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Colleges fret RIAA push for state anti-P2P laws

The entertainment industry's controversial efforts to get universities to be more proactive about policing peer-to-peer piracy have begun to spread from Capitol Hill to the states.

Earlier this year, the U.S. House of Representatives approved a Hollywood-backed proposal buried in a higher education reauthorization bill that would require universities receiving federal financial aid funding to devise plans for "alternative" offerings to unlawful downloading--such as subscription-based services--or "technology-based deterrents to prevent such illegal activity."

That otherwise wide-ranging bill won't become law until House and Senate politicians agree upon a compromise version. Meanwhile, the debate … Read more

Former RIAA chief advising Project Playlist

SAN FRANCISCO--Jeremy Riney, CEO and founder of Project Playlist is optimistic he will eventually license music from the big four record companies.

He continues to harbor these hopes even after three of the four largest music labels filed a copyright lawsuit against his company last month, he said at the MusicTech Summit on Thursday.

What may be helping Riney keep his cool is that he has hired Jay Berman, the former CEO of the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA) to help shepherd Project Playlist past copyright issues, according to a source close to the company.

Berman is co-founder of … Read more

Decider 1, RIAA 0

Hand it to "The Decider" for nailing it.

"The model of the future is what Trent Reznor is doing today. What that means for the RIAA and its members is that it renders them obsolete."

His is the second TalkBack post commenting on our story about an executive from the Recording Industry Association of America predicting that digital rights management is set for a comeback. David Hughes, who heads up the RIAA's technology unit, argued that because "any form of subscription service or limited play-per-view or advertising offer still requires DRM" then it … Read more

DRM: it's like those zombie movies

You know those movies where you think they've killed the last zombie and then the hero turns a corner and here comes a whole new crop of them sprung fresh from the graveyard? That's how it feels with DRM in the last couple of days. First, the New York Times' Bits blog leads with a questionable assertion from an NBC exec that Microsoft is considering building some sort of content-filtering into the Zune which would block transfer of non-approved video. (I know, this isn't quite the same as DRM, but bear with me.) Then RIAA exec David Hughes claims … Read more

RIAA: DRM not dead and likely will make comeback

LOS ANGELES--News of DRM's death has been greatly exaggerated, according to an executive with the Recording Industry Association of America.

At a time when the top recording companies appear to be phasing out digital rights management (DRM), the RIAA is predicting that the highly controversial software will make a comeback.

"(Recently) I made a list of the 22 ways to sell music, and 20 of them still require DRM," said David Hughes, who heads up the RIAA's technology unit, during a panel discussion at the Digital Hollywood conference. "Any form of subscription service or limited … Read more

RIAA: Don't let Net neutrality hurt piracy fight

WASHINGTON--The Recording Industry Association of America's chief voiced skepticism on Tuesday about the need for Net neutrality rules, but warned that the government may need to step in if Internet service providers don't become more proactive in fighting digital piracy.

The House of Representatives subcommittee hearing was further evidence that the now years-old debate over Net neutrality is taking on a new dimension, in which concerns about Internet piracy are entering the debate. Net neutrality, of course, refers to the idea that network operators should be barred from discriminating against or prioritizing Internet content that travels on their … Read more

Buzz Out Loud 714: Dr. M for mayor

Somehow, Dr. M has proven himself so diabolically clever that we kind of love him. In other news, will the next iPhone be unlocked, sell for $199 with AT&T contract, cure malaria, wash your dishes, and defeat Kasparov? It will if you believe the rumors. We like to believe them. It's a happy fantasy world. Also, Wikipedia is broken. Where have you heard that before? Oh, yeah. Here. Listen now: Download today's podcast EPISODE 714

AT&T to sell iPhone at a discount? http://techland.blogs.fortune.cnn.com/2008/04/29/ att-to-cut-the-price-of-apples-new-iphone/ http://www.news.com/8301-13579_3-9931806-37.html … Read more

Court rejects RIAA's 'making available' piracy argument

The recording industry's music piracy fight was dealt a setback Tuesday when a federal judge rejected the RIAA's "making available" argument in a lawsuit against a husband and wife accused of copyright infringement.

In Atlantic v. Howell, Judge Neil V. Wake denied the labels' motion for summary judgment in a 17-page decision (PDF), allowing the suit to proceed to trial. The argument--that merely the act of making music files available for download constituted copyright infringement--has been the basis for the Recording Industry Association of America's legal battle against online music piracy.

The RIAA sued husband … Read more

Sony BMG in talks with Project Playlist, bucks other labels

Kudos to Silicon Alley Insider for answering the question about why Sony BMG was not among the major record labels filing a copyright lawsuit against Project Playlist.

Hilary Lewis at SAI reported that Sony BMG is in negotiations with the music start-up.

On Monday, the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA) claimed in documents filed in New York that Project Playlist makes it easier for users to find unauthorized reproductions. The company provides an embeddable music player used at MySpace and Facebook and claims not to infringe on intellectual property rights because it doesn't host any music files on … Read more

RIAA files copyright suit against Project Playlist

The recording industry filed a lawsuit on Monday alleging that Project Playlist, a company that provides an embeddable music player used at MySpace and Facebook, has violated its copyright.

According to a copy of the complaint obtained by CNET News.com, the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA) filed suit on behalf of nine record labels and accuses Project Playlist of making unauthorized reproductions of their music.

"Project Playlist performs and reproduces plaintiffs' valuable works (and induces and enables others to do so) without any authorization whatsoever," the RIAA said in its complaint, "without paying any compensation … Read more