RIAA President coins new term for P2P scofflaws 'Songlifter'

March 1, 2006

In a story over at BetaNews today, we learn a
couple things. First, 3 men from the warez site "Apocalypse Crew" have plead and
were found guilty by the United States Department of Justice on Tuesday in
federal court, for the sharing of pre-release, but copyrighted music. In a
comment by the DOJ, they said that the actions of the warez site
administrators made the copyrighted content available: "to peer-to-peer and
other public file sharing networks accessible to anyone with Internet access and
potentially appearing for sale around the world," . Looks like they could get up
to 5 years in prison, plus a 250,000 dollar fine to boot.

Then, we also learn that Cary Sherman, the latest
President of the Recording Industry Artist Association, is waving the flag
that the RIAA legal Jihad against the public is necessary, to ensure the future
of legal music sites like iTunes.

In a separate action, the Record Industry Association of America announced it had filed another 750 lawsuits against unnamed individuals as part of its long-running legal efforts against P2P users. These "John Doe" suits include the individual's IP address, which the RIAA uses to discover his or her identity.

In a statement, RIAA president Cary Sherman hailed the lawsuits as protecting the integrity of the market so legal music services like iTunes can prosper. Sherman also coined a new phrase for those who download music illegally, likening them to retail shoplifters with the term "songlifter."

"Just as we continue to educate fans about the right ways to enjoy music online, we will continue to enforce our rights through the legal system. Songlifting is not without consequences," he said.