p2pnet - rss feed: Big Music ‘police’ raid Kazaa
One of Big Music’s private police forces has raided the homes of Sharman Networks ceo Nikki Hemming, Brilliant Digital Entertainment ceo and president Kevin Burmeister (Altnet) and Sharman director of technology Phil Morle, as well as Monash University, the University of Queensland, the University of New South Wales and four ISPs.
Various music industry-owned ‘trade’ organs such as America’s RIAA and its international arm, the IFPI, run by ex-RIAA boss Jay Berman, have been successfully using international police forces as unpaid music industry enforcers for years.
But this easily tops anything it’s been able to get away with so far.
Through a unit called Music Industry Piracy Investigations, the major record labels obtained an Anton Pilar order from Justice Murray Wilcox, says ZDNet Australia here.
The order allows a copyright holder to enter a premises to search for and seize material that breaches copyright without alerting the target through court proceedings, says ZDNet, going on to quote Michael Speck, the man who runs the music industry police force, as saying:
“This is not about individuals, this is about the big fish. This is a signal that Internet music piracy is finished in Australia.”
Speck is the man who once tried to directly influence sentencing in an Australian court case.
The investigation into the Kazaa network has been ongoing for six months, the report goes on, and was “precipitated by a significant change in the physical and technical structure of Sharman Networks, according to Speck.
“This action appears to be an extraordinary waste of time, money and resources going over legal ground that has been well and truly covered in the US and Dutch Courts over the past 18 months,” said Sharman Networks in a statement. “This is a knee-jerk reaction by the recording industry to discredit Sharman Networks and the Kazaa software, following a number of recent court decisions around the world that have ruled against the entertainment industry?s agenda to stamp out peer-to-peer technology.”
Monash University and the University of Queensland have challenged the order, and the arguments will be heard before Justice Wilcox today, and Sharman Networks, Australian subsidiary LEF Interactive and BDE will face record company lawyers before Justice Wilcox on Tuesday, adds the report.
Sharman is also under pressure in America where it’s an add-on in the land-mark Morpheus and Grokster -v- Hollywood case.
Ironically, it’s a music industry wannabe and has been trying unsuccessfully to get alongside the major labels for some time.
February 6th, 2004 at 5:20 pm
Sad really,raid killers and child molesters not this.
February 6th, 2004 at 6:29 pm
What a load of CRAP! I wouldn’t buy Any of the music today without a listen for a few days and the agreement of my wife after a few trips in the car. Boo on you music company ‘dicks’
February 12th, 2004 at 5:01 am
Exactly. NOBODY deserves to be raided or punished in ANY way for sharing music. Murders, rapists, and robbers, on the other hand, do deserve it. And, no, filesharers are not robbers.
March 3rd, 2004 at 5:35 am