DrunkenBlog

This is the way the web dies

This news story is easily one of the scariest things I've read recently, and the ramifications could be large indeed. From Norway...

OSLO, Norway -- Norway's supreme court ruled Thursday that a student whose Napster.no homepage was linked to free Internet music files must compensate the music industry. The country's highest court upheld a lower court ruling that ordered the student to pay $15,900 in compensation.

The student was learning computer engineering in the southern Norway town of Lillehammer when he set up the Napster.no site as part of a school project in 2001. His site had nothing do with the widely known Napster.com music site in the United States.

The Napster.no site provided links to music files in the MP3 format that could be downloaded for free. The site was online between August and November 2001, and provided links to about 170 free music files on servers outside Norway, the ruling said.

A lower court found for the music industry, while on appeal the Lagmannsetten court in Oslo cleared the student, saying any copyright violation occurred when others posted the music and not when he provided links to it. In a summary of its ruling, the supreme court said the music was clearly published in violation of copyright law.

"The supreme court decided the case based on responsibility for abetting (an illegal act)," the summary said. It said the student violated the law by showing people where to find the illegal music and that his actions "were premeditated and worthy of criticism."

Really think about this one, and what it leads to, and where it already is. The person wasn't hosting the MP3s in question, nor had he had any hand in making them, he was simply linking to where the files were on the internet and is being held responsible for them. What this means is that even telling someone something has become a civil offense, and the way things are, if the number is high enough it becomes a federal offense.

This means that if I link to MTKA and tell you that someone messaged me the other day saying that iLife '05 was on it within a few days of being announced several times (I'm told the mods kept taking it down, at least before it was released) I am theoretically guilty of abetting a crime if you go, find it, and haven't paid for it. I wish I was kidding, this shite is scary.

Anyone who has spent a bit of time with me knows I'm not pro-piracy in any shape or form, and don't have a MTKA account (Apple can feel free to check my IP) but simply telling you something is 'wrong'. What if I link to a story in Wired, which happens to tell you about a Swedish BitTorrent site that allows you to get just about any album or movie you'd want?

What if I tell you that yes, indeed you might be able to flash your new USA computer's DVD drive to play the DVDs you brought back from Australia? What if I tell you that if you have Windows and download Kaaza you can probably find just about anything you want. What if I tell you that a lot of college students use something called DirectConnect to shares files on their dorm networks?

What if I tell you that if you order something online from a company that isn't in your state, they don't charge you sales tax even though you're supposed to report it and pay it yourself? What if I tell you that lots of art students like to smoke a little marijuana from time to time, and if you go to a certain theatre in Chicago you can generally find whatever you're after?

What if I tell you anything?

When I talk to you, my vocal chords shape the air from my lungs, which is further shaped by my tongue and lips. The vibrations travel through the air, tickle your ear drum and are interpreted by your brain as... speech. At it's base form, it's information. I'm telling you something, and imparting information. When I link to something, I do the same thing.

A hyperlink is basic information. That's it. It's taking a few words, which are information, and wrapping them in a little more information. The only real difference between 'speech' is in the sensory organ being used, or medium.

This is the way the web dies. Not with a bang but with a whimper.

 Posted by drunkenbatman
    January 29, 2005, at 01:57 AM