Big Music set to attack Europe
Fronted by the RIAA (Recording Industry Associaiton of America), the major record labels have already brutalised US p2p file sharers and now, through their Canadian enforcement division, the CRIA (Canadian Recording Industry Association), they plan to do the same to Canadians.
CRIA boss Michael Robertson has already launched a direct attack on the Canadian government.
While, “bureaucrats have dithered, the music industry has been hit by a dramatic downturn, fuelled in good part by individuals downloading music and illegally file-sharing it with others,” he said here.
Now, claiming the music industry has been “devastated” by p2p file sharing, he’s threatening to file lawsuits against Canadians.
“Robertson would not say when the legal action would be launched,” says CTV.ca here, but it’ll be, “sooner, rather than later”.
However, it’s hard to see how the CRIA can do much more than blow wind. Downloading has been legal in Canada since 1998 – as long as it’s for personal use.
It will, though, be interesting to see if the labels manage to cow Canadian schools into acting as entertainment industry sales centres and industry cops, as they’ve been able to do in the US.
