A Lesson in Why Regulating Online Activity is Difficult
When the controversial online music distribution site AllofMP3.com went dark recently, it was touted as a victory by various groups responsible for music royalties (who weren't getting a cut from AllofMP3.com) and a positive sign of US-Russian relations due to the intimation that US pressure was used to force the Russian authorities to terminate the link between AllofMP3 and their ISP.
This celebratory feeling was somewhat short-lived when MP3Spark.com suddenly appeared from nowhere, apparently being operated by the same parties responsible for AllofMP3.com. Account holders from AllofMP3.com have confirmed that it appears that their accounts and other details appear on the new site, and the catalogue presented on MP3Spark.com contains the same spelling errors and misattributions that AllofMP3.com maintained.
MP3Spark.com also appears to have the same arrangement with the disputed collector of royalties within Russia that AllofMP3.com maintained. It is claimed that this particular organisation has tried to distribute royalty funds, but has been turned down by rights holders.
Media Services, the company that appears to be behind both sites is currently in the process of being sued by multiple parties inside and outside of Russia, so it may be a shorter timeframe before the new site is taken offline (or moved to a country that doesn't care about copyright as much).
4 July 2007
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