Skip to Content
Uncategorized

Pirate Wars: Round Two

Here we go again. Lawyers for the music and film industry descended on the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals yesterday. The mission: to overturn a ruling that clears file-trading services from being responsible for their pirate users. The ruling…
February 4, 2004

Here we go again. Lawyers for the music and film industry descended on the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals yesterday. The mission: to overturn a ruling that clears file-trading services from being responsible for their pirate users.

The ruling came last April when the recording industry tried unsuccessfully to shut down the companies behind Morpheus and Grokster. As a result, the industry began suing individual pirates, including a 12-year-old girl caught downloading the theme song to the TV show, Full House.

Hopefully, the appeals court will do the right thing and uphold the previous determination. The ramifications of an overturned ruling would be ominous and far-reaching. If these software developers are found to be responsible for what takes place on their services, where do we draw the line? What about all the file-trading that occurs over instant messaging programs from AOL and Microsoft? Should these companies be held accountable too? Rather than demonizing the technology, which has perfectly legal applications, the industries should spend more time rolling with the changes and drafting up new business plans.

Keep Reading

Most Popular

This new data poisoning tool lets artists fight back against generative AI

The tool, called Nightshade, messes up training data in ways that could cause serious damage to image-generating AI models. 

Rogue superintelligence and merging with machines: Inside the mind of OpenAI’s chief scientist

An exclusive conversation with Ilya Sutskever on his fears for the future of AI and why they’ve made him change the focus of his life’s work.

Data analytics reveal real business value

Sophisticated analytics tools mine insights from data, optimizing operational processes across the enterprise.

The Biggest Questions: What is death?

New neuroscience is challenging our understanding of the dying process—bringing opportunities for the living.

Stay connected

Illustration by Rose Wong

Get the latest updates from
MIT Technology Review

Discover special offers, top stories, upcoming events, and more.

Thank you for submitting your email!

Explore more newsletters

It looks like something went wrong.

We’re having trouble saving your preferences. Try refreshing this page and updating them one more time. If you continue to get this message, reach out to us at customer-service@technologyreview.com with a list of newsletters you’d like to receive.