P2P Forum Italia - Guarda post singolo - Facciamoci sentire

VedoVa_NeRa · 10-05-2007, 22:41

Signori è stata preparata una news informativa in Inglese da inviare a siti/stampa internazionali. Vi prego di aiutarmi a diffonderla. Al momento ho contattato solo
eff.org
zeropaid.com
slyck.com

Se conoscete altri siti copiate il testo sotto ed inviate

Music label crackdowns on Italian filesharers

In a case that's bound to strongly affect the way Italian Internet users' privacy is safeguarded by laws, a notorious recording label from Germany, Peppermint Jam, has sent 3636 recorded mails to as many file-sharers "found" guilty of uploading some copyrighted songs (by Mousse T, founder of the label, and other artists in the Peppermint rooster: Warren G, James Kakande, Colin Rich) on such P2P platforms as eMule, eDonkey and BitTorrent.

In the letters, sent via the law firm Mahlknecht & Rottensteiner, the Hannover-based label enjoins the 3636 swappers from persisting in their infringement of copyright laws and commands them to remove any "song" (or, better, any supposedly song-related file) whom Peppermint Jam has rights upon from the shared folders. Moreover, the users must committ themselves to «deposit 300 euros into the bank account in Malhknecht & Rottensteiner's name within the 14th of May», if they don't want to have a criminal and/or a civil lawsuit brought against them. 300 euros are in "symbolical" compensation for damage caused by sharing a single song (every user involved in the case has been accused to share only one specifical file/song)!

That would sound like an attempt to formalize what the anglophones call «off court resolution»; yet the price to pay is established only by the "plaintiff" and there's very few time left for swappers to come to an agree with discographics' legal advisers. In fact, it's worth noting that the time space between mails arrival and the set term for payment is just one week. All this brings us to mind some "expensive" methods (read: payment orders) already used by RIAA in USA; particularly, the extremely short gap left for accused users to make a pondered-over decision gives those mails a semblance of an ill-concealed menace. I.e: Peppermint Jam is leveraging the lack of time and people's fears to force, in a way that's not yet been proven perfectly legal, file-sharign boys to pay 300 euros for a song.

The letters follow the last year's ruling of the Court of Rome which compelled Italian ISPs to disclose users' sensible data in behalf of the law firm handling the interests of Peppermint Jam. The attorneys have, so, come into possession of the physical names and addresses matching the IPs that an unorthodox (let's call it so...) first phase of "investigation" - involving the infamous Logistep software for monitoring filesharing networks - had detected as engaged in the uploading of the Peppermint-copyrighted songs. The strange thing is that the Court of Rome has ruled the disclosement of private data relying upon "evidence" found in a way that is not contemplated by current Italian laws.

Another strange thing lays in the form the sent mails themselves have. The lawyers backing the German indie label write that paying for the "established" compensation remove the risk of being subject to criminal charges for copyright infringement, but that's not exactly true. There could also be the eventuality of a "querela d'ufficio" (legal action of-office). Moreover, once paid, the compensation is tantamount to an admission not only of the misdeed (proven as such by controversial methods) but also of the paid price fairness. We accept to pay 300 euros for just one song; even considering the "legal and investigation" expenses, it's an over-compensative price for damages that are only supposed.
Another point: a massive admission of guilt shall surely set a precedent which every infamous or, simply, not-selling recording label could easily take advantage of. And that is definitely neither the best way to face the perpetuous sliding down of CD sales, or the most brilliant urging to buy online downloads.

Italian largest online P2P community, P2P Forum Italia is trying to give Peppermint Jam victims support and a form of organization for facing the menacing ways of the German jingle-sellers, hoping that file-sharers will be united enough to stand for a tangible, propositive force.

