Obama administration sides with RIAA in P2P lawsuit

Valerie | 27 Mar 2009, 09:42

As the verdict on the landmark trial of Pirate Bay creators fast approaches, a Wired editorial reports that the Obama administration has voiced its support for the recording industry by defending the copyright laws being used by the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA) in a file-sharing lawsuit against a Boston University graduate student, Joel Tannenbaum.

According to US copyright law, violators can be sued for damages ranging from $750 to $150,000 per infringement. Tenenbaum is being sued for $1 million for allegedly illegally sharing seven songs online.

The news comes as several countries around the world are cracking down on illegal file-sharers with a “three strikes, you’re out” policy. In France, the government is supporting an amendment to an draft EU bill for strengthening security and fundamental freedoms on the Internet whilst in New Zealand,  a new copyright law says an Internet service provider (ISP) must adopt and apply a policy that allows for Internet access to be terminated “in appropriate circumstances” for repeat infringers.

FoxNews.com focuses on the central issue highlighted by these cases:

“... in a day and age when Internet access is almost as essential as a cell phone or electricity, should the music industry or ISPs have the power to determine who can and can’t get online, particularly without criminal charges being filed? And what if there’s no legal recourse for the customer?”

Whilst The Register notes that the group of law students mentored by Professor Charles Nesson of Harvard Law are not focusing his defense around whether he illegally downloaded those seven tunes or even if copyright law is right, they are arguing against “unconstitutionally heavy-handed damages” allowed by the Digital Theft Deterrence and Copyright Damages Improvement Act of 1999, which allows up to $150,000 (£103,000) in damages to be assessed for each “willful” violation of copyright.

A ruling on the Tenenbaum case is expected around March 30th.