As you know these groups are very secretive for good reason. Law enforcement is cracking down hard internationally on these groups but these groups are more educated and mobile than their pursuers. Also look at the Center for Digital Democracy and The Benson Foundation for some studies. You can also look at The Pew Institute for some studies on piracy. There are several groups supporting fair usage like the Center for Digital Democracy. Are you ready for this one: the RIAA, the MPAA are in a fight with the electronics manufacturers group because they keep inventing devices that enable people to rip, copy and transfer digital content. Good Morning Silicon Valley had a recently piece on its newsletter/blog. The rhetoric was quite heated, and this controversy looks like it will not end any time soon. In fact I am predicting it will become more combustible. My rationale is the article on Apple's website (hot news) by no other than Steve Jobs who directly pointed the finger at the labels for forcing Apple and Microsoft to bundle their downloads with DRM. Jobs listed three scenarios: keep the status quo because its working, creating an open version of iTunes that could be licensed to other digital store so that the Apple DRM could be shared across different online stores or eliminating DRM all together and having open downloads without DRM. Jobs stated that he favored eliminating DRM because there are smart people who figure out how to compromise DRM all the time and it is just too expensive anyway. Jobs also makes the point that the big four music labels reside mostly in Europe: SonyBMG, EMI and Universal. Many European countries are now passing anti-iPod and iTunes laws even though it is the music labels who hold the true power and they resent Apple's ability to control the online market and sell iPods without the industry getting a piece of iPod sales (see Warner Music Group head E. Bronfman). This is why the Zune player is giving some of the proceeds of its sales to the music industry. See an article on 2/7 by Shel Holtz at shel@holtz.com - Labels? We don't need no stinkin' labels -----Original Message----- From: air-l-bounces@listserv.aoir.org [mailto:air-l-bounces@listserv.aoir.org] On Behalf Of Andrew Whelan Sent: Thursday, February 08, 2007 1:44 PM To: air-l@listserv.aoir.org Subject: Re: [Air-l] music 'piracy' groups query Hi Chris, Many thanks for these leads, I am vaguely familiar with some Lessig stuff and the EFF but the rest are new to me (indeed, I didn't know the EFF made an argument supprting ripping in terms of fair use). I am especially interested in how 'rippers' relate to the p2p 'masses', as it were, and therefore I'm as yet undecided on whether or not to contact rip groups directly - they are anyway notoriously cagey. However, I have amassed a significant number of group-produced '.nfo' files, a very small number of which include contact details (usually for IRC channels). I would of course probably need an 'invite', but may, if needs be, be able to secure one through p2p contacts. Thanks again, Andrew On 2/8/07, Heidelberg, Chris <Chris.Heidelberg@ssa.gov> wrote:
Andrew:
Good luck! You will have to know someone and have that person vouch for you because this has really gone underground thanks to the MPAA and RIAA series of international raids and successful lawsuits all over the globe. They may think you are a narc, so be careful. However,
the RIAA and MPAA have plenty of stories, position papers, and releases on these groups and how they caught them. The most recent group that I have found as an ancillary part of my research for my upcoming defense was in Russia. Lessig has written several good books that can give you the legal history of technology disruption and intellectual property lawsuits. Consider the history of Napster, Morpheus, eDonkey, Limewire and more when looking for articles.The lawsuits are interesting too. You can actually Google them and it will
lead you to articles. I would look at Good Morning Silicon Valley which has done a lot of articles and commentary on the subject. Look at Lawrence Lessig's website. Also, you can try Fisher who wrote the book Promises to Keep on this subject in 2004. He's a Harvard researcher.Also look at the software trade group site for their positions on piracy.That's how I found some things. Also, look at the EFF site. Check out the Electronic Frontier Foundation and similar groups are defenders of fair usage through ripping.
-----Original Message----- From: air-l-bounces@listserv.aoir.org [mailto:air-l-bounces@listserv.aoir.org] On Behalf Of Andrew Whelan Sent: Thursday, February 08, 2007 10:13 AM To: air-l@listserv.aoir.org Subject: [Air-l] music 'piracy' groups query
Dear all,
I am researching the groups who 'rip' commercial CDs and vinyl for peer-to-peer distribution and wondered if anyone had come across any reading on this phenomena. The only article I have been able to find addressing this subject specifically is:
Cooper, Jon, and Daniel Harrison. 2001. "The social organization of audio piracy on the Internet." *Media, Culture and Society* vol. 23, no. 1, pp. 71-89.
Any suggestions as to material, especially on audio, or film 'rippers', or indeed software 'cracker' groups, would be very much appreciated.
Best wishes,
Andrew Whelan _______________________________________________ The air-l@listserv.aoir.org mailing list is provided by the Association of Internet Researchers http://aoir.org Subscribe, change options or unsubscribe at: http://listserv.aoir.org/listinfo.cgi/air-l-aoir.org
Join the Association of Internet Researchers: http://www.aoir.org/ _______________________________________________ The air-l@listserv.aoir.org mailing list is provided by the Association of Internet Researchers http://aoir.org Subscribe, change options or unsubscribe at: http://listserv.aoir.org/listinfo.cgi/air-l-aoir.org
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