Presumably because they'd heard today was proving to be a bit of a quiet news day, and demonstrating a genuine concern that an edition of the CMU Daily might go out without a good bit of legal news, the BPI have announced another batch of anti-download lawsuits. Hurrah!
And you know how once you become addicted to something you have to slowly increase the dose to still get your fix? Well, the BPI is this time suing 65 suspected downloaders in one go - almost double the number of lawsuits it has ever launched in one sitting before (though some way off their lawsuit-junkie of a cousin, the Recording Industry Association Of America, which regularly launches hundreds of anti-downloading lawsuits at the same time).
We all know the reason and protocol for these lawsuits by now, so there's no need to dwell too much on the rights or wrongs of suing individual consumers who violate copyrights by sharing music online. Except to say that while infringing copyright via P2P is clearly wrong, it doesn't stand to reason that suing the people who do it is the best way to stop it. Damn, now I've started dwelling.
Anyway, BPI boss Peter Jamieson told CMU: "There will be no let-up in our fight against illegal filesharing. We will do what it takes to defend our rights under the law". Meanwhile the industry association's new General Counsel, Roz Groome, added: "There is no doubt that legal action is helping to contain the spread of illegal filesharing, but there is sadly still no shortage of people who believe the law simply does not apply to them. The bad news for Britain's digital shoplifters is that the law is not on your side, and in twelve months more than 70 British filesharers have discovered the real cost of free music and ended up thousands of pounds out of pocket to avoid a costly court case."
The BPI has also announced that it is urging consumer rights groups like the National Consumer Council and Consumers' Association to help in educating the public about the importance and legalities of copyright. Consumer rights groups are not always the best of friends to the copyright industry, of course, often complaining that attempts by content owners to protect their copyrights, especially through digital protection technology or litigation such as that being launched today, violates consumer rights and / or privacy laws. The BPI argues, however, that consumer rights groups surely have a duty to make the consumers they claim to represent aware of copyright laws and the implications of breaking them. The latest attempts by the BPI to gain the support of consumer groups follows an announcement by the National Consumer Council last week that they were supporting that previously reported pan-European mission to "protect consumers" from major entertainment and technology conglomerates in the digital age. BPI Chairman Peter Jamieson told us: "We have invested a great deal of resource in helping consumers avoid legal risk. But more needs to be done. Today I am writing to both the National Consumer Council and the Consumers' Association, asking them to play their part in tackling this problem."
You can read the two letters at http://www.bpi.co.uk/pdf/ncc_nov2005.pdf and http://www.bpi.co.uk/pdf/which_nov2005.pdf