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Posted by Ablang on 02/24/07 05:21
RIAA Fights Back, Threatens Open Wi-Fi
Topic: Law
Riaa Debbie Foster was sued by RIAA member company Capitol Records for
allegedly sharing copyrighted material on a P2P file sharing network.
However, the alleged infringement was apparently committed by someone
else with access to her ISP account. Foster had the case dismissed
last summer, and as reported by Listening Post earlier this month, was
awarded attorney's fees in excess of $50,000.
For the RIAA, which functions as the legal and lobbying arm of the
labels it represents, this was very bad news indeed. If the ruling
stands, the RIAA will have to be much more careful about who it sues
going forward, adjusting its scatter-shot approach to filing such
lawsuits in order to avoid suing the wrong people. But if the RIAA's
appeal is granted, open Wi-Fi hotspots could become standing
invitations for the organization to sue.
Predictably, the RIAA has filed a "motion for reconsideration" of
Judge West's decision to force the RIAA to pay for Foster's legal
fees. In the motion, the plaintiffs emphasize a key point: They want
the judge to rule that the owner of an ISP account is responsible for
all activity on that account, which could have a chilling effect on
public wireless access and open hotspots. (The appeal also made the
point that Foster should be held liable if she was aware of the
infringement occuring via her account; in the case of someone with an
open Wi-Fi network, that could constitute something as simple as
experiencing traffic slowdowns.)
If the judge rules that we're each legally responsible for all of the
traffic that comes through our ISP account, open, unprotected Wi-Fi
hotspots would become a serious legal liability, the hundreds of
thousands (millions?) of people who depend on their neighbors for Wi-
Fi will be out of luck, while altruistic (or ignorant) folks who leave
their wireless networks open could find themselves embroiled in an
RIAA lawsuits even if they've never shared a single song in their
lives.
This is not the first time the RIAA has tried to establish a precedent
for making the ISP account holder responsible for all traffic; the
organization attempted a similar thing last summer in a case called
Virgin vs, Marson, but was forced to discontinue it after the defense
proved that all sorts of people were accessing the Internet through
her account.
Hopefully, the judge in Capitol vs. Foster will feel the same way as
the judge in that case did. It'd be a shame if open Wi-Fi hotspots
became yet another casualty of the RIAA's war against reality.
http://blog.wired.com/music/2007/02/riaa_contests_d.html
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