Choruss Pitching Bait and Switch On P2P Music Tax 119
An anonymous reader writes "A few months back, Warner Music Group started pitching universities on the idea of a new program where they would pay a chunk of money to an organization named Choruss to provide 'covenants not to sue' those students for file sharing, leading many in the press to claim that the record labels are looking to license ISPs to let users file share. Even the EFF has called it a 'promising new approach.' However, the details are quite troubling and suggest that the plan is really a bait-and-switch idea." (More below.)
"The industry still plans to demand three strikes and try to shut down file sharing networks, and it's already giving up on lawsuits. So... it's basically going to keep doing everything the same as before, but force your ISP or your university (who in turn will raise your rates) to just hand over a bunch of money. Oh yeah, also, since the 'covenant not to sue' isn't a license and only covers the rights of the record labels, it means that you can still get sued by the publishers or songwriters whose rights aren't covered by the deal at all. Unfortunately, the press is just repeating the claim that this is a 'file sharing license' when the details show it's anything but that. It's just a way to get people and companies to hand over large chunks of money to the record labels."
Re:Protection money? (Score:5, Funny)
And they wonder why we hate them for scams like this...
Chorusss. Even the name sounds like some sssslithery sssnake trying to weasel a deal out of you even though he dosen't have any handsss for a handssshake.
Re:Protection money? (Score:3, Funny)
Chorusss. Even the name sounds like some sssslithery sssnake trying to weasel a deal out of you even though he dosen't have any handsss for a handssshake.
You had such a great snake metaphor going ... and then you stuck a 'weasel' in it. ;)
Why equate chorus to a snake if you are just going to immediately equate the snake to a weasel?
Substitute "weasel" for something like "squeeze" amd the sentence will flow much better.
Re:When Will It Stop? (Score:3, Funny)
More likely it will play out like this:
Not content to rake in 200 million a year, the city of Chicago will partner with the RIAA and MPAA to tie its massive surveillance system in with the log system of all ISPs, so that it can cross reference all travelers to their downloads, and violators can be swiftly picked up as soon as they venture outside their homes.
The city hopes this partnership will bring in half a billion dollars.
In other news, new legislative items introduced in Chicago include a new bonus system for its lawmakers and a proposal to convert all ISPs to state ownership...with the latter item being criticized because of rumors that the state will appoint former RIAA/MPAA executives to manage the ISPs.
Transporter_ii
Re:Where does the money go? (Score:5, Funny)