The RIAA also announced the launch of an amnesty for the less
substantial file-swapper.
Both actions had been widely anticipated following a carefully
planned RIAA summer campaign to tackle the illegal downloading of
copyrighted music over file-sharing networks such as KaZaA.
The RIAA announced in June that it would be turning its
attention to individual pirates, not just the file-sharing networks
that facilitate file swapping. Since then it has served a flood of
subpoenas under the controversial US Digital Millennium Copyright
Act (DMCA), ordering ISPs to identify targeted individuals.
A reported 1,600 file-swappers have been highlighted by
specialised software that scans the public directories available to
any user of a peer-to-peer network. These directories, which allow
users to find the material they are looking for, list all the files
that other users of the network are currently offering to
distribute. When the software finds a user who is offering to
distribute copyrighted music files, it downloads some of the
infringing files, along with the date and time it accessed the
files.
Additional information that is publicly available from these
systems allows the RIAA to then identify the user's ISP. The RIAA
can then serve a subpoena on the ISP requesting the name and
address of the individual whose account was being used to
distribute copyrighted music.
Under the DMCA, ISPs must provide copyright holders with such
information when there is reason to believe copyrights are being
infringed. The RIAA is then in a position to sue – and this week
began doing so.
The RIAA has also taken what some see as a peace offering for
alienated music fans, and yesterday announced the "Clean Slate"
programme through which file-swappers will be able to obtain an
amnesty from action, upon certain conditions.
These conditions include the signing of a notarised amnesty
form, which requires that the user will admit to having illegally
shared copyrighted music over the internet and will promise to
delete the downloaded songs from their computers, CD-Rs or other
storage facilities. The user must also promise not to download
copyrighted songs again.
If the file-swapper makes the promise and is then caught
breaking his promise, this may be reflected in the sum of damages
claimed by the RIAA.
According to CNet news.com RIAA President Cary Sherman
commented, "Our goal is not to be vindictive or punitive." He
added, "It is simply to get peer-to-peer users to stop offering
music that does not belong to them."
