RIAA seeks outside help in 'piracy' battle

[janett999]

In the ongoing dispute over unauthorised music downloads, RIAA (the Recording Industry Association of America) has turned the spotlight on the work of Audible Magic, a company whose software can block the network transfer of copyrighted files.
The New York Times reports that RIAA is seeking to up the pressure on peer-to-peer networks, such as Kazaa, to control the seemingly ungovernable activities of its users. Specifically, their copyright-infringing activities.

Software such as Audible Magic's CopySense Network Appliance software is being held up as an example of the controls that could be in place 'We think the technology is extraordinarily promising,' the paper quotes the RIAA chairman, Mitch Bainwol, as saying. 'We said from the start that technology may pose some risks, but it offers the solution.'

The CopySense Network Appliance system was unveiled at the end of last year and the company describes it as 'the first product to give network administrators comprehensive control over P2P file trading'. Not only will the system identify and log P2P usage and potentially limit P2P traffic to a specified amount of bandwidth, it can establish rules for downloads or uploads from the network. Specifically, it is designed to block P2P transfers of copyrighted materials or even block all P2P transfers.

The company's CopySense technology has already been used in its RepliCheck anti-piracy information service, which targeted the CD replication market rather than network-based music downloading.

The unrestricted duplication of copyrighted digital content, of course, is the central issue in the long-running legal tussle between content providers and the file swapping networks.

Whereas earlier in the year reports indicated that online file swapping had declined in the face of legal threats from RIAA, downloading activities have subsequently more than picked up again - Music downloading pumps up the volume, again.

How do you feel about such network monitoring software as Audible Magic? Is it simply technology being used to solve copyright issues that have been created by new technology? Or is it an intrusion on user communications?


http://www.pcpro.co.uk/?http://www.p...y.php?id=54583