"Facing the threat of a legal crackdown against people who swap songs online, the head of the parent of file-sharing software Morpheus on Thursday promised to launch a lobbying campaign in Congress.
Based on the continued popularity of Morpheus, Kazaa and other peer-to-peer systems, the Recording Industry Association of America on Wednesday announced it would take the unprecedented step of suing people who distribute illegal copies of songs online. Privately held StreamCast Networks distributes the Morpheus software, which a federal judge recently found does not violate copyright laws, in a ruling that marked a major legal setback to the recording industry. The skirmishing over file sharing comes as the early success of Apple Computer's iTunes online music store has suggested that legitimate services could begin to woo people away from the peer-to-peer sites, which the record industry blames for three years of declining CD sales. "The record industry called (peer-to-peer) users pirates, but what these people are are hundreds of millions of voters," said Michael Weiss, chief executive of Los Angeles-based StreamCast. "At the end of next month, we're going to be involved in helping to mobilize P2P users around the world and ultimately around the globe to ensure that their voices are heard." " Bunch of blasted fascist corporations, legitimising their anti-consumer business model through legislation! You know...we heard very little of the case that found the RIAA guilty of Price-Fixing! And we've yet to see clear evidence that P2P Sharing has impacted CD Sales at all! Especially when all the independent polls taken of P2P users show that, according to those polled, they still buy the CDS with music they like to listen to, and that P2P Sharing has even introduced them to new music and new artists..which they then buy. And Apple's I-Tunes had over a million downloads in less than a month (that would be songs purchased), so it proves what Non-RIAA analysts have been saying all the time. People WILL pay for music that can be downloaded, but the RIAA probably would find it difficult to FIX pricing for those songs...so they don't want to go that route yet. *grumble* *mumble* http://news.com.com/2100-1027_3-1021641.html?tag=fd_top -Gel ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~| Archives: http://www.houseoffusion.com/cf_lists/index.cfm?forumid=5 Subscription: http://www.houseoffusion.com/cf_lists/index.cfm?method=subscribe&forumid=5 Your ad could be here. Monies from ads go to support these lists and provide more resources for the community. http://www.fusionauthority.com/ads.cfm Unsubscribe: http://www.houseoffusion.com/cf_lists/unsubscribe.cfm?user=89.70.5
