*EPF113 08/04/2003
Text: Online Americans Disregard Music Copyright Protections, Study Finds
(Music downloading violates copyright, but users unconcerned) (1150)

A significant number of online Americans have changed the way they find and acquire new music to listen to, according to a study released July 31, and they do not seem concerned that their actions violate intellectual property laws. The report -- "Music Downloading, File-Sharing and Copyright" -- is the latest in a series conducted by the Pew Internet and American Life Project.

The introduction of the report says that content owners face an "uphill battle" to enforce copyright laws. The Pew research found that 67 percent of Internet users downloading music say they are not concerned about how their actions violate copyrights on the material. That disregard for intellectual property protections has apparently increased since 2000 when Pew conducted a similar study and found that 61 percent of downloaders were unconcerned about copyright protections.

The Pew study also summarizes the legal battle the music industry has waged to protect its property in the age of Internet file-sharing. The Recording Industry Association of America is becoming increasingly aggressive in its legal actions, the report says, seeking information from close to 1,000 Internet service providers about customers who may be infringing on copyright.

The Pew study is available online at http://www.pewinternet.org/reports/toc.asp?Report=96

Following is an excerpt from the Pew report:

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PEW INTERNET AND AMERICAN LIFE PROJECT
July 31, 2003

Music Downloading, File-Sharing and Copyright: A Pew Internet Project Data Memo

Introduction

The struggle to enforce copyright laws in the digital age continues to be an uphill battle for content owners. Data gathered from Pew Internet & American Life Project surveys fielded during March -- May of 2003 show that a striking 67% of Internet users who download music say they do not care about whether the music they have downloaded is copyrighted. A little over a quarter of these music downloaders -- 27% -- say they do care, and 6% said they don't have a position or know enough about the issue.

The number of downloaders who say they don't care about copyright has increased since July-August 2000, when 61% of a smaller number of downloaders said they didn't care about the copyright status of their music files.

Of those Internet users who share files online (such as music or video) with others, 65% say they do not care whether the files they share are copyrighted or not. Thirty percent say they do care about the copyright status of the files they share, and 5% said they don't know or don't have a position.

Background

Americans' attitude towards copyrighted material online has remained dismissive, even amidst a torrent of media coverage and legal cases aimed at educating the public about the threat file-sharing poses to the intellectual property industries. Consumers argue, in some news reports, that downloading simply supplements their regular music purchasing habits or serves as a form of sampling new music. Some consumers have also been quoted as saying that the prices of CDs and DVDs are too high with too little profit going to the artists, while others say the music they want simply isn't available offline because it is out-of-print or otherwise hard to find. Still others say that they are entitled to make "fair use" of the music they purchase by sharing it with friends over these networks.

Whatever the argument, it is clear that millions of Americans have changed the way they find and listen to music. When we last issued a report on the growing popularity of downloading music online in 2001, the legal battle to protect copyright was focused on the efforts of the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA) to challenge large file-sharing networks like Napster. Though the RIAA won its case against Napster and effectively forced the site to shut down in 2001, a myriad of decentralized file-sharing services emerged and millions of Internet users simply migrated to the new systems. In all, the recording industry attributes a 25% drop in CD sales since 1999 to online piracy. However, some have disputed this notion, citing a slumping economy, rising CD prices and fewer titles being released.

This year, the RIAA lost an important case against the makers of the Morpheus and Grokster peer-to-peer software when a federal judge in Los Angeles ruled that the file-sharing software itself was legal, even if it was being used to distribute illegal copies of copyrighted music and movies. The court ruling prompted a shift in the RIAA's tactics from suing file-sharing companies to targeting individuals who allegedly use file-sharing software to download and share copyrighted material.

In January 2003, the RIAA won a landmark case against Verizon, forcing the company, under the provisions of the 1998 Digital Millennium Copyright Act, to release the names of subscribers who were suspected of copyright infringement. Verizon appealed the ruling, citing customer privacy concerns and the lack of court oversight required for the subpoena process. However, the ruling was ultimately upheld and paved the way for the recording industry and other copyright holders to begin suing individuals believed to be infringing on copyright protections.

As of July 28, 2003, the RIAA has sent out close to 1,000 subpoenas requesting information from Internet Service Providers in order to identify and contact customers who are potential copyright infringers. The lobbying arm of the recording industry has said it would focus its subpoena campaign on users who were allowing a "substantial" number of files to be shared from their computers. However, some users claim they are unaware that they are making their files available to others because programs like KaZaA include default settings that automatically allow sharing with others on the network. Other users say they have assumed that because Napster was shut down, any file-sharing service that remained in operation must only permit legitimate or "fair" uses. However, while Napster was unsuccessful in using a fair use defense in its case, it remains to be seen how successful this line of defense will be for the cases involving individual Internet users.

In addition to the lawsuits being filed by the RIAA, two pieces of federal legislation were introduced that are intended to curb the illegal use of file-sharing networks. The Piracy Deterrence and Education Act of 2003 (HR 2517), sponsored by Lamar Smith (R-Texas), proposes warning, education, and enforcement programs that would require the involvement of the Federal Bureau of Investigation and the Department of Justice. The Author, Consumer, and Computer Owner Protection and Security Act (HR 2752), proposed jointly by John Conyers (D-Michigan) and Howard Berman (D-California), would impose criminal penalties of up to five years in prison for online copyright infringement. Additionally, it proposes an allocation of $15 million to the Department of Justice to enhance domestic and international enforcement of copyright laws.

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(Distributed by the Bureau of International Information Programs, U.S. Department of State. Web site: http://usinfo.state.gov)

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