From the Inquirer, via Pocket PC eBooks Watch:
Hilary Rosen–Jack Valenti’s RIAA female clone–has now gone on record saying that as part of the fight against music piracy, ISPs should be held accountable for the actions of their users and charged a fee for giving their customer’s access to services such as Kazaa or Morpheus.
The result of holding ISPs liable for the ways their customers use them would be catastrophic. Should ISPs be held accountable for the actions of pedophiles? How about members of racist groups? How about groups that are legal but we wish weren’t, like the KKK, Aryan Nation, and the American Polka Dancing Society?
While ISPs are held accountable for removing illegal materials when detected, the idea that they should be held accountable for what their users might do is ridiculous.
It’s astonishing that after so many months the RIAA continues to ignore what its consumers have been screaming in its face. We don’t see the recording industry moving to address problems of overwhelming same-ness in music, high CD prices, or low artist compensation.
The TeleRead take: Just about all of the above observations would apply to much of the book industry. Sameness, high prices and underpaid creative folks. What’s more, Pat Schroeder, head of the publishers association, is much like Hilary Rosen in fearing technology and insisting on a continuation of outmoded business models. Hey, ladies, the idea is to spread books around and make money–not act as if DMCA and the like should be immortal. The RIAA and the publishers certainly haven’t felt that way about copyright terms or the concept of fair use. And as the ISP proposal shows, the RIAA isn’t afraid to suggest other new outrages.
