80 More RIAA Lawsuits, MIT Shuts Down the Music System

The RIAA has filed 80 more lawsuits against those who share (for others to download) files. This time, though, the RIAA started by notifiying 204 people first, and then 124 decided to settle out of court. The remaining 80 were then sued.

Also, MIT had to "temporarily" shut down the innovative new analog music via cable system announced last Monday. The makers of the system, called LAMP for Library Access to Music, had negotiated licenses through Loudeye, but the Harry Fox agency who was part of the negotiated licenses said the agreement wasn't complete, so MIT closed it down until they figure out the licensing situation.

Later 11/02/03: Frank Field points here:

While the Slashdot discussion is the usual combination of interesting thought interspersed with uninformed drivel, this comment speaks to the real problem I see at MIT:

to this /. comment:

forget the loopholes (Score:5, Interesting) by bonds (701580) on Saturday November 01, @07:31PM (#7368653)

We don't need newer and more creative ways to sidestep our poorly conceived IP laws, we need new laws.

I for one would be grateful if places with clout, like MIT, would spend their resources advocating for better policy rather than engaging in legal contortions. If MIT, Harvard, Stanford, UC Berkeley, Princeton, Yale, NYU, etc. threw *serious* support behind good policy (like the Eldred act [eldred.cc], IMHO), the RIAA would find it much harder to have their way with congress. Admittedly, uniting these institutions of intellectual debate is much easier said than done, but they are uniquely equipped to put forth balanced proposals that address a broader social agenda than would ever emerge from an industry lobby. We could really use someone with the clout, resources, intelligence and neutrality of MIT to help write (and right) the rules of the game that are fair to *all* the stakeholders, not just the RIAA. [emphasis added]

What we are finding is that leaving the fox (the RIAA) to guard the hen-house (IP policy) is great for the fox and bad for everyone else.

Frank again:

Amen to that -- but I'm afraid that MIT's competition up the river at the Berkman Center are putting far more into this than MIT ever will. See, for example, this announcement and the accompanying Harvard press release.

Frank says in this post that he is leaning toward believing the RIAA had something to do with the MIT suspension of LAMP. But we don't really know at this point what the combination of factors was, beyond the licensing dispute. My hope is they manage to get this analog system back up and running. But the /.-er is correct: the real issue is IP policy tilting so far in favor of the incumbent copyright owners. More balanced options between the extremes of stealing by users and total ubiquitous control by copyright holders are needed. And, his idea that universities are the ones to push back for reform of the copyright regime is terrific. The schools involved are credible, reasonable institutions that could band together to demand a more equitable and fair copyright policy between all the parties involved.

Posted by Mary Hodder at November 01, 2003 08:25 AM