Tuesday, July 21, 2009

The IFPI Finds Jazz Note

A post of mine was spiked by Blogger (a reasonable action on their part) at the request of the International Federation of the Phonographic Industry. I have no idea whether to expect further action. As best I can tell, it was a post on some of Trane's European concerts. This makes no sense to me, but there you have it. The note from blogger follows:

Blogger has been notified, according to the terms of the Digital Millennium Copyright Act (DMCA), that certain content in your blog infringes upon the copyrights of others. The URL(s) of the allegedly infringing post(s) may be found at the end of this message.

The notice that we received from the International Federation of the Phonographic Industry (IFPI) and the record companies it represents, with any personally identifying information removed, will be posted online by a service called Chilling Effects at http://www.chillingeffects.org
. We do this in accordance with the Digital Millennium Copyright Act (DMCA). Please note that it may take Chilling Effects up to several weeks to post the notice online at the link provided.

The IFPI is a trade association that represents over 1,400 major and independent record companies in the US and internationally who create, manufacture and distribute sound recordings (the "IFPI Represented Companies").

The DMCA is a United States copyright law that provides guidelines for online service provider liability in case of copyright infringement. We are in the process of removing from our servers the links that allegedly infringe upon the copyrights of others. If we did not do so, we would be subject to a claim of copyright infringement, regardless of its merits. See http://www.educause.edu/Browse/645?PARENT_ID=254 for more information about the DMCA, and see http://www.google.com/dmca.html for the process that Blogger requires in order to make a DMCA complaint.

Blogger can reinstate these posts upon receipt of a counter notification pursuant to sections 512(g)(2) and 3) of the DMCA. For more information about the requirements of a counter notification and a link to a sample counter notification, see http://www.google.com/dmca.html#counter.

Please note that repeated violations to our Terms of Service may result in further remedial action taken against your Blogger account. If you have legal questions about this notification, you should retain your own legal counsel. If you have any other questions about this notification, please let us know.

Sincerely,

The Blogger Team

Affected URLs:

http://jazznotesdp.blogspot.com/2008/10/trane-through-europe.html

6 comments:

  1. Ken, Well at least you know someone out there is reading your posts! I know that is a backhanded compliment, but I often wonder if what I write is ever graced by eyes other than my own. JJ

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  2. Well, I guess this post is proof my liberal mind first seeks the gutter.

    When I first read it, I thought it said the "Pornographic" industry. Not only was I stunned to learn of such an organization, I thought the title of the post it objected to proved the difficulty pornographers have with spelling (or their innovative approach to it).

    Frankly, at this point, I have about as much esteem for the recording industry as the porn industry. Keep up the good work!

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  3. Jim: you are dead spot on with that comment! If I saw my face on a post office wall, I'd chalk it down as free publicity. Thanks for reading.

    Tim: Thanks very much for your comment. It cheered me up. If the International Federation of the Pornographic Industry makes a copyright complaint against this blog, I will have to reconsider my purple prose.

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  4. A very interesting development. The IFPA shut down a friend of mine's mp3 blog a couple of years ago. In your case, they just objected to one particular post, and Blogger removed it. They really didn't seem too threatening about the rest of your blog. And who is the Chillingeffect.org? I think it says that they will repost the 'offending' blog entry, perhaps in protest. Chilling Effect seems to be aligned with EFF. A great organization that protects on-line rights.

    I await to hear your take on these development, and whether you will continue your wonderful Jazz Note SDP.

    Ken

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  5. Oops. Misread the paragraph on ChillingEffects.org. I guess they are posting the violation in their database of cease and desist orders (not the original post).

    Well, what Blogger sent you didn't seem to be a Cease and Desist, but I guess you have to think hard about your blog in its current format. For what its worth, as I said in another comment, it seems like RIAA and IFPI are going after the hosting providers rather than the content authors, and expecting those providers like Google/Blogger to police their users. At least Blogger, I think, will more likely give a slap on the wrist, rather than the Recording industry's heavy handed hammer (lawsuit) approach of the past.

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  6. Ken:

    Your comment about my blog means a lot to me, coming from you. I ain't bailin' out just yet. The threat seems to be that any post of mine that draws a complaint will be removed without warning. Worse, Blogger might cancel my account if it happens often enough. Those are no small potatoes, but they are manageable problems.

    I will probably begin removing the links to music downloads after they have been up for a while. Maybe a month or so is the right amount of time. The post they spiked had been up for quite a while.

    Anyway, thanks to all for the concern. Jazz is worth taking some risks.

    ReplyDelete