February 7th, 2008
RIAA chief calls for infringement filters on PCs: not with MY PC, you don't!!
The Internet and free-speech advocacy group Public Knowledge has posted a video clip from the State of the Net Conference put on by the Advisory Committee to the Congressional Internet Caucus.
During the clip, RIAA president Cary Sherman appears to be calling for some type of infringing content filter placed on consumer’s PCs or on networking devices that would thwart infringing content.
“One could have a filter on the end user’s computer that would actually eliminate any benefit from encryption because if you want to hear [the music], you would need to decrypt it, and at that point the filter would work,” added Sherman, who said such technology could be a “tangible benefit” to consumers.
Nor does Sherman see these filters as invasive. He seems to regard them much in the vein of virus scanners, which most Internet users readily accept.
As much as I am pro-copyright, the civil libertarian in me cringes when a narrow interest group like the RIAA even thinks of ways to force me to have an infringement filter on my PC.
What’s on my PC is my own business.
Russell Shaw is an enterprise computing journalist, analyst and author based in Portland, Oregon. See his full profile and disclosure of his industry affiliations.
Good One!
