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An Interesting Day for Digital Music
First the strange news that Wal-Mart is now selling Windows Media Music downloads off their website. The selection still sucks and you can practically be ten minutes away from a Wal-Mart in most of America so his is like the crappy low-rent alternative to Apple iTunes Music Store.
Then there is the great news that the D.C. Circuit Court ruled that the RIAA can not use the DMCA to force ISPs to spy on their customers internet transactions. This is a major major win for the EFF and the American people!
Court Rules Verizon Can Refuse to ID Customers to Music Industry
Washington, DC - In a victory for Verizon and the privacy of Internet users, the D.C. Circuit Court today dismissed the recording industry's subpoenas for user identities. The Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA) has filed nearly 3,000 subpoenas in Washington, D.C., as a prelude to lawsuits against 382 alleged filesharers. The court today ruled that those subpoenas are not authorized by the Digital Millennium Copyright Act.
"Internet users are the winners in the Verizon case," said Electronic Frontier Foundation (EFF) Staff Attorney Wendy Seltzer. "The effect of the appeals court decision is that we do not lose our privacy simply by connecting to the Internet. The ruling stops the record labels from taking our free speech rights as collateral damage in the campaign against the American music fan."
EFF filed an amicus brief supporting Verizon on behalf of 45 consumer, privacy, and Internet industry groups.
Oh yeah and WinAmp 5 really whips the llama's ass. But you can still rip CDs to MP3 for free using Apple iTunes.
Jake at December 19, 2003 
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Comments
Jake,
Good news! I just wanted to remind your readers, no matter where they buy, they should consider checking out their selection at http://riaaradar.com first. I know I don't want to unwittingly support corporations that would sue their customers, including 13 year olds and even guy who doesn't own a computer for using Kazaa or Napster or the like - just to make an example of them.
Posted by: mahalie at December 19, 2003 1:13 PM
An Interesting Day for Digital Music indeed. Here in the Netherlands the highest court ruled today (or was it yesterday) that Kazaa is legal.
Not that I use it, but interesting nevertheless...
Posted by: JQN at December 19, 2003 2:55 PM
Well in the US using P2P systems is legal as long as you do not trade copy righted files.
It is sort of like you can own a gun and bullets but shooting people is mostly against the law.
Posted by: Jake at December 19, 2003 3:12 PM
