates don't want you to know

[Anonymous Coward]

Thank you for opening my eyes. The millions of RIAA adds painting me, my friends, and pretty much everyone I know as thieves and terrorists did not effect me. But pointing out that Don Henley doesn't want me to download his music really awakened my sense of civic duty to protect these poor artists.

Or in /. speak:
I for one welcome our RIAA-brainwashed overlords.

Tough time.

[Patrick Mannion]

I think the celebrities will have a tough time flying back and forth between the Micheal Jackson trial and the P2P hearing. I wonder which matters most to them.

Re:More proof the Supremes work for Business

[enforcer999]

Oh. I am a little sensitive about the subject. I am sure you could not tell. ;-)

Re:Actual Court Transcript

[sapped]

Techie: I got a one line perl script p2p software.

RIAA: Arrest that thief.

Finally! perl coders being treated the way they should have a long time ago.

Re:Went to the supreme court this morning

[nullforce]

Were they publicly performing copyrighted works? Did they have permission to do so?