No action to be taken against Russian mp3 site

March 8, 2005 8:57 AM

Russian prosecutors have apparently decided not to take any action against Allofmp3.com (previously discussed here) , a Russian website which offers copyrighted mp3's for sale. The Moscow prosecutors reason is that Russian copyright laws only apply to physical media such as CD's tapes etc., not to digital media. If this decision is upeld, will it open the floodgates for others to start openly selling copyrighted material?
posted by bap98189 (25 comments total)

No. Many countries decide not to prosecute. But its only a matter of time until the FBI bribes whoever they need to bribe so they can send in a team and drag these internet bandits back to the good ol US of A.
posted by mek at 9:04 AM on March 8, 2005

It appears that the site is getting swamped right now. As someone who still has not fully embraced digital music and is more interested in using files to see if a CD is worth purchasing, this decision pleases me greatly.
posted by weretable and the undead chairs at 9:11 AM on March 8, 2005

Thank is a great idea mek, we should also try and prosecute citizens of other countries that are breaking our laws as well.
posted by ambirex at 9:14 AM on March 8, 2005

Can the US government restrict ISPs access to this domain?
posted by AlexReynolds at 9:19 AM on March 8, 2005

Yeah, and other countries should prosecute U.S. residents who break... oh, wait...

So, what's the next step for the RIAA? They're not going to stand for this, to be sure. Do they have any legal claim to ISP's who provide access to allofmp3.com?
posted by mkultra at 9:20 AM on March 8, 2005

Fortunately no, AlexReynolds, the only country I know of with such an infrastructure in place is China.
posted by mek at 9:21 AM on March 8, 2005

No. Many countries decide not to prosecute.

And many countries legal decisions are almost completely based around graft. Coincidence? I think not.
posted by milnak at 9:21 AM on March 8, 2005

Nice. Corporations can shop around the world for the lowest labor costs, and now I can shop my dollars around for the most favorable IP laws.

And I wish more people thought in these terms.
posted by MillMan at 9:43 AM on March 8, 2005

Thank God. Granted, this is only a roadblock in the process to eliminate allofmp3, but I'm glad to see it. Anything that extends its life is fine by me.

If the media companies would put content out at a reasonable price, and actually allow me to own it, I'd buy everything from them through their favorite channels. But they don't. They in fact just announced that they want to jack up the prices on legal downloads, since Apple's store is selling so much. First they fight tooth and nail to keep digital sales from happening, now they want to to 'embrace' them by pricing them out of existence.

99 cents per song is already pushing the limit for what I will pay. I only go there for exclusive stuff I really, really want. Plus, the bitrate isn't super hot, and there is DRM, albeit something I can just about live with. But if they do increase the prices, then I will stop shopping even there. Fucking morons.
posted by the_savage_mind at 9:46 AM on March 8, 2005

Just a suggestion for those that don't want to give their CC to a shady Russian company (and want to avoid using their real name) get yourself a Visa check card, like the kind you can purchase for $1.50 + amount from any Simon Mall. Just buy it in person with cash: no paper trail leading back to you.
posted by exhilaration at 9:58 AM on March 8, 2005

MillMan writes "Nice. Corporations can shop around the world for the lowest labor costs, and now I can shop my dollars around for the most favorable IP laws."

See also
posted by orthogonality at 10:02 AM on March 8, 2005

Good call exhilaration!
posted by jmd82 at 10:07 AM on March 8, 2005

Right on, orthogonality. I abhor the business practices of the entertainment industry (and the RIAA is near the bottom of that swamp), but people who justify their use of services like this on a legal technicality are missing the bigger picture.
posted by mkultra at 10:36 AM on March 8, 2005

Note to music moguls: if you're music isn't being played on the radio or the TV people are very, very unlikely to buy it no matter how rawking it may be. People hearing your music is a good thing that leads to increased sales.

