No Rock And Roll Fun

CASH TO PEER TO PEER: The Distributed Computing Industry Association (which is, basically, Kazaa and a couple of smaller peer to peer operators) have come up with a nifty idea - why don't they collect a flat fee off file sharers and use it to compensate record labels for uncleared file sharing? You can see why they'd want to - imagine the turnover, never mind it allowing a truce with the RIAA - but the imposition of what amounts to a TV Licence style cover charge (which works for broadcasting within a defined state boundary, but would be a nightmare to adminstrate with an international medium) starts to make their previous arguments - about how lots of the file sharing on their networks is of stuff that people have a right to, and how they can't be responsible for what's being swapped within their network - look like fibs at the very least, as they now seem to be going "We'd take a payment from everyone and we'd be able to make sure the money went to the artists whose tracks are being swapped, even though this time last year we were saying 'well, how can we know what's being swapped?'"

Meanwhile, The Recording Industry Association of America said peer-to-peer networks must prevent users from trading copyrighted works and stop making pornography available to minors if they want to be taken seriously, echoing a letter sent by several U.S. senators last month. "Until the larger industry accepts the recommendations recently outlined by six respected U.S. senators, there will continue to be questions about how seriously they want to become legitimate," RIAA spokeswoman Amy Weiss said.

Erm... this would be the trade association representing labels who in the UK have signed up for the Playlouder ISP which would be using those file-sharing networks, would it? Why is it they're riddled with child porn and illegitimate if they're being used in the US, but fine and dandy in the UK?