CyberLaw Blog

Archive for May 28th, 2008

RIAA Declares Victory Over AllofMP3, Drops Lawsuit

When pressure from the World Trade Organisation (WTO) and the United States government caused the Kremlin to take down AllofMP3 in mid 2007, the RIAA must’ve been jumping for joy.

Before the shutdown, AllOfMP3 had around 6 million users who were able to download songs and albums for a tiny fraction of the price of authorized alternatives such as iTunes. The RIAA said it could not live with this situation.

In December 2006, the RIAA filed a complaint against the site, stating that AllofMP3 sold millions of tracks to the public yet gave no money back to their artists.

According to a report, on May 20th 2008 the RIAA filed papers in federal court, Manhattan, dropping its copyright infringement lawsuit against AllofMP3.

‘The site is now defunct and out of business, the result of a successful anti-piracy initiative,’ Jonathan Lamy, an RIAA spokesman told Bloomberg.

Notably, Lamy did not mention a fully operational site set up by the same people as AllofMP3, called Mp3Sparks. Different name, same tunes, no lawsuit.

AllofMP3 was blocked by a Swedish ISP back in 2006 when it got caught up in the anti-AllofMP3 hysteria but later retracted its stance.

In August 2007, AllofMP3 was acquitted in Russia of all charges that had been put forward by IFPI and on October 24th 2007, a district court in Moscow confirmed the innocent verdict.

‘They [RIAA] never correctly commenced the proceeding in the first place,’ said John Crossman, who represented the site’s owner, MediaServices LLC.

‘Maybe it was a rare triumph of good sense.’

In the meantime, dozens of similar sites operate in Russia, delivering super-cheap music to the masses in much the same way as AllofMP3 did.

Victory for the RIAA? Not quite.

This is an article from: TorrentFreak

RIAA Declares Victory Over AllofMP3, Drops Lawsuit

Privacy watchdog opposes giant telecoms database: “The Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO) has criticised proposals to build one Government-owned database to hold a log of phone calls, email and internet use in the UK. The ICO has said that the move would be unjustified.”

(Via OUT-LAW News.)

Viewpoints of the Council of Europe Commissioner for Human Rights: ‘Strong data protection rules are needed to prevent the emergence of a surveillance society’

[26/05/08] Surveillance technology is developing with breath-taking speed. This creates new instruments in the struggle against terrorism and organised crime, but also raises fundamental questions on the right to privacy for everyone. Individuals should be protected from intrusions into their private life and from the improper collecting, storing, sharing and use of data about them. Terrorism and organised crime must be combated - but not with means which undermine basic human rights.

(more…)

EU - Commission replies on Phorm: “(Cable Forum)
The ePrivacy Directive obliges Member States to ensure the confidentiality of communications and related traffic data through national legislation. In particular, they shall prohibit listening, tapping, storage or other kinds of interception or surveillance of communication and the related traffic data by persons other than the users without their consent, which must be freely given, specific and informed indication of the user’s wishes. The data concerned in this particular matter i.e. the content of search queries, constitute communication within the meaning of this Directive and the URLs used in the packets constitute traffic data. This data should therefore be protected appropriately.”

(Via QuickLinks Update.)

International copyright talks seek BitTorrent-killer laws: “

Plan to torpedo Pirate Bay-style freedom claims

A new international trade agreement could seek to strengthen criminal sanctions against BitTorrent tracker sites that claim not to profit from internet users sharing music, movies and software.…

“

(Via The Register - Public Sector.)

Human rights videos besiege the Tunisian Presidential palace

Tunisia blocked access to both popular video-sharing websites, Youtube and Dailymotion, in order to prevent Tunisian netizens from watching video content featuring testimonies from former political prisoners and human rights activists. However, and as shown in this example, Tunisian cyberactivists from Nawaat.org are successful enough in besieging Carthage presidential palace, on Google Earth, with tens of human rights videos.

(Via Global Voices Advocacy.)

The Register coverage on the UK proposals announced earlier today.

Government to outlaw cartoons of child sexual abuse:

Best get rid of those manga comics

First they came for the child pornographers… It may not have quite the same resonance as Pastor Niemuller’s oft-quoted aphorism. But the reality behind this particular slippery slope is just as sinister.

(Via The Register - Public Sector.)

Google Calls YouTube Suit a Threat to Online Communication: “Google, in a legal filing, says Viacom’s $1 billion copyright infringement lawsuit against YouTube threatens legitimate information exchange on the internet.

(Via Wired News.)

EU - ENISA asks for new legislation on social networking sites: “(IDG)
Europe’s top Internet security agency, ENISA, called for new legislation to police social networking sites such as Facebook and MySpace. ‘Social networking sites are very useful social tools but we must make recommendations for how to better protect people from the risks these sites create,’ said Andreas Pirotti, executive director of ENISA (European Network and Information Security Agency). He suggested that EU legislation be expanded ‘to cover the taking of photos of people and posting them on the internet,’ he said, adding that currently there is no need to get a person’s consent in order to post a photo of them. He also said there is a ‘crucial need’ to raise awareness about how social networking sites work. Few people realize that they can be offered up as friends to people they don’t know. Also, many people don’t realize that it’s almost impossible to erase material once it has appeared on the internet, Pirotti said.”

(Via QuickLinks Update.)

Danes Propose New, Tougher Child Porn Laws: “Danish Justice Minister Lene Espersen has proposed new laws against child pornography on the Internet, including one plan that punishes surfers for visiting a single child porn website.”

(Via XBIZ.com | News & Articles.)