[Had I been using it] allofmp3 would [has] been responsible for me buying a ridiculous number of CDs recently, just like all the CDs I bought after downloading a few songs off Napster.
posted by fshgrl at 10:43 AM on March 8, 2005

you're =your
posted by fshgrl at 10:47 AM on March 8, 2005

I abhor the business practices of the entertainment industry (and the RIAA is near the bottom of that swamp), but people who justify their use of services like this on a legal technicality are missing the bigger picture.

Won't *someone* think of the obsolete business models?

Let's ban computers, because they unjustly took away jobs from hard working employees of the typewriter industry! Gah, the morality of it all!
posted by MillMan at 11:32 AM on March 8, 2005

exhilaration: Visa check card, like the kind you can purchase for $1.50 + amount from any Simon Mall. Just buy it in person with cash: no paper trail leading back to you.

In Canada (well Edmonton) you can also get them from Citizens Bank at West Edmonton Mall.

Several countries have regional firewalls including Burma, Saudi Arabia, Laos, North Korea, Vietnam. and Iran. Some how I don't see it flying in even the War on Terror USA.
posted by Mitheral at 1:17 PM on March 8, 2005

MillMan writes, " Let's ban computers, because they unjustly took away jobs from hard working employees of the typewriter industry! Gah, the morality of it all!"

Straw man. When was there ever a debate about the legality of computers? Besides, I'm all in favor of electronic distribution- since iTMS opened, I've pretty much stopped buying CD's.

What's your point?
posted by mkultra at 2:02 PM on March 8, 2005

It's a joke
posted by magullo at 2:08 PM on March 8, 2005

Here's another: Why not use this as an excuse to invade Russia and get that one over with as well?
posted by magullo at 2:13 PM on March 8, 2005

oh

Let the search for WMP's begin!
posted by mkultra at 2:23 PM on March 8, 2005

Ok, can someone confirm that you can use the Visa Gift Card with allofmp3.com (since it's not a 'regular' credit card)?
posted by antron at 5:11 PM on March 8, 2005

mkultra writes, What's your point?

The point is that technology constantly changes the marketplace, and using the legal system to enforce obsolete business models and thwart the threatening new technology doesn't allow new efficiencies gained through the technology to be realized. That's a net drain on the economy.

The internet is simply a better and cheaper distribution system for music than the brick and mortar stores selling CDs. The middle man is no longer needed. On average everyone either saves money (consumers) or makes more money (artists) as the now "parasitic" middle man is eliminated, who will have to retool himself and be productive elsewhere in the economy.

Laws are challenged and changed all the time in response to technological changes like this.

iTunes is a nice start, but you're still paying prices based on the big 5's monopoly distribution channels. Allofmp3 isn't ideal either, since the artists don't get a cut. In the future I hope artists distribute their own music, with record companies functioning as contract marketers hired by musicians. The fans then will hopefully donate a few bucks to each artist they like through some sort of gift economy.

On a more basic level, we can't expect the economy to continue growing by forcing scarcity in places where it doesn't exist. There are some huge questions there, I know, because information creators have to be compensated in some fashion. Still, I can't see how anyone can possibly support the continued existence of middle men that technology has obsoleted.
posted by MillMan at 7:26 PM on March 8, 2005

MillMan, I think you're misinterpreting my point- the lost income I'm talking about is from the people who produce the music- the artists, the engineers, (unfortunately) the producers. The middlemen who produce, distribute, and sell the physical media are, I agree, unfortunate victims of progress.
posted by mkultra at 6:19 AM on March 9, 2005

MillMan:The point is that technology constantly changes the marketplace, and using the legal system to enforce obsolete business models and thwart the threatening new technology doesn't allow new efficiencies gained through the technology to be realized.

Nothing new either. Henry Ford had a very similar situation back at the turn of the last century and had this to say: lawsuits against new technologies provide "opportunities for little minds ... to usurp the gains of genuine inventors ... and under the smug protest of righteousness, work a hold-up game in the most approved fashion."

The public domain is being strip mined in a most egregious fashion by the copyright laws being pushed by big media. I have no sympathy for them at all when a technicality thwarts their racket.

It's almost enough to make me wish we could spike their metaphysical trees.
posted by Mitheral at 8:12 AM on March 9, 2005