The 1998 Digital Millenium Copyright Act, which was primarily written by lobbyists for the recording and movie industries, defines infringement, and spells out the remedies for copyright owners who believe their copyrights are being infringed. This includes the procedure for notifying the ISP (or operators of college campus or corporate networks) to have them put a stop to the infringement without violating anyone’s privacy rights. If the infringement continues, the copyright owner can then take further legal measures, which are also spelled out under the law. The law also provides protections to ISPs as long as they carry out their obligations under the DMCA.

As bad a law as the DMCA is, it does spell out what is expected of the parties involved, and what is required in order to prove infringement. By circumventing these provisions of the DMCA, a law they practically dictated verbatim to the legislators who enacted it only a few years before, the RIAA has opted for vigilante justice and trial by media circus over the rule of law and the right to due process. I’ve always thought our neighbors to the north had more common sense than we often exhibit in the USA, but from what I’ve been reading, the CRIA seems to be headed in the same dangerous direction. I don’t know what the Canadian copyright laws are, but if the CRIA imitates the behavior of the RIAA, it doesn’t matter what those laws are; the CRIA will make up whatever excuses they need to.

Andy, a personal message. Please pay close attn to the mother who is suing the RIAA under the RICO Act. It might give you more options.

ln_solitude