Recording industry issues warnings
By JACK KAPICA
The Canadian music industry will be sending warnings to users who are offering copyright music files on peer-to-peer programs.
In what it calls "the second phase of our education program with Canadian users of file-sharing services," Canadian Recording Industry Association president Brian Robertson said CRIA will use the Instant Messaging function of the peer-to-peer networks such as Kazaa to communicate its message to individuals who appear to be distributing copyrighted music without authorization from the rights owners.
Unlike the Recording Industry Association of America, its U.S. counterpart, its U.S. counterpart, CRIA has not launched lawsuits against users of such networks as Kazaa, which share digitized versions of music CDs.
The carefully worded statement warns users that they are offering files to be uploaded by other users of the network.
Under Canadian copyright law, it is legal to download music files for one's personal use. The law, however, states that it is not legal to distribute those files.
The RIAA has launched more than 1,200 suits against individual users in the United States under its much tougher Digital Millennium Copyright Act, which forbids both uploading and downloading.
The U.S. action, however, has been the subject of a number of countersuits, many from Internet service providers challenging the recording industry's demand to reveal the names of those people who are sharing files.
The service providers are arguing that they are not responsible for what users pass along their networks, in the same way that telephone companies are not responsible for what people say on the their lines or the way that cable companies are not responsible for the TV signals they carry.
One U.S. lawyer, who has received a summons, is planning a defence based on forcing the recording industry to prove that he was distributing files; he is claiming that other users were just taking them from his shared files.
The Canadian instant-message program is "designed to inform Canadian users of file-sharing systems of the damage they are inflicting upon the thousands of people involved in the creation of music, as well as to warn them of the legal implications they might face," Mr. Robertson said in a statement.
CRIA, a trade organization founded in 1964 to represent the interests of Canadian companies that create, manufacture and market sound recordings, represents 95 per cent of the sound recordings that are manufactured and sold in Canada.
"The unauthorized file-sharing of copyrighted music hurts artists, songwriters and everyone involved in the creation and production of music," Mr. Robertson added. "It is estimated that Internet file-sharing has doubled in volume in the last year to over one billion files at any one time. The resulting retail sales losses have exceeded $250-million in Canada alone in the last three years."
The Canadian recording industry, however, has persuaded the Canadian government to institute a levy on all recordable media commonly used to record downloaded music files. Over the past few years, the industry has collected in excess of $70-miullion (Cdn.).
Canadian file-sharing enthusiasts have been arguing that by paying the levy, they have already reimbursed the industry and the artists for the files they share.
Instant messaging is built into the software required to join the networks and trade music files. There is, however, an option to turn that feature off.
The test of the message reads:
"Warning
"It appears that you are offering copyrighted music to others from your computer. While we appreciate your love of music, please be aware that sharing copyrighted music on the Internet without permission from the copyright owner is illegal. When you do so, you hurt the artists, songwriters and musicians who create the music and the other talented individuals who are involved in bringing you the music.
"More than 40,000 Canadians work hard producing and supporting the music you appear to enjoy, including producers, engineers, retailers, music publishers, distributors, manufacturers, record companies, concert promoters and broadcasters.
"When you break the law, you risk legal penalties. There is a simple way to avoid that risk: Don�t distribute music to others on a file-sharing system like this. For further information, please go to
www.cria.ca.
"Remember that you need music and music needs you."
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