In a follow up to the story regarding the RIAA's tracking software, 7amnews.com answered some questions which many Megagames visitors, who read the story, probably share.
Isn't the recording industry in breach of the millennium copyright act by reverse-engineering Napster to build a compatible product?
They would have been, had they developed the software using a US company. In an unorthodox move they chose to contract an offshore company, probably the same one that manages their unorthodox bank accounts. Likewise, the code which scans for potential infringers is operated from outside the USA, thus it is not subject to US privacy or hacking laws.
It's not illegal for me to have a ripped MP3 on my PC because I might legally own the CD and just putting that file on my PC isn't a breach of copyright right?
This could be the case in many European countries, many believe though, that making copies of copyrighted material available through the Internet may be considered an act of publishing. If this is accepted then the publisher could be considered a contributory infringer because, if someone downloads that file, they have contributed to the offense by making it freely available.
Isn't this a breach of privacy?
Again opinions vary. It is however assumed that advertising the availability of your files through the Napster or Gnutella networks, users are making the information public domain.
Although this may make the future of file sharing seem gloomy, the possibility that everyone sharing files will be sued or that all ISP's will face legal action remains practically unfeasable. It is more likely that this story has been leaked in order to cause the weakest and unsure users to log off from the networks. The subsequent reduction in users sharing files combined with Napster's filtering process, may cause the gradual extinction of file sharing. Or so he record industry believes....
