the RIAA has 1600 more supoenas in the works, and seems to want to continue to discourage people from downloading contect off the internet.
In Canada, music downloaders are covered by something called the Canadian copyright levy. Which allows for personal use of rerecorded music. This levy is a tax allplied to blank media, and soon to be other recordable devices such as mp3 players.
The united states is also covered by a simular law:
Sec. 1004. - Royalty payments
(a) Digital Audio Recording Devices. -
(1) Amount of payment. -
The royalty payment due under section 1003 for each digital audio recording device imported into and distributed in the United States, or manufactured and distributed in the United States, shall be 2 percent of the transfer price. Only the first person to manufacture and distribute or import and distribute such device shall be required to pay the royalty with respect to such device.
(2) Calculation for devices distributed with other devices. -
With respect to a digital audio recording device first distributed in combination with one or more devices, either as a physically integrated unit or as separate components, the royalty payment shall be calculated as follows:
(A)
If the digital audio recording device and such other devices are part of a physically integrated unit, the royalty payment shall be based on the transfer price of the unit, but shall be reduced by any royalty payment made on any digital audio recording device included within the unit that was not first distributed in combination with the unit.
(B)
If the digital audio recording device is not part of a physically integrated unit and substantially similar devices have been distributed separately at any time during the preceding 4 calendar quarters, the royalty payment shall be based on the average transfer price of such devices during those 4 quarters.
©
If the digital audio recording device is not part of a physically integrated unit and substantially similar devices have not been distributed separately at any time during the preceding 4 calendar quarters, the royalty payment shall be based on a constructed price reflecting the proportional value of such device to the combination as a whole.
(3) Limits on royalties. -
Notwithstanding paragraph (1) or (2), the amount of the royalty payment for each digital audio recording device shall not be less than $1 nor more than the royalty maximum. The royalty maximum shall be $8 per device, except that in the case of a physically integrated unit containing more than 1 digital audio recording device, the royalty maximum for such unit shall be $12. During the 6th year after the effective date of this chapter, and not more than once each year thereafter, any interested copyright party may petition the Librarian of Congress to increase the royalty maximum and, if more than 20 percent of the royalty payments are at the relevant royalty maximum, the Librarian of Congress shall prospectively increase such royalty maximum with the goal of having no more than 10 percent of such payments at the new royalty maximum; however the amount of any such increase as a percentage of the royalty maximum shall in no event exceed the percentage increase in the Consumer Price Index during the period under review.
(b) Digital Audio Recording Media. -
The royalty payment due under section 1003 for each digital audio recording medium imported into and distributed in the United States, or manufactured and distributed in the United States, shall be 3 percent of the transfer price. Only the first person to manufacture and distribute or import and distribute such medium shall be required to pay the royalty with respect to such medium.
but, as you can see, the RIAA is not happy just collecting Billions, they want Tens of Billions...
the levy increases each year in canada, but the actual amount will be decided later this year, and a proposed fixed amount for a set number of years is going to be discussed...
for the year of 2003 canadians payed an extra 50 sents per blank cd-r...
but, we are covered by this law to make copies of all audio we see fit...
BUT, we are not allowed to make copies for others...to get around this, the person who wants to copy must actually use your computer and make the copy themselves...easy enough work around
...again, the RIAA is actually screwing their consumers, and basically just being greedy...maybe they should step back, and look at how well canada levy is working...
i dont mind paying a few extra cents a cd, but i want to make sure it does not get out of control...
we'll be hearing about is Blockbuster suing people because they're using DVD burners to burn their DVD's. You don't hear the MOVIE INDUSTRY complaining. That's because the Police or FBI can't go to EVERY home to see who's burning what. Unless they set up surveillence to see into people's homes, which is basically what the RIAA and CRIA and other industries are doing when they look at what's on our hard drives. It's that the Internet makes it easy for them to exploit people's privacy. It's a shame I like owning CD's, otherwise I might say "screw those 'tards" and never BUY another CD. Bunch of numnuts.