[Marxism] Download uproar

[Louis Proyect <lnp3@xxxxxxxxx>]

Download Uproar: Record Industry Goes After Personal Use

By Marc Fisher
Washington Post Staff Writer
Sunday, December 30, 2007; M05

Despite more than 20,000 lawsuits filed against music fans in the years 
since they started finding free tunes online rather than buying CDs from 
record companies, the recording industry has utterly failed to halt the 
decline of the record album or the rise of digital music sharing.

Still, hardly a month goes by without a news release from the industry's 
lobby, the Recording Industry Association of America, touting a new wave 
of letters to college students and others demanding a settlement payment 
and threatening a legal battle.

Now, in an unusual case in which an Arizona recipient of an RIAA letter 
has fought back in court rather than write a check to avoid hefty legal 
fees, the industry is taking its argument against music sharing one step 
further: In legal documents in its federal case against Jeffrey Howell, 
a Scottsdale, Ariz., man who kept a collection of about 2,000 music 
recordings on his personal computer, the industry maintains that it is 
illegal for someone who has legally purchased a CD to transfer that 
music into his computer.

The industry's lawyer in the case, Ira Schwartz, argues in a brief filed 
earlier this month that the MP3 files Howell made on his computer from 
legally bought CDs are "unauthorized copies" of copyrighted recordings.

"I couldn't believe it when I read that," says Ray Beckerman, a New York 
lawyer who represents six clients who have been sued by the RIAA. "The 
basic principle in the law is that you have to distribute actual 
physical copies to be guilty of violating copyright. But recently, the 
industry has been going around saying that even a personal copy on your 
computer is a violation."

RIAA's hard-line position seems clear. Its Web site says: "If you make 
unauthorized copies of copyrighted music recordings, you're stealing. 
You're breaking the law and you could be held legally liable for 
thousands of dollars in damages."

They're not kidding. In October, after a trial in Minnesota -- the first 
time the industry has made its case before a federal jury -- Jammie 
Thomas was ordered to pay $220,000 to the big record companies. That's 
$9,250 for each of 24 songs she was accused of sharing online.

Whether customers may copy their CDs onto their computers -- an act at 
the very heart of the digital revolution -- has a murky legal 
foundation, the RIAA argues. The industry's own Web site says that 
making a personal copy of a CD that you bought legitimately may not be a 
legal right, but it "won't usually raise concerns," as long as you don't 
give away the music or lend it to anyone.

Of course, that's exactly what millions of people do every day. In a Los 
Angeles Times poll, 69 percent of teenagers surveyed said they thought 
it was legal to copy a CD they own and give it to a friend. The RIAA 
cites a study that found that more than half of current college students 
download music and movies illegally.

The Howell case was not the first time the industry has argued that 
making a personal copy from a legally purchased CD is illegal. At the 
Thomas trial in Minnesota, Sony BMG's chief of litigation, Jennifer 
Pariser, testified that "when an individual makes a copy of a song for 
himself, I suppose we can say he stole a song." Copying a song you 
bought is "a nice way of saying 'steals just one copy,' " she said.

But lawyers for consumers point to a series of court rulings over the 
last few decades that found no violation of copyright law in the use of 
VCRs and other devices to time-shift TV programs; that is, to make 
personal copies for the purpose of making portable a legally obtained 
recording.

As technologies evolve, old media companies tend not to be the source of 
the innovation that allows them to survive. Even so, new technologies 
don't usually kill off old media: That's the good news for the recording 
industry, as for the TV, movie, newspaper and magazine businesses. But 
for those old media to survive, they must adapt, finding new business 
models and new, compelling content to offer.

The RIAA's legal crusade against its customers is a classic example of 
an old media company clinging to a business model that has collapsed. 
Four years of a failed strategy has only "created a whole market of 
people who specifically look to buy independent goods so as not to deal 
with the big record companies," Beckerman says. "Every problem they're 
trying to solve is worse now than when they started."

The industry "will continue to bring lawsuits" against those who "ignore 
years of warnings," RIAA spokesman Jonathan Lamy said in a statement. 
"It's not our first choice, but it's a necessary part of the equation. 
There are consequences for breaking the law." And, perhaps, for firing 
up your computer.

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