Yale Students Replace Kazaa With Humans Swapping CDs
from the not-quite-as-efficient,-but-tougher-for-RIAA-to-track-down dept
Sometimes, there are tradeoffs between efficiency and privacy. Lots of people have different ideas for ways to avoid getting sent an RIAA lawsuit if they're sharing music, but a student at Yale has worked out a system that isn't particularly efficient - but is much more difficult for the RIAA to track down. It's a "file sharing" website where people set up a time and place to meet to physically exchange CDs - which each person can then go off and copy (or not). The article describing the system appears in rival Harvard's newspaper, and thus they're pretty eager to point out why this system might be illegal. Of course, it isn't actually illegal. It's not even facilitating illegal activity as the point is just to let people swap legitimate CDs, which is completely legal. If they then go off and make copies, that's a legal issue that each individual needs to deal with, but the site is not involved with that aspect of the transaction.
Thank you for reading this Techdirt post. With so many things competing for everyone’s attention these days, we really appreciate you giving us your time. We work hard every day to put quality content out there for our community.
Techdirt is one of the few remaining truly independent media outlets. We do not have a giant corporation behind us, and we rely heavily on our community to support us, in an age when advertisers are increasingly uninterested in sponsoring small, independent sites — especially a site like ours that is unwilling to pull punches in its reporting and analysis.
While other websites have resorted to paywalls, registration requirements, and increasingly annoying/intrusive advertising, we have always kept Techdirt open and available to anyone. But in order to continue doing so, we need your support. We offer a variety of ways for our readers to support us, from direct donations to special subscriptions and cool merchandise — and every little bit helps. Thank you.
–The Techdirt Team
Reader Comments
Subscribe: RSS
View by: Time | Thread
No Subject Given
[ link to this | view in thread ]
No Subject Given
[ link to this | view in thread ]
Re: No Subject Given
"If you didn't pay US for it, you stole it"
Remember, they don't like used CD stores either. :)
[ link to this | view in thread ]