The RIAA appears to be calling for the US Congress to fix the "loopholes" found in the DMCA which the RIAA says is allowing ISPs, web hosts, search engines and other Internet based companies to turn a blind eye to the problem of piracy.
Instead, the RIAA wishes for new laws that formalize any deals made with the aforementioned groups in relation to stopping piracy.
"The DMCA isn't working for content people at all ... You cannot monitor all the infringements on the Internet. It's simply not possible. We don't have the ability to search all the places infringing content appears, such as cyberlockers like [file-hosting firm] RapidShare," said RIAA President Cary Sherman at the Technology Policy Institute's Aspen Forum.
YouTube's product counsel though disagrees with Sherman's assessment. "It's our view that the DMCA is functioning exactly the way Congress intended it to."
While it is true that it is still easy to locate pirated content, that are hosted by websites like RapidShare, or simply on web pages hosted by various web hosting companies, and both made easily locatable via search engines like Google, the problem, as the RIAA has identified, may just be too big even if all groups take strong action against pirated content. As the RIAA President said, "You cannot monitor all the infringements on the Internet. It's simply not possible", so critics will suggest that instead of trying to monitor all infringements, the RIAA and the music labels it represents should simply accept piracy is a part of life. And instead of trying to identify and stop piracy, and as the RIAA rightly claimed is something that's hardly possible, perhaps music labels would do well to take a look at other indirect actions that can help reduce piracy, such as streaming or subscription services like Spotify.
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Instead, the RIAA wishes for new laws that formalize any deals made with the aforementioned groups in relation to stopping piracy.
"The DMCA isn't working for content people at all ... You cannot monitor all the infringements on the Internet. It's simply not possible. We don't have the ability to search all the places infringing content appears, such as cyberlockers like [file-hosting firm] RapidShare," said RIAA President Cary Sherman at the Technology Policy Institute's Aspen Forum.
YouTube's product counsel though disagrees with Sherman's assessment. "It's our view that the DMCA is functioning exactly the way Congress intended it to."
While it is true that it is still easy to locate pirated content, that are hosted by websites like RapidShare, or simply on web pages hosted by various web hosting companies, and both made easily locatable via search engines like Google, the problem, as the RIAA has identified, may just be too big even if all groups take strong action against pirated content. As the RIAA President said, "You cannot monitor all the infringements on the Internet. It's simply not possible", so critics will suggest that instead of trying to monitor all infringements, the RIAA and the music labels it represents should simply accept piracy is a part of life. And instead of trying to identify and stop piracy, and as the RIAA rightly claimed is something that's hardly possible, perhaps music labels would do well to take a look at other indirect actions that can help reduce piracy, such as streaming or subscription services like Spotify.
More:
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