Burn a CD, go to prison? By Ben Charny, ZDNN August 18, 2000 1:47 PM PT URL: http://www.zdnet.com/zdnn/stories/news/0,4586,2617215,00.html The Recording Industry Association of America is well-known for its battles in civil courts, where file-sharing companies like Scour, Napster and music sellers MP3.com have felt the group's sting. That may change soon as the RIAA expands efforts to nab individual music pirates. For the next two years, the RIAA will be expanding its anti-piracy unit, which scours the Web around the clock and has already yielded dozens of arrests. The unit's director, Frank Creighton, said the "few million dollars" from the RIAA's success suing music pirates will pay for more staff at existing bureaus and allow more investigators in other areas of the country. "We need to have blanket coverage," Creighton said. Arizona man arrested The RIAA, which represents more than 90 percent of the recording industry, has said the anti-piracy unit played a role in the arrest of a Phoenix music shop owner and the seizure of 1,800 allegedly bootlegged music masters. For the next two years, the RIAA will expand its anti-piracy unit, which scours the Web around the clock and has already yielded dozens of arrests. The RIAA said shopowner Shaun Lyons, who was taken into custody, was selling pirated compilations from artists Tupac Shakur, Mary J. Blige, Destiny's Child and Eminem. The case may have been investigated by the RIAA, but the arrests were made by the Arizona Attorney General's office. The two are strange bedfellows. State Attorney General Janet Napolitano is one of the 29 state attorneys general suing the RIAA's members over price fixing concerns. Mouhamed A. Diallo, a Bronx native, was also investigated by the RIAA. He was taken into custody on Wednesday on suspicion of possessing 2,000 alleged pirate and counterfeit CD-Rs of artists including Ricky Martin, Kelly Price and Tito Puente. Creighton estimates he may have cost the music industry $6 million in revenues. Online auctions targeted Creighton said the RIAA is also expanding its watch at online auction houses, including eBay, Amazon, Yahoo!, Creighton said. The unit's so-called Internet specialists patrol for auctions of CDs that are apparently pirated, including MP3 CDs that contain upwards of 200 songs, Creighton said. Individuals selling just a few CDs will likely be left alone, Creighton said. The RIAA is after the mass sellers who sometimes offer their stock of music to losing bidders. "There is this huge misunderstanding and unfair representation of what we can do," Creighton said. "We're being spun as anti-tech, anti-consumer when, in essence, it's the exact opposite." Ric Dube of Webnoize, the digital music watching site, said the expansion was inevitable. The Internet has changed both listening habits and the nature of music piracy, creating what Dube called the "recreational world of casual music piracy." "Piracy has gone beyond traditional modes and now into the digital world," he said. "The traditional kind of pirate was moving large amount of discs throughout the world. They are now looking at consumer piracy, which is a very different thing." --- Sponsor's Message -------------------------------------- TOO MUCH DEBT? Let this nonprofit help you lower your credit card interest charges and consolidate your payments without a loan. If you have $5000 in credit card debt, click here. http://click.topica.com/aaaav5b1dhr0b1uN1Ic/Edebt ------------------------------------------------------------ to unsubscribe send mail to [EMAIL PROTECTED] to subscribe send mail to [EMAIL PROTECTED] more good stuff at http://theMezz.com/alerts ___________________________________________________________ T O P I C A The Email You Want. http://www.topica.com/t/16 Newsletters, Tips and Discussions on Your Favorite Topics
