The CRIA confirmed on Friday that it was following in the
footsteps of its American counterpart, the RIAA, and had filed
court orders requiring five Canadian ISPs to disclose the
identities of the 29 individuals.
Brian Robertson, President of CRIA explained:
"CRIA and its members are taking action against uploaders only
and the most egregious examples. These are individuals who are each
illegally distributing hundreds if not thousands of music copyright
files to millions of strangers. Clearly these people are blatant
exploiters of artists' careers and their music, and have no
apparent interest in where the music is going to come from in the
future."
The US recording industry took action last year, targeting first
the companies that supply the file-sharing services, and then the
individuals who use them, an attempt to reverse the downward trend
in music sales since the advent of peer-to-peer networks such as
Kazaa. Now the Canadian industry is following suit.
"The Canadian music industry has experienced retail sales losses
of in excess of $425 million since 1999," observed Mr. Robertson.
"The resulting fall-out both in business and human terms, has been
extensive. It includes average staff layoffs of 20% and more and
the probability of a dramatic reduction in opportunities for
Canadian artists and Canadian music."
The suits filed last week seek to identify individuals
identified by the CRIA as offenders. Richard Pfohl, General Counsel
for the CRIA commented: "Lawbreakers cannot expect to hide behind a
mask of anonymity. We are confident that the court will grant the
requested orders".
The hearing, which began on Monday, has already been adjourned
until 12th March, according to reports.
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