Robert Fripp's Diary

Bredonborough The Sidney has forwarded

15.58

Bredonborough.

The Sidney has forwarded this to me…

Can filesharers be made to pay?

The music industry is beginning to understand that lawsuits don’t deter pirates and that it must find ways to make money from P2P sharing, says Adam Webb

Thursday March 22, 2007 The Guardian

… The RIAA began legal actions against US citizens in June 2003, and its current strategy of targeting college campuses has created a wave of new headlines - most of them negative… In all, 13 US universities have been pressured into supplying the details of students who have shared music over their computer networks.

High-profile case The British Phonographic Industry (BPI), has displayed a tad more sensitivity than its US counterparts, where more than 18,000 people have faced legal proceedings, including a recently deceased 83-year-old woman and, in one high-profile case, a 12-year-old girl.

"You have to give the BPI credit," says Struan Robertson, a technology lawyer with Pinsent Masons and editor of IT legal magazine Out-Law. "At the time that the RIAA started making noises about suing individuals, the BPI waited until the law was clear until and a legitimate [download business] was in place. I think they deserve credit for that."

Since launching legal proceedings against 28 filesharers in October 2004, the BPI says only 111 further actions have been instigated. Of this total, 127 were settled out of court, with the offending individuals paying an average of £2,300. The remaining cases all resulted in civil actions; the BPI won each one with either default or summary judgements…

According to Eric Garland, chief executive of Big Champagne, a media analysis company that specialises in monitoring P2P traffic, around 1bn tracks are traded illegally each month. These figures are dwarfed by estimates made by the International Federation of the Phonographic Industry (IFPI). It reckons that about 20bn tracks were illegally shared last year.

However, for the BPI’s chief executive, Geoff Taylor, the primary motivation behind the legal action was never to stamp out filesharing, but to raise consciousness. "Our goals were to establish clearly that filesharing is illegal," he says. "We never expected these actions to wipe out illegal filesharing on their own, but they’ve done much to raise awareness about the illegality of distributing music over the internet using P2P networks, and have been effective in changing many consumers’ behaviour."…

Taylor adds it is "likely" that legal actions will continue this year, although he would not say whether this would include downloaders as well as uploaders. So far only those who offer music have been sought, not those who grab a copy via download. The BPI will also be "developing new strands to our enforcement strategy that respond to developments in the nature of the internet piracy threat".

That means bringing ISPs into the equation. The music industry is pressing ISPs to cut off people it identifies as filesharers. That has met with a distinctively cool reaction from ISPs, who do not see it as their job to do the BPI’s enforcement.

… Social networking has really captured that unique aspect of content sharing that consumers love and brought it to a whole other level of self-expression - you can write about stuff, you can put photos up, you can chat with friends and so on. Hundreds of millions of consumers have evolved their behaviour and are consuming media in a much different and more legitimate way when they used to."

Evolving models The music industry is adapting to these evolving consumption models and signing content deals often based on a cut of advertising. It has to - the revenue hole from falling CD sales is not being plugged by iTunes downloads. However, aside from encouraging consumers to, well, consume, such strategies will often mean partnering up with previously sworn enemies - such as Fanning, through SnoCap… "Six years later, the labels have learned the difference between P2P and piracy," says Rosso. "They’ve learned that P2P is a technology. Ultimately, I think that the content will be free and all ad supported."…

The head of the IFPI is John Kennedy, Hero.

Question: if the content is free, and ad supported, how much of the advertising income will be factored through for artists?

The Red Lion:: Posted by Frippaccino on March 22, 2007

You may already know this, but the Red Lion House (see journal entry from March 14) is reportedly haunted by three ghosts and was featured on the British TV series Most Haunted.

I wonder if you’ve experienced anything of the paranormal variety whilst imbibing there…

Dating back to the 1600s, Avebury Stones, along with the nearby Red Lion pub, is reputedly one of the most paranormal places in Great Britain, the latter of which is allegedly haunted by three ghosts...

Firstly, this is a different Red Lion. The Red Lion House in Cranborne was an inn during the 18th. & maybe 19th. centuries.

Secondly, Edith Olivier reported an unusual happening at Avebury when driving through (1940s?) and I don’t doubt a few encounters of the ghostly kind near the stones.

Thirdly, did we have unusual happenings at the Red Lion House? Well, there are the stories told of those who stayed in the New York Room & shared the dream of the axe-murderer. I didn’t sleep in the room, so have no comment…

Lord David, Englishman in Africa, as it were…

Red Lion House drop-leaf table, supporting a William Walker bowl I…

II…