Wednesday, April 30, 2003
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Record Industry Will Send Warnings to Millions of Users of 2 File-Sharing ServicesBy SCOTT CARLSON
The Recording Industry Association of America will begin sending warning messages directly to millions of users of popular file-sharing programs, association officials announced on Tuesday. The messages will be a new component in what the association refers to as an "educational effort" aimed at stopping illegal trading of copyrighted music files. The recording-industry association will use a program that scans databases of material that individuals make available through two popular file-sharing services, KaZaA and Grokster. The program will look for names of artists and titles of popular songs, and then use the built-in instant-messaging features of KaZaA and Grokster to fire off warnings. "It appears that you are offering copyrighted music to others from your computer," says the message the association will send. "Distributing or downloading copyrighted music on the Internet without permission from the copyright owner is ILLEGAL. It hurts songwriters who create and musicians who perform the music you love, and all the other people who bring you music." The message also reminds file sharers that they can be identified and prosecuted or sued. The recording industry says it will send out more than a million such messages every week. College students, as heavy users of file-sharing programs, could receive many of the warnings. On many campuses, students are already subject to college-sponsored educational programs that discourage illegal file sharing. Cary H. Sherman, the president of the recording-industry association, says the new campaign is not aimed specifically at college students, but could complement educational programs at many universities. "Even to college students, who have been educated on this, it's a different thing when you get a message on your screen that says, Hey, we know who you are and that you're engaging in this activity," he says. "People feel invincible when they are doing this in the privacy of their dorm room. But, in fact, it is very public. This message is a way to remind them of that." Although the warning message highlights the legal risks of file sharing, and comes soon after the industry sued four students for operating file-sharing systems in their campuses, Mr. Sherman says the new program is not a precursor to more lawsuits. The screen names of those who get warnings will be saved in a database, but those names are often aliases and not useful for prosecution, he says. "We have no use for those in law enforcement," he says. "This is not an evidentiary thing. This is just an educational outreach."
Text of the association's copyright-infringement warning: It appears that you are offering copyrighted music to others from your computer. Distributing or downloading copyrighted music on the Internet without permission from the copyright owner is ILLEGAL. It hurts songwriters who create and musicians who perform the music you love, and all the other people who bring you music. When you break the law, you risk legal penalties. There is a simple way to avoid that risk: DON'T STEAL MUSIC, either by offering it to others to copy or downloading it on a "file-sharing" system like this. When you offer music on these systems, you are not anonymous and you can easily be identified. You also may have unlocked and exposed your computer and your private files to anyone on the Internet. Don't take these chances. Disable the share feature or uninstall your "file-sharing" software. For more information on how, go to http://www.musicunited.net/5_takeoff.html. This warning comes from artists, songwriters, musicians, music publishers, record labels and hundreds of thousands of people who work at creating and distributing the music you enjoy. We are unable to receive direct replies to this message. For more information about this Copyright Warning, go to http://www.musicunited.net.
Background articles from The Chronicle:
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 Scholarly debate over guns and crime rekindles as states debate legalization VMI's daily prayer violates U.S. Constitution, federal appeals court rules National Academy of Sciences elects record number of women members Education Management Corp. will buy South University's 4 campuses for $50-million Non-tenure-track faculty members vote to unionize at U. of Michigan Cornell U. receives $50-million gift for its medical school Former president of community college in Iowa pleads guilty to drug charges Record industry will send warnings to millions of users of 2 file-sharing services |
Copyright © 2003 by The Chronicle of Higher Education