Canadian Recording Industry Appeals File Sharing Ruling
from the of-course-they-do dept
Not much of a surprise, but the Canadian recording industry (with the movie industry playing the role of the enthusiastic partner right behind them) is appealing the ruling from earlier this year saying that ISPs don’t have to reveal the names of customers to the recording industry just because they’ve put unauthorized copyrighted material in a shareable folder. In that case, the judge pointed out that just because someone has placed a file in a shared folder, there is no evidence they actually shared the file, and, thus, the recording industry has no proof a crime was committed. The recording industry disagrees, claiming the judge misinterpreted the law. In fact, the Canadian recording industry claims that “the computer user is inviting others to copy or burn the tracks” by putting them into a shared folder. Unfortunately, this sounds eerily similar to the whole point of the INDUCE Act here in the US — where it will suddenly be a crime to tempt others to commit a crime.
Comments on “Canadian Recording Industry Appeals File Sharing Ruling”
Not to be a pain or anything...
… but I kinda see the point the music industry is trying to make here. It *is* illegal to make copies of protected works available to the public without the author’s permission, and sharing files seems to be a clear case of doing this. Wether somebody actually takes you up on the offer is legally irrelevant, no matter how we personally might feel about that. So I think the judge may have actually made a mistake in his interpretation here. Who knows…
BTW, Mike, your sponsored link under this article is trying to refer me to “Napster alternatives for $1”. I think Orrin Hatch feels you’re inducing me to download music. You are obviously a criminal, and likely a child abuser and a terrorist as well. I hope your evil site gets shut down by the righteous Hatch and his divine INDUCE Act. Because, Lord, someone must think of the children!!
😉