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IP: EFF: Recording Industry Attacks Internet to Stop Chinese Pirates, Lawsuit Would Extend Great Internet Firewall of China to US
From: Dave Farber <dave () farber net>
Date: Mon, 19 Aug 2002 16:21:09 -0400
Electronic Frontier Foundation Media Release For Immediate Release: Monday, August 19, 2002 Contact: Fred von Lohmann Senior Intellectual Property Attorney Electronic Frontier Foundation fred () eff org +1 415 436-9333 x123 (office), +1 415 215-6087 (cell) Recording Industry Attacks Internet to Stop Chinese Pirates Lawsuit Would Extend Great Internet Firewall of China to US New York, NY - The Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA) asked a court Friday to order four Internet Service Providers (ISPs) who maintain the Internet "backbone" to prevent access to a Chinese website that provides unauthorized copies of copyrighted music. The Electronic Frontier Foundation (EFF) opposes the RIAA action because it seeks to establish a precedent that anyone alleging piracy could shut down access to parts of the Internet, resulting in inappropriate shutdowns, undue administrative burden for ISPs, and imperiling the basic principle of unfettered exchange of information on the Internet. "This latest lawsuit, along with the recently proposed Berman bill, demonstrates that the major record labels have declared war on the infrastructure of the Internet in their campaign to stop the digital music revolution," said EFF Senior Intellectual Property Attorney Fred von Lohmann. "The Business Software Alliance and software industries, who have for years battled overseas pirates, have never resorted to lawsuits against Internet backbone providers that is both pointless and dangerous to innocent bystanders." "We shouldn't be copying the Great Firewall of China here in the United States," noted von Lohmann. "Offering U.S. consumers a compelling, fairly-priced alternative to the black market will stop illicit traffic to Chinese websites far more effectively than dragging ISPs into 'whack-a-mole' Internet blocking efforts." EFF expresses its concern that attempts to shut down parts of the Internet will spread to "proxy services," like Anonymizer.com, which are crucial to privacy and free expression online. For this release: http://www.eff.org/Infra/20020819_eff_riaa_pr.html RIAA court filings against Internet backbone ISPs: http://www.eff.org/Infra/riaa_v_backbone.html About EFF: The Electronic Frontier Foundation is the leading civil liberties organization working to protect rights in the digital world. Founded in 1990, EFF actively encourages and challenges industry and government to support free expression and privacy online. EFF is a member-supported organization and maintains one of the most-linked-to websites in the world at http://www.eff.org/ For archives see: http://www.interesting-people.org/archives/interesting-people/
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- IP: EFF: Recording Industry Attacks Internet to Stop Chinese Pirates, Lawsuit Would Extend Great Internet Firewall of China to US Dave Farber (Aug 19)