A few peer-to-peer Internet networks have unwrapped a code of conduct aimed at fostering responsible behavior among the millions who copy and download music, film, porn, and other material from each other's hard drives, Reuters.
The groups in question – Lime Wire, Grokster, Blubster, BearShare, Morpheus, and eDonkey2000 – are all members of the recently formed P2P United, formed late in the summer to help fight against the music industry's subpoena and lawsuit campaigns against P2P file swappers. The groups said they'd help law enforcement hunt down child pornographers, make it easier for users to protect sensitive material on their hard drives, and would not secretly install spyware on users' computers, P2P United said.
“It’s long past time for the ‘Tyrannosaurical’ recording industry to stop blaming – and suing – its customers to cover up the industry’s own glaring failure to adapt yet again to a new technology – one that should already have been making millions for it and for the average artist whom it still hypocritically claims to speak for,” said P2P United executive director Adam Eisgrau in a statement.
“Discriminatory lawsuits that run roughshod over the public’s rights to due process have got to stop," he continued, "and everyone with a stake in the future of electronic commerce needs to sit down under Congress’ watchful eye and get serious about building the 21st century’s online marketplace. If the industry can’t or won’t stop crashing blindly through the forest snapping up cowering mammals, then Congress should shut ‘Jurassic Park’ down.”
The Recording Industry Association of America – whose recent efforts have included a campaign of sorts aimed at painting P2P networks as conscious conduits of child porn and other objectionable or obscene material, in a bid to weaken their public support amidst the controversy over the RIAA lawsuits and subpoenas – said it's refreshing to see P2P United trying to educate members and users about copyright law and online security, but it wasn't enough.
"(L)et's face it," said spokeswoman Amy Weiss in her own statement. "They need to do a whole lot more before they can claim to be legitimate businesses."
The P2P United announcement came September 29, the same day the RIAA announced it reached settlements with 64 out of 261 individuals sued earlier this month for less than $5,000 on average, Reuters said. P2P United has called for the music industry to negotiate a method by which record labels and performers could be paid for copies P2Pers make of their music, but the recording industry hasn't yet agreed to do so.
"The recording industry is leaving vast sums of money on the table by refusing to conduct commerce with us and our millions of consumers," said Blubster developer Pablo Soto. "It is way past time for the predatory litigation to end and the licensing to begin."
Michael Weiss of Morpheus called on Congress to do for the P2P networks what it did previously involving home tape recording, audiocassettes, and videocassettes, and make it marketplace-possible for anyone to distrubute copyright music or other material without individual license negotiations.
"They simply pay into a royalty fund at a negotiated rate, so that artists can be fairly paid,” Weiss said. “It’s high time to put this idea of a ‘compulsory license’ on the bargaining table, but the recording industry won’t be at that table unless Congress makes their attendance ‘compulsory’ first.”
