The word is that AT&T and Comcast, two of the nation’s largest Internet service providers, are expected to be among a group of ISPs that will cooperate with the Recording Industry Association of America in battling illegal file sharing.

The RIAA, a lobbying group representing the four largest recording companies, said last month that it had enlisted the help of ISPs as part of a new antipiracy campaign. They have declined to identify which ISPs or how many.

It’s important to note that none of the half dozen or so ISPs involved have signed agreements at this point. The companies are “skittish” about negative press and could still back out, sources said. But as it stands, AT&T and Comcast are among the companies willing to participate in what the RIAA calls a “graduated response program.”

I call it B.S.

Read the full article via cNet News

What’s also good is that they are changing their pricing structure and will now have a tiered pricing… tracks will sell for 69¢, 99¢ and $1.29 based on a demand-based pricing system.

Good move Apple…

Read more via Ars Technica >

Then, I thought about the word “idiot” and how the RIAA must be made up exclusively of idiots.

So their new plan is this… with help from ISPs, the RIAA will shut off internet access for any suspected music sharers. Are you kidding me?

Everything I want to type right now would be offensive, so I will refrain. But go read about it yourself.

Read it on Tech Gossip

Read it on the Washington Post

FU RIAA

In the past, companies were allowed to obtain street addresses of file-sharers from their internet service providers in order to send registered letters to each individual.

Italian consumer rights groups protested this practice and a ruling was handed down preventing companies from tracking down people through IP addresses who were thought to be sharing files.

The consumer groups were happy with the ruling… but needless to say, Italy’s record labels are not so happy.

More than 1.2 billion music tracks were illegally downloaded from computers in Spain during 2007, according to authors’ and publishers’ society SGAE. In fact, the number of illegal music tracks downloaded illegally in Spain is up 566% from the year 2002 when only 180 million tracks were downloaded for free.

The European Interactive Advertising Association (EIAA) says that 58% of all Spanish Internet users illegally downloaded music during 2006… while the European average was 37%.

Free music reigns king in Spain.

I have an idea for these fan site owners… replace all photos of him with a photograph of a pile of crap, because that’s what he is.

I can understand a crackdown on the illegal proliferation of his music, but to serve a notice to fan sites based on images or “anything linked to his likeness” is a bit extreme – barring copyrighted photography.

Get over yourself Prince, everyone else has!

Timeline of events via Pitchfork

Specific details about this case via Billboard

These letters are part of the RIAA’s education and deterrence campaign that is focusing on illegal file sharing on college campuses. This campaign offers students a chance to settle copyright infringement claims against them at a discounted rate. If the students choose not to participate… formal lawsuits will be filed.

Since February, the RIAA has sent 2,926 of these pre-litigation settlement letters to university students.

Read the full article.

However, Wal-Mart has recently began selling songs without DRM on their website for $0.94 per song, or $9.44 an album.

Kevin Swint, Wal-Mart’s senior director for digital media, said… “Our new ‘DRM-free’ MP3 digital tracks give (customers) the ease and flexibility to play music on virtually any device at a great value.”

Read the full article here.

Veoh.com, an online video sharing website, has filed a pre-emptive lawsuit against Universal Music Group (UMG), asking a federal judge to stop the music label from filing its own copyright infringement action.

Veoh Networks Inc. is arguing that they are entitled to protection under the “safe harbor” provision of U.S. copyright law… adding that they do not encourage users to infringe on any copyrights and actually go beyond today’s current legal requirements to investigate and remove infringing material when notified to do so.

Read more about this case.