Yesterday two MIT students announced a new scheme for sharing music on the MIT campus. They have 3500 CDs online, and students and staff at MIT use their web browswers to connect to the service. But then the actual music is sent out in analog form over the campus analog cable TV network. Since MIT is licensed already to play music over its analog distribution channels (and pays bulk royalties to do so), this appears to be entirely legal under current laws and licensing. There is a NY Times story about this also. Two things to note: the current laws that the RIAA is using to try to stomp on music sharing are fragile with possible loopholes, and technologists are going to continue to find those loopholes.
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