Debates over the threat posed by P2P to information security in the USA were rekindled recently. The House Oversight and Government Reform Committee, chaired by Representative Henry Waxman (D-CA), offered its opinion on the dangerous new threat posed by P2P and file-sharing programs.
Mark Gorton, founder and chairman of The Lime Group (the company behind Limewire), offered testimony about the role he feels ISPs should play in preventing file sharing from occurring on their networks.
Gorton has publicly discussed the problems of copyright infringement and child pornography (amongst other issues) that are an unfortunate side-effect of P2P file sharing – and indeed problems which he and his company have taken heat for in the past. He goes so far as to suggest that ISPs should be part of an ‘enforcement mechanism’ to prevent such problems on P2P networks.
“The Internet is a technology which allows for many novel behaviors. Unfortunately, some of these new behaviors are detrimental to society. The regulatory framework that surrounds the Internet has not kept pace with technical advancements, and currently, no effective enforcement mechanisms exist to address illegal behavior on P2P networks.”
Passing the buck?
www.zeropaid.com notes in their take on the story:
“Now why Gorton would suggest that ISPs begin engaging in a hopeless and invasive attempt to monitor their customers traffic is beyond me but, I think it smacks of passing the buck and trying to make Limewire look like the innocent one in all of this.”
It will be interesting to see where this all leads. Will Limewire can their hands of any of the trouble they’re in? Will legislation finally catch up with the problems that P2P file sharing presents? With some kind government intervention now a possibility, what does the future hold? Watch this space: it’ll be interesting to find out.
P2P Downloads of video currently accounts for around 10% of file sharing, Eric Garland, CEO of web tracking firm Big Champagne, tells us in Investors.com. “More than 9 million people log on to a P2P network worldwide each day, and that grows each year despite intense efforts by the entertainment industry to shut down the ones that operate illegally” he continues. Garland’s interview continues, telling readers how difficult it will be to stop P2P networks and file sharing websites that are growing in size and use daily.
The Investors.com take on the situation is interesting: entertainment industries will not be able to halt the continued success of online file sharing, and in fact they shouldn’t try. Effort should instead be concentrated on trying to monetise the trend - “it’s just a new method of distribution” says Stan Rogow.
The number of sites distributing legal music and movies is but a drop in the ocean compared to those assisting and distributing unlicensed material. Sites and networks are claiming that since there is nothing to download or install at their web properties, there is nothing illegal about the sites. The sites provide the facilities whereby people can organise and share their data, but what they do with it is their business. “We provide links, nothing is wrong with that” claims Britain’s TV Links. TV Kalendar, a Canadian based operation, offers information on downloadable torrents, and allow users to quickly determine which TV episodes they need to download - again there is nothing in there to download, and users are quite on their own in obtaining the videos.
Maybe it’s a gray area, but one thing is clear: the entertainment industry is going to have its work cut out in silencing these type of sites; working with the P2P community may well be more profitable than trying to fight against them.
Mininova announces that it has achieved its second billionth torrent - that’s almost 7 torrents per person in the US. Even more impressive is the timescale in which the second million has been achieved: less than five months has elapsed since Mininova announced it’s first billionth torrent.
In a coy understatement, Mininova’s blog says: “this is very good news”.
It continues: “It means our site is growing exponentially: the amount of total downloads roughly doubles every half year. And more downloads means more exposure, so more content available on our website. … Of course this is not the end, if the growth keeps continuing we might be able to reach the 4 billion mark by the end of this year! Watch out, Apple iTunes …”.
The Mininova post also includes a breakdown breakdown numbers of downloads per category of content. This makes interesting reading: TV Shows take the number one spot at 40%, with music downloads only being half as popular, taking up 21%, and movies being a close third nearly 18% of the share. The table is reproduced below:
•TV Shows - 40.11%
•Music - 21.21%
•Movies - 17.89%
•Games - 6.59%
•Software - 5.61%
•Anime - 3.61%
•Books - 3.04%
•Pictures - 0.53%
This milestone announcement adds weight to the fact that the popularity in P2P file sharing - fuelled by sharing of Torrents by resources such as Mininova - is showing no signs of slowing. Whether the growth will eventually reach its critical mass and slow or stop remains to be seen, but with more and more households getting access to computers and the Internet (and there is plenty more growth potential in developing countries), it is unlikely to fizzle out any time soon.
French record companies are now legally entitled to track P2P users sharing more than 50 files within a 24 hour period, and, according to the country’s Council of State, “keep their records for further legal proceedings”.
The P2P Blog says on the subject: “The decision comes as a blow to the French National Commission for Data protection and the Liberties who rules in the fall of 2005 that automatic P2P networks violates local privacy laws”.
