Never mind the nuclear poisonings, focus on the mp3s

You might wonder if, when vocal critics of a nation's president end up nuked to death and shitting contaminated poop into Thames Water's sewage system, you'd want to be welcoming that nation more deeply into the family of nations.

The US seems determined to, though, and only one major hurdle to Russia joining the World Trade Organisation remains. No, not the corpses of those who try to find out what Putin's really up to; the existence of AllofMP3, of course.

Now, it seems, Russia has promised to do something about the service to prove how keen it is to be in the WTO:

The summary says: "The United States and Russia agreed on the objective of shutting down websites that permit illegal distribution of music and other copyright works. The agreement names the Russia-based website allofmp3.com as an example of such a website.

"Russia will take enforcement actions against the operation of Russia-based websites, and investigate and prosecute companies that illegally distribute copyright works on the internet."

Curiously, though, the Russian delegation have promised to introduce some new legislation by next summer to help deal with the AllofMP3 problem. Which does lend some credence to AllofMP3's claims that its behaviour doesn't violate current Russian law - because if it did, why would the Duma need six months to draft some new legislation rather than using statutes already on the books?

[Thanks to Franco M for the link]

music allofmp3