Post Tagged with: "P2P"

CIRPA on Blocking Access to P2P

From the Canadian Independent Record Production Association submission on net neutrality: “Certainly policies that limit the consumers access to P2P sites that distribute large volumes of unauthorized content would be controversial, but we believe that it is in the interest of both ISP's and content producers to examine such alternatives […]

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February 25, 2009 7 comments News

Dutch Study Finds File Sharing Provides Positive Economic Impact

Slashdot points to a new Dutch study that finds that file sharing has positive economic effect on social welfare. The study, completed by several independent groups on behalf of the Dutch Ministries of Education, Economic Affairs, and Justice, acknowledges that file sharing may lead to some reduced sales for some […]

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January 19, 2009 2 comments News

Isle of Man To Create Legalized P2P

According to a New York Times article, the Isle Of Man plans to establish a legalized peer-to-peer system, similar to the one proposed by the Songwriters Association of Canada. The Isle of Man system would involve a monthly license fee paid with broadband subscriptions and then allow for legal downloading […]

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January 19, 2009 3 comments News

The Music Industry’s Digital Reversal

My weekly technology law column (Toronto Star version, homepage version) opens by noting that Canadians focused on hockey success and economic doom-and-gloom over the past month may have missed a series of events that suggest a dramatic shift for the recording industry.  For much of the past decade, the industry has relied on three pillars to combat peer-to-peer file sharing – lawsuits, locks, and legislation.  

The lawsuits, which began in 2003, resulted in suits against more than 35,000 alleged file sharers in the United States.  The locks, which refers to digital locks that seek to impose copy-controls on music files, was a requirement for online services such as iTunes before it was given the green light, while the lobbying for legislative reforms to support the use of copy-controls led Canada to introduce the failed Bill C-61.

In a matter of weeks, the foundation of each of these pillars has either crumbled or shown serious signs of cracking.

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January 12, 2009 8 comments Columns

RIAA Abandoning P2P Lawsuits

The Wall Street Journal reports that the RIAA has decided to abandon its strategy of suing individual file sharers.  The music lobby group has sued more than 35,000 people since 2003.  Instead, the RIAA plans to focus on a three-strikes and you're out approach with ISPs that would involve terminating […]

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December 19, 2008 23 comments News