Does this news represent the end of heavy file sharing in France? Unlikely. French file sharers have launched 51 fichiers (51 files) in protest against the “systematic criminalisation of the Peer-to-peer networks and their users”. Those wishing to speak out against the ruling would “share at least 51 files that are freely distributable … and keep them on the P2P system until ’something happens’”.
The 51 files used should all be legally shareable and distributable, the group says. It also points out that P2P file sharing applications can easily be set to limit the number of shared files to only 49 – 1 below the legal ‘trigger level’.
The auto-monitoring would be based on a list of 10,000 files; this is a fairly limited sub-set of all the files that are shared – legally or otherwise – on the P2P networks, and industry commentators have noted that it is only the most popular files that are likely to be monitored with any diligence: “That means that, most probably, if you are fan of Johnny Halliday and that you download his music, you have more chance … than if you are fan of a dark regional group of rock’n’roll-garage”
There’s likely to be plenty more lively debate on this subject, so stay tuned.
America is reeling following a extremely important decision by a judge in New Mexico,
In a righteous and courageous move by the judge she upheld the rights of people being
Manipulated by Warner Music, EMI, Vivendi Universal and Sony BMG’s RIAA (Recording Industry Association of America).
The RIAA were attempting on using unproven copyright infringements to force unassuming individuals to purchase digital downloads, this radical move by the RIAA
was attempting to target colleges and students across America.
The new move had threatened schools across America, computer administrators were placed under tremendous pressure to force there students to abide by these new copyright
Laws.
US magistrate judge Lorenzo F. Garcia managed to look past this feeble attempt by the RIAA to force all universities in the state to place students identities in their hands.
In this radical procedure presented by the RIAA students must admit partaking in file sharing and hand over information with regard to their person, this put all students
Under severe pressure and it could lead to prosecution in the future.
Garcia is renowned for being a top class lawyer was chosen by the State Bar of New Mexico to be the state’s “outstanding lawyer”, her skill was used to aid victims of
Brutal and violent crime in the state.
Garcia ruled in the case put forward by the RIAA that universities in the state need not hand out the identities of any students. A slap on the back for the recording industry although perhaps deserved.
It is quite clear that Magistrate Judge Lorenzo F. Garcia has portrayed clear and precise judgment against this ludicrous attempt by the RIAA and has provided the entire country an example of how an individuals human rights and personal privacy must at all times be kept.
It’s nice to see the judicial system act sensibly for a change.
The members of the Big 4 Organized Music Cartel; Warner Music, EMI, Sony BMG and Vivendi Universal have a simple and a straightforward marketing strategy, which is:
Put the boot in and stomp anyone into place, if anyone, including little girls do not toe the corporate line.
This stance is causing major damage to the Big 4 already dwindling consumer bases and 99.99999% of music lovers online treat them as outcasts.
LimeWire in a statement last year, stressed that RIAA lawsuit against it was nothing more than just an element of the overall scheme, to destroy any online music distribution service they did not own or control, or force such services to do business with them on exclusive and/or other anticompetitive terms so as to limit and ultimately control the distribution and pricing of digital music, all to the detriment of consumers.
Digital Music News is of the opinion that RIAA has, hammered a string of file-sharing companies over the past eighteen months, and in each case, the group has extracted million-dollar settlements and a number of favorable concessions. The list of the conquered includes Bearshare, Kazaa, Grokster, and eDonkey, once-proud destinations that are now shadows of their former selves. The tirade has been incredibly effective, and backed by a favorable Supreme Court ruling in MGM v. Grokster.
Notwithstanding, According to February application installation figures recently published by the Digital Music News Research Group, a whopping 18.3 percent of computer desktops worldwide contain the application, a number that easily eclipses its nearest rivals.
Its ironic that RIAA (Recording Industry Association of America) is controlled by three foreign companies, EMI (Britain), Sony BMG (Japan and Germany) and Vivendi Universal (France), and Warner Music, which is the American section, is run by a Canadian.
Steve Jobs masterstroke of making the premium corporate product open to the masses through iTunes, has created ripples even with his most bitter critics, including P2Pnet.
Apple, in a deal with EMI came to an understanding that Sony BMG (Japan and Germany) and Vivendi Universal (France) follow Apple wherever it goes, where possible.
This is going to prove to be a great leap ahead that is guaranteed to reflect on the status of corporate music downloads and may prove to be just what the corporate online music scene needed.
This will enable all the major labels to use Apple. With this move, eventually, all other corporate back supported services can supply songs unfettered by the DRM (Digital Restrictions Management) consumer control, and by doing this, will be able to compete with the numerous independent sites and services.
The best part is Steve Jobs has even come up with a way to monetize from DRM’s vanishing act. The plan is for all the labels to stop pressurizing people to buy their downloads and cutting down on the their wholesale prices, allowing online retailers like Apple to charge reasonable prices.
