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Senator starts investigation into recording industry crackdown on music sharing
Star Tribune Washington Bureau Correspondent
Published August 1, 2003
WASHINGTON, D.C. -- Sen. Norm Coleman, R-Minn., launched a Senate investigation Thursday into the recording industry's tactics in cracking down on Internet file-swapping of copyrighted music.
Coleman, chairman of the Senate's Permanent Investigations Subcommittee, asked the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA) for details of 900 subpoenas it has obtained in federal courts. In a letter, he expressed concern that innocent people's rights may be violated in the industry's attempt to rein in what it contends is rampant on-line piracy costing recording companies billions of dollars.
While acknowledging the industry's legitimate concerns about copyright infringement, Coleman wrote: "As a former prosecutor, I know firsthand the power of a subpoena, and I am concerned about the potential for abuse in the current system."
The RIAA, which said its members produce 90 percent of the music recorded in the United States, began obtaining the subpoenas in June under authority granted by Congress in 1998. The subpoenas order Internet service providers to disclose information about their customers to the recording industry.
A landmark music industry suit shut down the popular song-swapping site Napster in 2000. Now, the RIAA is targeting users of so-called "peer-to-peer" file-sharing services that link individuals' computers directly without use of a central storage site. Because these hookups do not review what kinds of files their users are exchanging, they have avoided Napster-style suits.
In announcing the crackdown, RIAA President Cary Sherman said the industry "cannot stand by while piracy takes a devastating toll on artists, musicians, songwriters, retailers and everyone in the music industry."
The industry contends that as many as 5 million file-sharers are online at any time, but loosely organized defenders of file-swapping say those numbers are exaggerated. Kazaa, the largest of the file-trading services, said users have downloaded more than 230 million copies of its software, including 3.1 million in the last week.
In his letter to Sherman, Coleman said that although the RIAA pledged to sue only users who traffic in "substantial" numbers of copied music files, its "shotgun approach" has subpoenaed defendants for sharing as few as five songs.
"The RIAA subpoenas have snared unsuspecting grandparents whose grandchildren have used their personal computers [and] individuals whose roommates have shared their computers . . ., " Coleman wrote. "This barrage of RIAA subpoenas is creating such a backlog at the U.S. District Court in the District of Columbia that the court has been forced to reassign clerks to process the paperwork.
"Surely it was not Congress' intent when it passed the Digital Millennium Copyright Act to short-circuit due process protections, relegate a U.S. District Court to providing 'rubber-stamp' subpoenas, enable the music industry to collect information about consumers with little or no restrictions, and place numerous average consumers at risk of bankruptcy," he said.
Coleman asked the RIAA to submit to his Governmental Affairs subcommittee by Aug. 14 copies of all of the subpoenas, disclose how it decides what users to target and describe how it protects innocent computer owners.
An RIAA spokesperson said its response will show the enforcement program to be "an appropriate and measured response to the problem of blatant copyright infringement."
Star Tribune Washington Bureau Correspondent
Published August 1, 2003
WASHINGTON, D.C. -- Sen. Norm Coleman, R-Minn., launched a Senate investigation Thursday into the recording industry's tactics in cracking down on Internet file-swapping of copyrighted music.
Coleman, chairman of the Senate's Permanent Investigations Subcommittee, asked the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA) for details of 900 subpoenas it has obtained in federal courts. In a letter, he expressed concern that innocent people's rights may be violated in the industry's attempt to rein in what it contends is rampant on-line piracy costing recording companies billions of dollars.
While acknowledging the industry's legitimate concerns about copyright infringement, Coleman wrote: "As a former prosecutor, I know firsthand the power of a subpoena, and I am concerned about the potential for abuse in the current system."
The RIAA, which said its members produce 90 percent of the music recorded in the United States, began obtaining the subpoenas in June under authority granted by Congress in 1998. The subpoenas order Internet service providers to disclose information about their customers to the recording industry.
A landmark music industry suit shut down the popular song-swapping site Napster in 2000. Now, the RIAA is targeting users of so-called "peer-to-peer" file-sharing services that link individuals' computers directly without use of a central storage site. Because these hookups do not review what kinds of files their users are exchanging, they have avoided Napster-style suits.
In announcing the crackdown, RIAA President Cary Sherman said the industry "cannot stand by while piracy takes a devastating toll on artists, musicians, songwriters, retailers and everyone in the music industry."
The industry contends that as many as 5 million file-sharers are online at any time, but loosely organized defenders of file-swapping say those numbers are exaggerated. Kazaa, the largest of the file-trading services, said users have downloaded more than 230 million copies of its software, including 3.1 million in the last week.
In his letter to Sherman, Coleman said that although the RIAA pledged to sue only users who traffic in "substantial" numbers of copied music files, its "shotgun approach" has subpoenaed defendants for sharing as few as five songs.
"The RIAA subpoenas have snared unsuspecting grandparents whose grandchildren have used their personal computers [and] individuals whose roommates have shared their computers . . ., " Coleman wrote. "This barrage of RIAA subpoenas is creating such a backlog at the U.S. District Court in the District of Columbia that the court has been forced to reassign clerks to process the paperwork.
"Surely it was not Congress' intent when it passed the Digital Millennium Copyright Act to short-circuit due process protections, relegate a U.S. District Court to providing 'rubber-stamp' subpoenas, enable the music industry to collect information about consumers with little or no restrictions, and place numerous average consumers at risk of bankruptcy," he said.
Coleman asked the RIAA to submit to his Governmental Affairs subcommittee by Aug. 14 copies of all of the subpoenas, disclose how it decides what users to target and describe how it protects innocent computer owners.
An RIAA spokesperson said its response will show the enforcement program to be "an appropriate and measured response to the problem of blatant copyright infringement."