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CDT warns of unlicensed music

27 December 2007 18:13 by Andre "DVDBack23" Yoskowitz | 3 comments

The Center for Democracy and Technology (CDT), a consumer rights group, has published a list of 30 MP3 download sites that sell music but do not have licensing deals with major U.S. music labels.

The sites, which mainly charge $20 to $35 USD for unlimited subscriptions claim they offer music from artists signed to the major labels, which they do, none of which is actually licensed however.

Some of these sites simply provide P2P software that would otherwise be free. Customers using the software could possibly face a lawsuit from the RIAA even though they wouldn't know they had done anything wrong.

"People might get the false impression of what they paid for was legal," a CDT rep said. "If you pay $25, you might think that $25 goes to compensate the rights holder."

The CDT attempted to contact the operators of each site but were ignored. Many of the sites were registered outside of the US and seem to be run by the same people.

CDT uses the example of AllCoolMusic.com which claims all its dealings are legal. "Today, there are 240 million users trading MP3s on legal file-sharing networks. Sharing is not illegal as long as you obey all relevant copyright laws. Sharing copyrighted material, without permission to do so, is illegal. Purchasing a membership in AllCoolMusic.com does not give you license to download or upload copyrighted material. AllCoolMusic.com implores you to respect all copyright laws."

The group has said complaints filed with the U.S. Federal Trade Commission against the sites was a possibility, and rightfully so.

Source:
Infoworld

Permalink to this article

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nobrainer (Inactive) 28 December 2007 6:40
*Originally posted by fta:* The sites, which mainly charge $20 to $35 USD for unlimited subscriptions claim they offer music from artists signed to the major labels, which they do, none of which is actually licensed however. hey, does this sound just like media defender (MPAA Lap Dog) up to their old tricks again, as they need all the cash they can get their hands on after the news of them with the media mafias full knowledge hacked ppl's pc's, set up entrapment sites sharing newly released media and committed terrorist acts by launching DDoS attacks on tracker sites, don't you love hollywood! ;-) Tor: anonymity online HIDE your IP from the spies, post and browse anonymously! http://www.torproject.org/ The RIAA Soundexchange Are: SONY, UNIVERSAL, WARNER GROUP, EMI. The MPAA Are: SONY, UNIVERSAL, WARNER GROUP, DISNEY, PARAMOUNT, FOX. [ + quote] This message has been edited since posting. Last time this message was edited on 28 December 2007 6:43
7thsinger (Senior Member) 28 December 2007 8:40
*Quote:* Customers using the software could possibly face a lawsuit from the RIAA even though they wouldn't know they had done anything wrong. Yeah, like that's never happened before. What a crock of crap. Here comes the media mafia again, looking for someone...anyone they can bury. What a group of corporate barbarians. [ + quote]
borhan9 (AfterDawn Addict) 29 December 2007 18:34
This is risky business i would not even look at this site if they are making you pay for these p2p programs. [ + quote]