MusicNCopyright


 * Digital Music **

The problems posed by digital media for intellectual property may have first become apparent with software, but the digitisation of information, and the resulting ease of duplication and transmission on the Internet, is upsetting the balances struck by intellectual property law. Some people fear that rampant copying on the Internet will make it impossible for authors and publishers to be fairly compensated for their works. Others fear that a tightening of copyright law will destroy the regime of fair use.

The Rise and Fall of Napster: [] File Sharing was made popular by Napster.
 * File Sharing**

In the past Napster was so successful because users could download the songs for free and it was instantly theirs. The quality of music was better than when streamed and because it was successful there was a large bank of music which gave users more choice and then made it more successful. Napster did not think that they were not breaking the law because the songs were not on a central server, they were just offering the peer to peer facility for the sharing of music. They thought that they were protected under the Digital Millenium Copyright Act, the same law that protects VCR makers. [|//http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/technology/4627679.stm//] 1.In June 2005, The US Supreme Court has made a new ruling about who is responsible for the downloading of media from file sharing networks. //a) Who is responsible?//  //b)How is this different to the comparison to video recorders?// Since this court case there has been a stream of legal action against individual file sharers and File Sharing sites or even the supporting firms of these sites. 2. //Research the news over the last year and find one example where an individual has been taken to court and a second example where a file sharing organization has. Describe these below.// Gift of Fire Chapter 5 Protecting Software and other Intellectual Property 3//. How has new technology aided in distribution of intellectual property? 4. What are some solutions (good and bad) to the copying of digital media?// Illegal downloaders ‘face UK Ban’ – The Govt in the UK  is taking steps to crack down on illegal downloading of music. Read the following article. [] // 5. Describe the proposal of the UK // //Govt and the issues that come with it.//
 * File-sharing suffers major defeat **

Digital Life, The Straits Times, Wed 20 May 09 p6. France Passes Internet Piracy Bill. In France  a bill has been passed by the French Parliament with allows Internet Operators to disconnect people after being caught for downloading content illegally three times. File sharers will first be sent an email as a warning, then a letter and the third time, disconnected. Read the following articles and answer questions 6 - 8. [] 6//. What is DRM and what does it do? 7. Describe how DRM controls what we do with our CDs// //8. ‘Fair use’ in copyright law says that we should be able to make a copy for our own use. Why is DRM considered unfair for consumers?// A recent solution to the issues surrounding DRM has been found in a new project ‘Marlin Copyright Protection’. This is being supported by many electronics companies e.g. Sony, Samsung, Philips. Read the article Is this the respectable face of DRM?, PC Pro January 2009, page 15.  The problem in the past has been, that music was assigned to devices rather than people, making it difficult for users to share their newly purchased songs on their other devices in the home. //9.How does Marlin assign content to people?// //10. A recent trend is for companies to sell music without DRM, follow the link to find out companies are on board with this idea?// [] Sony took DRM too far when it was discovered by Mr Russinovich that the DRM used by Sony in 1995 – XCP (Extended Copy Protection) had installed files deep into the system. When the CDs were run using a Windows system, the proprietary media player has to be installed to listen to it. The XCP system installed hidden files when installing the media player similar to that of spyware. These hidden files were like rootkits which were downloaded deep inside the operating system. The problem with these hidden files are that they can easily hide viruses and the software has no uninstall. Consumers were given replacement CDs and $150. BBC News, Sony slated over anti-piracy CD: [] BBC News, Sony CD row compensation agreed [] There are plenty of sites offering free downloadable music e.g. [|www.mp3.com.au] and [] or sites where you pay a subscription or pay per download e.g. ITunes, Amazon MP3 store, Kazaa has now gone legitimate =Read: Warner Music seeks to offer 'all you can eat' digital music = []  //11. Under these new sites – how are listeners paying for their music and how are artists earning their revenue?// <span style="font-family: Verdana; font-size: 10pt; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-font-style: italic;">12. February 2009, <span style="font-family: Verdana; font-size: 10pt; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-font-style: italic;">Sweden <span style="font-family: Verdana; font-size: 10pt; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-font-style: italic;">, The Pirate Bay, the worlds largest BitTorrent tracker stood trial in court, accused of profiting from the distribution of copyrighted music, movies, games and software. //Research this case and summarise the outcome.// <span style="font-family: Verdana; font-size: 10pt; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-font-style: italic;">Do you think that legal downloading sites being available will stop the illegal downloads, Discuss. <span style="font-family: Verdana; font-size: 10pt; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-font-style: italic;"> <span style="font-family: Verdana; font-size: 10pt; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-font-style: italic;">UK <span style="font-family: Verdana; font-size: 10pt; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-font-style: italic;"> music fans no longer face the threat of prosecution for copying their own CDs on to PC or MP3 players as long as their songs are for personal use. []
 * Digital Rights Management **
 * <span style="font-family: Verdana; font-size: 10pt; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-font-style: italic;">Legal Downloading Sites or not so legal downloading sites **
 * Copyright Laws – How copyright laws hurt culture?**

13//. Why does the author feel copyright laws have hurt the actual artist and helped the corporate side of digital media?

14. What is the DMCA? When was it passed? What is the maximum penalty?// <span style="font-family: Verdana; font-size: 10pt; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-font-style: italic;"> <span style="font-family: Verdana; font-size: 10pt; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold;">Create a glossary of the following terms: MP3; .Midi; .Wav DRM – Digital Rights Management DMCA – Digital Millennium Copyright Act Intellectual Property – ; Copyright – RIAA
 * Key Terms **

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