Gathering the Info

Over the weekend I have been researching the issue of peer to peer file sharing on college campuses and collecting online sources with a particular focus on locating the beginning of the RIAA’s efforts to curb this form of copyright infringement. One particularly promising blog, Ars Technica, has covered various aspects of the issue for several years at least. Relevant postings feature links to other Ars Technica articles, available primary documents if possible, and links to other related sites like the Electronic Frontier Foundation’s blog. It has also been following the RIAA’s movements. Attorney Ray Beckerman maintains a site called Recording Industry vs. The People, and provides information and updates about the various legal measures the RIAA is taking to dissuade mass file sharing, including the filing of thousands of copyright infringement lawsuits around the country.


Although my focus has been to determine where this battle began, I have not yet found it. The RIAA seems to have lobbied Congress in 2002 to pursue criminal prosecutions under the No Electronic Theft Act passed in 1997 by former President Bill Clinton. Despite a letter sent to Attorney General John Ashcroft dated July 25, 2002, bearing the signatures of numerous senators and representatives, no prosecutions took place. By 2004, the RIAA was sending subpoenas issued under a provision of the Digital Millennium Copyright Act requesting that Internet Service Providers (ISPs) turn over identifying information from their records when an IP address had been pinned as facilitating massive file sharing. These seem to be the beginnings of the RIAA’s efforts, but further research is needed to more accurately fill in my timeline.


To be continued…


Sources:

Anderson, Nate. 2009. RIAA v. U: the state of P2P file sharing on campus. Ars Technica. http://arstechnica.com/tech-policy/news/2008/08/raa-v-u-on-campus.ars (accessed on June 28, 2009).

Beckerman, Ray. May 3, 2009. RIAA keeps on filing new cases. Recording Industry vs. The People. http://recordingindustryvspeople.blogspot.com/2009/05/riaa-keeps-on-filing-new-cases.html (accessed on June 28, 2009).

Electronic Frontier Foundation. Sept. 2008. RIAA v. The People: Five Years Later. http://www.eff.org/wp/riaa-v-people-years-later (accessed on June 28, 2009).