While iTunes fans may be willing to pay a dollar for each download, this fraction of people clearly steer away from the industry standard, as most other music lovers will never ever pay that much for each download. Unfortunately, quality does not come into play here. Why would they want to pay higher when a huge new supply of original, non-formulaic music is making its appearance online.
In a Landmark case that involves a set of independent companies, LimeWire is calling for a trial by jury. These companies are the makers and marketers of P2P file sharing applications.
P2P United is a trade and lobbying organization that was founded by FreePeers (BearShare), MetaMachine (eDonkey), Manolito P2P (Blubster), and Streamcast networks (Morpheus). All of them and a few more were part of this organization, which has ultimately ended up being a post on Wikipedia.
The big names such as LimeWire, BearShare, eDibkey, Grokster, Sharman Networks Kazaa, iMesh, and several other small names like iMex, i2Hub and WinMXs, who were proud to be part of the corporate network, went down with it. Some did make a reappearance under the so-called corporate ownership.
‘If you steal music or movies, you are breaking the law. Courts around the world – including the United States Supreme Court – have ruled that businesses and individuals can be prosecuted for illegal downloading, says eDonkey on what used to be its official website.
There are still a few others that persist, like Morpheus, Blubster and Warez P2P. With the name of the game being – Crush ALL competition, current or potential.
June 26th boasted the launch of a Day of Silence imposed by internet radio broadcasters as a protest against the increase in royalty rates. Strengthening their numbers, a number of fervent supporters (including entertainment lawyer, Fred Wilhelms) have been working towards exposing the fraudulent side of the corporate music industry and its supporters.
Richard Ades, yet another over-paid spokesman for SoundExchange i.e. master spinner of un-truths, has countered the opposition with a free lesson in Imaginary Arithmetic. Retorting to the Internet Radio Day of Silence,Mr. Ades was quoted by Technology Daily as saying, “The bill on the hill would not only vacate CBR decision but would cut rates by 75 percent from what the old rate was. That’s their idea of fairness to artists? That’s an insult.” What’s really an insult is that even after spending $1 billion in administrative fees, SoundExchange can’t afford to hire an accountant (or an 8th-grade Math student) who could help them get their statistics right. Or maybe they’re just going with the “all humans are sheep” theory and hoping no one notices. Bad luck! The percentage-of-revenue royalty rate called for in H.R. 2060 is 7.5%. If Mr. Ades is correct about that being a 75% cut from the old rate, the old rate would have to be 30% (a seventy-five percent reduction from a 30% rate results in a 7.5% rate). But there’s a slight problem here: the old rate was never 30%. It was 10.9%.
So, in theory, Mr. Ades was off by a mere 275%. That’s not so bad. We can give him props for defeating John Simpson at the math game, who’s proclamations about Internet Radio having $500 million in advertising revenue were only about a 1000% off. It’s an improvement that lands a SoundExchange spokesman in nearly the same time-zone as reality. But, even with this progress, we’re about 100% tired of SoundExchange’s utter disdain for both the truth and public opinion and their disregard for the artist’s whose cause they claim to be championing.
Today’s lesson: If SoundExchange had been the organization behind the SAT back when I gave it, I’m pretty sure I could’ve landed a perfect score on the math section.
Recent updates (courtesy of p2pnet) on the DRM-free music war raging between Steve Jobs and the record-company giants reveal that Mr. Jobs is turning a blind eye towards the fact that Apple seems to have been caught operating an obviously two-faced strategy. Promoting themselves as anti-DRM on one front, and collecting user data in the new $1.30 iTunes downloads on the other can’t have been a wise decision in any way.
While iTunes users can’t do anything about the price increase, they can counter the infringement of their privacy by turning over to a new open source application that’s been built by our talented friends in France.
Dubbed Privatunes, the application was developed by the creators of Ratiatum and the innovative Matoumba news reader. The application allows iTunes users to clean their tracks, erasing the AppleID (email address) and username.
Guillaume Champeau, runner of Ratiatum claims, “We believe anyone who buys DRM-free songs online should be free to do whatever they’re legally entitled to do, including [selling it or letting] their close family or friends copy it, with no fear and no one spying over their shoulder.”
“There’s no reason to attach the name and email address of the buyer on whatever is being sold. Selling is the act of transferring a property from the owner to the buyer, and [there] should be no limit or restriction whatsoever.”
The developer further exclaims, “It’s what differentiates the so-called selling of a DRM-ed song (which is nothing other than long term rental) and the selling of a DRM-free song. It’s a question of privacy, it’s a question of seller-customer trust, [and] it’s a question of customers’ rights.”
We agree.
If you’re interested in getting a free copy of Privatunes, click here. The source code is just around the corner, and it’ll also be available on p2pnet soon.