Article discusses RIAA's new approach to curbing the downloading portion of file sharing. RIAA is working with ISP's to have them slow down the internet connections of people who are downloading music illegally. Does not mention anything about doing the same for people who are sharing though. The sharers are still being sued.
DRM as listed by Wikipedia:
Digital rights management (DRM) is a generic term for access control technologies that can be used by hardware manufacturers, publishers, copyright holders and individuals to try to impose limitations on the usage of digital content and devices. It is also, sometimes, disparagingly described as Digital Restrictions Management. The term is used to describe any technology which inhibits uses (legitimate or otherwise) of digital content that were not desired or foreseen by the content provider. The term generally doesn't refer to other forms of copy protection which can be circumvented without modifying the file or device, such as serial numbers or keyfiles. It can also refer to restrictions associated with specific instances of digital works or devices.
The Great White North is "fast gaining a reputation as a haven where technologically sophisticated international piracy organizations can operate with virtual impunity." The country is "virtually alone" in flouting "minimum world standards" for copyright and its rules are "hopelessly outdated." Finally, "no other country is farther behind the curve in combating copyright infringement in cyberspace."
The ability to circumvent DRM in order to make legal uses of the content?
All Laws are subjective on a country to country basis, it's interesting that the Canadian governemnt doesn't view this type of thing as infringement.
It is not at all clear that this is actually the legal position in Canada; back in 2004, judge Konrad von Finckenstein ruled that "the downloading of a song for a person's private use does not constitute infringement." (von Finkenstein is now Canada's top telecoms regulator; his ruling was changed on appeal, though the issue remains murky.)
What really chaps the collective hide of the copyright groups is BitTorrent trackers, though, and the IIPA document refers multiple times to the fact that "4 of the top 10 illicit BitTorrent sites in the world" are in Canada.
Article discusses how the RIAA is issuing letters to suspected copyright infringing music downloaders and sharers and asking them to turn themselves in and pay a reduced fine, which will still be in the thousands of dollars, or else they will sue them for all they have or might ever have. Lawyer from University of Southern California talks about how letters are actually just "cease and desist letters" and that suspected offenders might not want to turn themselves in because the RIAA might not be able to find out their identities otherwise since many schools ISP's are not keeping track of or releasing students' names, personally identifiable IP addresses, or other information.
An issue that has come to light recently is that some people may have been framed for having child pornography by viruses that downloaded the content. Yet another reason to make sure you don't get viruses!
I could understand the thoughth behind possibly wanting to slow down illegal downloads and make them less appealing to people but then to decide to slow down YouTube because it eats up bandwidth as well. At what point do they stop?
The decision will allow Internet service companies to block or slow specific sites and charge video sites like YouTube to deliver their content faster to users.
The court ruling, which came after Comcast asserted that it had the right to slow its cable customers’ access to a file-sharing service called BitTorrent,
Discusses what I was talking about in my discussion question for Week 13 concerning prosecuting the SHARERS/SEEDERS instead of the DOWNLOADERS/LEECHERS.
It is amazing how far phone services have come. The fact that you can download from 5 Mbps to 12 Mbps over you phone. That is faster than many high speed internet providers