Sony boss lauds Napster’s Fanning
A hint that Napster creator Sean Fanning may be on his way to becoming a Hollywood Star has come from Sony Music Entertainment ceo Andrew Lack.
Lack mentioned Fanning’s “ground-breaking work” in the area of developing systems able to identify and filter copyrighted material, “from P2P systems like Kazaa”.
This was in clear reference to Fanning’s Snocap venture which involves identifying music files traded online via file-swapping networks and then attaching a price tag to them
Lack’s comment came during a speech to the ‘Entertainment Law Initiative’ luncheon presented by the Grammy Foundation at the Regent Beverly Wilshire last week for 400 entertainment attorneys, law students and key music industry professionals Tickets started – at $100 a plate.
However, Lack wasn’t quite so accommodating with another p2p luminary – Nikki Hemming.
“Nikki Hemming, the CEO of Kazaa was asked by USA Today’s reporter Jefferson Graham last November the following question,” said Lack, going on:
“Q: The labels, which are suing Kazaa for copyright infringement, call you a ‘pirate.’ Why should they talk to you when so many people use your software to download songs instead of buying them?
“A: ‘We don’t have the technical capability to stop that’.
“That’s what she do say and I say ‘nuts’. Nonsense,” said Lack.
“Contrary to the claims of Ms Hemming, the technology necessary to identify copyrighted material has been available for several years. There are also now fully functioning systems, which are commercially available, that can quickly identify and filter our copyrighted material from p2p systems like Kazaa.
“None other than Sean Fanning is doing some ground-breaking work in this area. An interesting solution from a software company called Audible Magic was demonstrated on Capitol Hill just last week.
“It proves that the filtering of p2p content is not only technically possible, but that it is also feasible for p2p operators to integrate these solutions into their products today.”
