Internet file sharing service MusicCity has said that a lawsuit
brought against it by the movie and music studios has been prompted
by fear. MusicCity has won the backing of the Electronic Frontier
Foundation (EFF) in arguing that the lawsuit shows that the music
and movie industries are attempting to limit technological
innovation because they feel their business is threatened.
The EFF, a civil liberties group keen to uphold digital rights,
is acting in defence of MusicCity in the case. MusicCity’s
opponents argue that the file swapping service presents a violation
of their copyrights. The service provided by MusicCity is a
peer-to-peer, or P2P, service providing users with the software to
create their own network in order to swap files. In this way it
provides a different and more hands-off service than Napster.
The EFF says that the film and music industry, in attempting to
curb the use of MusicCity’s software, are being unreasonable in
limiting the use of a valuable technology. “This case is about the
freedom of technologists to innovate and the public’s right to
communicate,” said one of the EFF’s senior lawyers. The EFF sees
the attempt as a demonstration of the entertainment industry using
its weight to smother an innovative technology with many uses.
