RIAA: No need to force ISPs by law to monitor piracy

WASHINGTON--It's no secret that Recording Industry Association of America President Cary Sherman despises piracy, and he's a vocal fan of proposed laws that would beef up penalties for copyright infringers.

But here's one area where he says the government need not intervene at this point: forcing Internet service providers to be more proactive in curbing pirated content on their networks.

"I don't think anyone here is trying to relegislate this issue," Sherman, said at an Internet policy conference here on Wednesday. "We're much more interested in finding a marketplace way of going about this."

By "relegislate," Sherman was referring to the 1998 Digital Millennium Copyright Act, which contains a section that generally lets service providers off the hook for copyright infringement on their networks, provided that they take down offending material when it's called to their attention.

Sherman revealed those leanings in response to a question from an audience member, who wanted to know how the record industry chief felt about recent statements by U2 manager Paul McGuinness.

McGuinness suggested that Internet service providers need to be taking more proactive steps to keep copyright-infringing content from being swapped on their networks and that the days of legal "safe harbours" restricting such responsibilities, such as the one provided by the DMCA, are over.

"Paul is European, and in Europe there has been much more of a regulatory approach to these issues," Sherman said of the longtime rock band manager.

Sherman did, however, say he was encouraged to see that some companies, such as AT&T, are already experimenting with network filters. But those are business decisions best made outside the framework of regulation, he said. (Verizon, for its part, said Wednesday that it opposes installing such technology.)

Gigi Sohn, president of the consumer advocacy group Public Knowledge, attacked Sherman's praise for automatic filtering systems. She argued they're prone to blocking legal content, stunting fair use of copyrighted material, and being foiled by determined pirates who decide to encrypt their wares.

Sherman said he and the music industry as a whole strongly support fair use but warned, "Let's not let that be the excuse that stops the development of technology that can be beneficial in the long run."

[protagonistic]

RE: RIAA: NO NEED TO FORCE ISPS BY LAW TO MONITOR PIRACY

Personally, I hope the RIAA and the MPAA get what
they really want here, namely the ISP's looking
for pirated content. Metaphorically speaking I
would love to see them shoot themselves in the
foot.

Force the people pirating your content into using
PGP/GPG so you won't be able to tell what is
being traded. Now wouldn't that be ironic. Those
organizations have no clue to the fact that they
are the problem here.

[maverick_nick]

Yeah, but...

...these business execs have no technical knowledge what so ever. They don't understand that there's no way filters of any kind can't detect masked content. The problem is they'll end up blaming tech companies for not being able to fulfil their ridiculous requests.

I think what they'll really be doing is stopping legals sales of music online and then driving music and movie piracy so deep underground that legislation will never be able to pick up on it. Essentially they'll be screwing themselves.

Look I'm all for anti piracy, but if these boneheads go about it in this way then they're on their own.

[Jim Hubbard]

More laws = more oversight....

...and who wants *that*? Certainly not the RIAA - who just recently revealed that their figures on actual piracy were less than accurate.

No. The RIAA can do more snooping, fear mongering and damage when legislators don't restrict them or force them to reveal their methods.

Don't be fooled. The RIAA is no bastion of pubic's right to privacy or of businesses' not being tools of Big Brother (like the banking industry - who must now watch for and deny any monetary transactions involving online gambling between consenting adults).

And, I rather like the idea that Big Brother has not been asked to step in. Now we can see who is better at keeping technology free - the people.

[sismoc]

Let's Change Copyright Law To Be 7 Years...

I think that life of the author plus 70 years is outrageous! Lets reduce copyright to 7 years. That will cause the number of illegal downloads will drop like a rock!!

Imagine, all the music, films, and books created before the year 2001 in the public domain. That would allow all of us to enjoy our cultural heritage.

[NDK Creative Artist]

Why is life + 70 outrageous?

@sismoc: A couple of questions:

1. Why do you think it's outrageous?

2. If it takes authors more than a decade to develop the market what effect will that have on a work and the author's right to enjoy it?

3. Are you an author of original intellectual property?

[mikele11111]

Of course!

Why should they need a law to force them to look for it when they have already bought all of them off along with Congress?

[aka_tripleB]

This is what the pirates should do

They should route the traffic through U2 manager Paul McGuinnes' and any other RIAA/MPAA overlord's network so if any ISP is forced to shut their network down as well, effectively shutting down their businesses as well.