The recording industry asked Verizon last summer to reveal the name of a customer believed to have downloaded more than 600 songs in one day, but Verizon refused, saying that such a move would violate customer privacy and force Internet service providers to serve as the music industry's online policeman.

But U.S. Judge John Bates ordered Verizon to turn over the customer's name.

At least now they are going directly after the consumer, aka, their customers. Best way to make the angry mob grow faster.. Remember two words, Civil Disobedience.

RIAA vs Verizon : Court orders Verizon Must Reveal Internet Song-Swapper

] Mickey's own reaction to the decision was less
] enthusiastic. Telling his keepers that he was going on an
] "ice run for the boss," the mouse made his way to a dive
] bar a few miles outside Disneyland, where he gave reason
] an exclusive interview.

Look like pretty much every article that has a unfavorable view of the Eldred decision is pushing the civil disobedience line.

Time to turn up the heat..

Reason: Mickey Mouse speaks out

] So out of despair some might see civil disobedience --
] hacking and freely distributing songs and films over
] digital networks -- as the only remaining response to the
] excesses of the copyright regimes and the hold they have
] over courts and Congress.

It is. Has been for awhile now. Its better to concentrate on creating new ways of doing things out in the open though. Be ready to educate your peers about these issues when they start to effect them. Etc..

] While disobedience might be more fun, the power of civil
] discourse remains. In fact, the ruling gives public
] interest activists both motivation and ammunition in the
] continuing battle against the excessive expansion of the
] power to control information and culture.

And thats the key.. These IP issues trample way into the territory of economic policy. The courts and congress are reactive to this type of thing. They will walk right up to the edge of an issue, step 2in back, and wait to see what happens.. Rince, repeat, give a decade or two..

The angry mob is only going to grow..

Salon.com Technology | After the copyright smackdown: What next?

] Public Knowledge is a public-interest advocacy
] organization dedicated to fortifying and defending a
] vibrant "information commons" - the shared information
] resources and cultural assets that we own as a people.

A very slick new public domain oriented political group.

Public Knowledge

] The U.S. Supreme Court upheld on Wednesday a law
] extending copyright protection by 20 years, delaying when
] creative works such as Walt Disney Co.'s Mickey Mouse, F.
] Scott Fitzgerald's novels and George Gershwin's
] compositions become public property.
]
] The 7-2 ruling was a victory for the U.S. Justice
] Department, large media companies and song publishers
] that argued the longer term was needed to protect a vital
] industry that contributes more than $500 billion to the
] U.S. economy.

Damnit.

Reuters | Eldred case lost

] Lobbyists for some of the nation's largest technology
] companies will argue under the new agreement against
] efforts in Congress to amend U.S. laws to broaden the
] rights of consumers, such as explicitly permitting
] viewers to make backup copies of DVDs for personal use or
] copy songs onto handheld listening devices.

More information is starting to leak out about this mornings deal between the RIAA and the tech industry. According to the AP, the RIAA agrees to drop support for the (unworkable and extremely unpopular) Fritz Chip legislation, and in exchange the technology industry agrees to lobby AGAINST consumer fair use rights. I certaily don't wish to take the AP's analysis as the word of god, but they are spinning this as a positive compromise. It sounds to me like the RIAA got a hell of a lot more then they gave.

RIAA, Technology Industry deal looking dirty...

] "First came the fuss over double compensation for the
] radio-commercial actors. Then the flap over royalties for
] recording artists. Now the slap-happy Internet radio
] business is reeling from another hit, this time from the
] nation's most popular network of online stations."

DMCA royalties kill Clear Channel. Never thought you'd hear that one, did you?

Wired News: Radio Ditches Webcasts En Masse

... "You're not buying music, you're buying a key. That's what digital rights management does: it enables business models."

If this war is indeed the Vietnam of the Internet, we may just be on the verge of the Tet Offensive.

Studios Using Digital Armor

] Thursday's agreement was signed by the 14 companies that
] make most HDTV sets and the seven major cable operators
] that serve 75 percent of cable homes (Cable One,
] Cablevision Systems, Charter Communications, Comcast, Cox
] Communications, Insight Communications and AOL Time
] Warner Cable).

HDTV has been talked about for longer then the Internet by most people. Its crawling. Could it be because of the . . . Content owners??

] Negotiations, however, didn't include content owners, who
] worry that individuals could make a perfect digital copy,
] transfer it to a computer hard drive, and then post it on
] a peer-to-peer file sharing service.

I don't think they want the screws on them. The cable companies and the hardware manfacturers have very different concerns then the content owners. Its in both their intrests to have HDTVs selling, and channels for its use open. The content folks are worried about their control over their product.

Its likely they didn't want the content owners involved because they wouldn't have gotten anything done otherwise. Its clear that if they have an attack plan for the nuts-and-bolts of digital cable interoperation, the next step is going to be sell the technologys existance to the content owners. Its going to be a fight for them. The content people really wish things would "slow down" for awhile, they need to catch their breath, things are tough for them right now.. :) They will use all their influence to cause that "slow down" to happen..

Picture wanting to discuss something like level two network addressing with a bunch of engineer types.. Would you want the MPAA sitting in the room? Would that be helpful? Or would you just have someone screaming "Lossless transmission! Ack! No no no! No Error correction! We need errors so people will go out and buy the pristine DVD!! It has to suck or supply will meet demand and the value of our IP will be fucked because that value is based on scarcity!! Oh, woe is me, everything has changed." in your ear.

] Nonetheless, the proposal included one aspect likely to
] meet resistance from Hollywood: It would ban content
] owners from purposely degrading HDTV signals out of fear
] that a consumer might make a perfect digital copy.

I like that. Yea, this was most likely setup to draw the line for the MPAA or something like that. Maybe then want to get the two sides of the conflict facing each other head on and the issues laied out. Going to have to check a few more articles about this, but that's the vibe I'm getting. They want HDTV ready to roll, they got about two years before the manfacturing costs of those nice flat panels will be trivial. They want to be ready to push volume and have compelling service available by then.

] But while the Home Recording Rights Coalition, an
] alliance of industry and consumer groups, lauded the
] agreement's copy-protection stance, Hollywood interests
] were more cautious on Thursday.

The message most likely was: "If it dosen't allow me to exercise my Fair Use rights, I don't want it. What you are doing looks Ok, don't let THEM fuck it up.."

] The Motion Picture Association of America said on
] Thursday that it needed more time to review the details
] of the agreement, but officials hinted that the proposed
] encoding rules may not suffice.

No shit. The MPAA will not be happy with anything that amounts to technological progress unless its removes freedom of information manipulation, or is strictly limited to the realm of cinema multiplexes and other areas where they have complete and total control of the distribution chain. Fuck em'

Wired News: HDTV Pact: Finally a Done Deal

...by taxing all computer equipment... its not the best idea I've heard, but it is significant to hear this kind of thinking coming from someone like this.

] The problem is that we can’t give consumers
] what they want. The symptom is that they can
] get it without our help. We can either engage
] in futile attempts to eliminate their supply,
] or we can monetize their demand.

] The 2002 SOFA report found that 49% of Americans
] now think the first amendment goes too far in the
] protections it provides. This compared to 37%
] a year ago and 22% the year before that. Fred
] and I believe this is in no small part an
] unintended consequence of the various wars we have
] declared on various symptoms of various problems.
] The entertainment industry, largely a beneficiary
] of the protections afforded by the First Amendment,
] should buck this trend, and embrace freedom.

Will Smith's lawyer wants to allow p2p music swapping...