The Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA) is continuing its war on
music piracy, by attacking software that is said to be used for that very purpose. The RIAA sent a
letter to BitTorrent executives urging the company to do something about the use of the file distribution technology's use in music piracy, while a collection of groups joined it in persecuting
CNet for providing downloads to apps that could be used for copyright infringement.
The letter from RIAA Executive Vice President of Anti-Piracy Brad Buckles, published
by Mashable, claims to BitTorrent CEO Eric Klinker that software clients distributed by the company "facilitated approximately 75 percent of the over 1.6 million torrent-based infringements" of musical works in the United States. Of a sample of 500 torrents containing audio, over 82 percent were found to be "commercially available and therefore highly likely to be protected by copyright." The letter also claims 99 of the top 100 most popular music torrents on KickassTorrents, "one of the most popular torrent portals," were found to be infringing.
Buckles attacks a previous comment by BitTorrent Chief Content Officer Matt Mason stating "the piracy happens outside the BitTorrent ecosystem," pointing out the argument is "disingenuous when BitTorrent, Inc. itself is the source of the software that is used so overwhelmingly for Infringement." Buckles urges the company to "take steps to reduce their facilitation of infringement."
On the point of safeguards, the letter includes a list of "verified hashes" of files continuing to be infringed, with the suggestion the RIAA is willing to "establish a process to share the hashes with BitTorrent, Inc. on a regular basis." Buckles even hints that the RIAA staff "know of several companies that offer services to help identifying infringing torrent sites and files that may be useful" in deterring piracy.
BitTorrent has yet to comment about the letter.
The 16-member group complaint to
CNet, a CBS-owned property, revolves around subsidiary service
Download.com,
reports Billboard. The RIAA, American Association of Independent Music, American Society of Composers, Authors, and Publishers, and others wrote to CBS CEO Les Moonves, claiming
Download.com made apps available that "induce users to infringe copyrighted content by ripping the audio or the audio and video from what might be an otherwise legitimate stream." Examples given include applications that can rip the audio or video from a YouTube clip, saving it to the desktop as a file.
"We ask that you consider the above in light of industry best practices, your company's reputation, the clear infringing nature of these applications, and your role in creating a safe, legitimate, and innovative Internet ecosystem," writes the group.
CBS has responded to the letter, claiming "All of the software indexed on Download.com is legal," and since the legality depends on "fair use," the legal responsibility lies with the user and not the creator, nor the software distributor.
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