P2P Forum Italia
http://www.p2pforum.it

10-05-2007, 22:41
VedoVa_NeRa Lost in LaLaLand Admin Profilo: Iscritto dal: 27-02-2003 Messaggi: 16.853 Punti: 15.726 P2P in uso: Limewire Rep:	Re: Facciamoci sentire - contattiamo i media Signori è stata preparata una news informativa in Inglese da inviare a siti/stampa internazionali. Vi prego di aiutarmi a diffonderla. Al momento ho contattato solo eff.org zeropaid.com slyck.com Se conoscete altri siti copiate il testo sotto ed inviate Music label crackdowns on Italian filesharers In a case that's bound to strongly affect the way Italian Internet users' privacy is safeguarded by laws, a notorious recording label from Germany, Peppermint Jam, has sent 3636 recorded mails to as many file-sharers "found" guilty of uploading some copyrighted songs (by Mousse T, founder of the label, and other artists in the Peppermint rooster: Warren G, James Kakande, Colin Rich) on such P2P platforms as eMule, eDonkey and BitTorrent. In the letters, sent via the law firm Mahlknecht & Rottensteiner, the Hannover-based label enjoins the 3636 swappers from persisting in their infringement of copyright laws and commands them to remove any "song" (or, better, any supposedly song-related file) whom Peppermint Jam has rights upon from the shared folders. Moreover, the users must committ themselves to «deposit 300 euros into the bank account in Malhknecht & Rottensteiner's name within the 14th of May», if they don't want to have a criminal and/or a civil lawsuit brought against them. 300 euros are in "symbolical" compensation for damage caused by sharing a single song (every user involved in the case has been accused to share only one specifical file/song)! That would sound like an attempt to formalize what the anglophones call «off court resolution»; yet the price to pay is established only by the "plaintiff" and there's very few time left for swappers to come to an agree with discographics' legal advisers. In fact, it's worth noting that the time space between mails arrival and the set term for payment is just one week. All this brings us to mind some "expensive" methods (read: payment orders) already used by RIAA in USA; particularly, the extremely short gap left for accused users to make a pondered-over decision gives those mails a semblance of an ill-concealed menace. I.e: Peppermint Jam is leveraging the lack of time and people's fears to force, in a way that's not yet been proven perfectly legal, file-sharign boys to pay 300 euros for a song. The letters follow the last year's ruling of the Court of Rome which compelled Italian ISPs to disclose users' sensible data in behalf of the law firm handling the interests of Peppermint Jam. The attorneys have, so, come into possession of the physical names and addresses matching the IPs that an unorthodox (let's call it so...) first phase of "investigation" - involving the infamous Logistep software for monitoring filesharing networks - had detected as engaged in the uploading of the Peppermint-copyrighted songs. The strange thing is that the Court of Rome has ruled the disclosement of private data relying upon "evidence" found in a way that is not contemplated by current Italian laws. Another strange thing lays in the form the sent mails themselves have. The lawyers backing the German indie label write that paying for the "established" compensation remove the risk of being subject to criminal charges for copyright infringement, but that's not exactly true. There could also be the eventuality of a "querela d'ufficio" (legal action of-office). Moreover, once paid, the compensation is tantamount to an admission not only of the misdeed (proven as such by controversial methods) but also of the paid price fairness. We accept to pay 300 euros for just one song; even considering the "legal and investigation" expenses, it's an over-compensative price for damages that are only supposed. Another point: a massive admission of guilt shall surely set a precedent which every infamous or, simply, not-selling recording label could easily take advantage of. And that is definitely neither the best way to face the perpetuous sliding down of CD sales, or the most brilliant urging to buy online downloads. Italian largest online P2P community, P2P Forum Italia is trying to give Peppermint Jam victims support and a form of organization for facing the menacing ways of the German jingle-sellers, hoping that file-sharers will be united enough to stand for a tangible, propositive force. P2P Forum Italia http://www.p2pforum.it __________________ Se dovessi camminare in una valle oscura, non temerei alcun male, perché Tu sei con me In ogni dove la Vita è piena di cose da amare.