Google as RIAA hit outfit
p2pnet news view RIAA | P2P:- Is Google playing nice (or fast and loose, depending on your perspective) with Vivendi Universal, EMI, Warner Music and Sony BMG’s RIAA, acting as an RIAA censor?
And are the days of the ” guerrilla blogger” posting whatever s/he wants coming to an end?
Yes on both counts, says the LA Weekly.
Most mp3 sites run on Google’s Blogger, especially if they went online before 2007, it says, going on that Ryan Spaulding, who runs Ryan’s Smashing Life, “noticed something odd happening to his archived posts a few months ago”. One moment they were there, “the next they were gone,” sparking, “countless email-conspiracy theories”.
Eventually, it emerged that each take-down happened on his and other sites using Blogger, says the story.
“Google, the bloggers believe, has quietly changed the methods by which it enforces its user agreement,” it says.
“Whereas in the past, a blog owner would receive a warning before a post’s removal, Google is now simply hitting the delete button. In Spaulding’s case, this means that posts written over the past year or more on Wilco, the Annuals, the Red Hot Chili Peppers, Matisyahu and Earth, Wind & Fire are gone.”
“I’d received the label’s press releases and followed their directions, spending my time and energy to promote their albums,” says Spaulding in the story.
“By pulling down my post, they destroyed my intellectual creativity, the very same thing they’re erroneously accusing me of doing. Say someone had linked to that post, or [blog aggregator] Hype Machine – it’s gone completely. If I go into my Blogger table of contents, it’s gone. Not de-published – gone.”
So why is Blogger-cum-Google seemingly acting as an(other) RIAA hit outfit?
LA Weekly goes on »»»
Though its corporate brass declined an interview with L.A. Weekly, Andrew Pederson, a spokesperson for the Mountain Viewbased company, explained via e-mail, “When we are notified of content that may violate our terms of service, including clear notices of alleged copyright infringement, we act quickly to review it, and our response may include removing allegedly infringing material. If material is removed, we make a good-faith effort to contact affected bloggers using the e-mail address they set up when they signed up for Blogger. This is in compliance with the DMCA, which requires that users receive notification after material has been removed.”
‘May’ violate? ‘Alleged’ copyright infringement?
Guilty until proven innocent, in other words.
Then »»»
Few industry outlooks come more panoptic than that of Ashley Jex, who writes the Rock Insider blog, plays bass in the Monolators and formerly handled new media for Capitol Records and Suretone Records. Jex foresees a future in which the labels attempt to further assert control over their catalogs, inking deals â similar to current pacts with sites like YouTube, Imeem and MySpace â that guarantee them a share of online revenue in exchange for streaming content.
“Blogs will never die, but the golden age of the guerrilla blogger posting whatever they want is coming to an end,” the story quotes Jex as stating.
“There will be arrangements for ad-sponsored content that you can put on your blog, in the vein of sites like Hulu. Eventually, there will be software in place within all the major blog platforms – Movable Type, WordPress and Blogger – where if you’re trying to post an infringing content, you won’t be able to publish. At least, that’s the direction it seems to be heading.”
Don’t count on it.
(Thanks, Marc)
LA Weekly – Google’s New Killer App? Why Are Music Bloggers’ Posts Disappearing, and Who Is Deleting Them? February 4, 2009
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February 9th, 2009 at 7:08 pm
I do think that is the direction it will take. Even with word-press.
Money talks.
Corporate America and its lackeys like Canada, Australia, New Zealand, England, etc want it that way.
February 9th, 2009 at 7:09 pm
I would say that geurrilla blogging can’t die, simply because no matter how many sites you take down, more sites are able to crop up anyway. So blogger is gone. Big whoop. Find one of a thousand free web hosts and put your blog *there*. Sure, you won’t have the benefit of WordPress managing your posts, but that might be the price we have to pay for a while, until the major industries back off or go bankrupt (whichever comes first).
February 9th, 2009 at 8:54 pm
@1
Australia is not lackey to America, maybe John howard but not Australia
its your ignorant RIAA telling our idiot government what they should do about it
RIAA and friends should be exiled to Mars
February 9th, 2009 at 9:01 pm
This is why I admin my own blog (currently with WordPress, but I’m considering writing my own CMS since WordPress isn’t really my cup of tea) hosted on NearlyFreeSpeech.NET and keep backup copies of anything I host elsewhere (eg. deviantART) to save on bandwidth costs. (I like to keep my bandwidth costs in the “under 2¢ per month” range)
February 10th, 2009 at 9:43 am
When corporations stop looking after the people they are supposed to benefit we as people should liquidate them, using hte analogy of law that would predicate USA admiralty that is the basis of all US law.
Once again this proves that the system of bankruptcy that is the foundation of it all where the state takes the debt is flawed.
ALSO how many know that CANADA is a registered corporation in Washington DC?
pretty neat legal stuff someone gave me to watch , if you take the time to get into it.
Also The system that is the basis for monetary funds is principally based on the fact we are all bankrupt and the state must own or take the debt.
The R.I.A.A. is a perfect example of a corporation that was supposed to benefit society and now no longer does so and must there fore the only remedy to the people around the globe is for it to be “liquidated”.
Arts are supposed ot be enjoyed, if you are an artist any payment or gifts are and should be treated as a doantion , htey should not be treated as revenues , for if i am to enjoy it how can i when there is a threat you can LEVY against me for not obeying a system thats meant to keep up broke.
We are beginning to see a new form of terrorism arise now that the USA has no real visible target to war against that it can easily quash.
Corporations are created to give real people benefit, not the other way around.