By Graham Hayday, 7 November 2001 11:15
NEWS When is a music file-swapping site like Napster not a file-swapping site like Napster? When a civil liberties group says it's not. And the court case which will soon follow could turn out to be just as significant for the industry and the future of P2P applications as Napster's. The case involves MusicCity, which, just like Napster, is facing a lawsuit from the record industry (and indeed the Hollywood studios) to prevent it enabling users to swap copyrighted material. But civil liberties group the Electronic Frontier Foundation (EFF), which has in the past represented hackers, cryptographers and computer scientists in digital rights cases, is claiming that MusicCity is not simply another Napster. The EFF, which is prepared to go to court on MusicCity's behalf, says its system is fundamentally different from Napster's. The outfit distributes software created by Dutch developers FastTrack which helps users create a Napster-like network of their own. But there is no central server containing an index of all the files available, and MusicCity can claim - albeit rather spuriously - not to know the purpose to which the software is being put. It is, just like many other companies (including ASPs) just another distributor of software. That's the EFF's argument anyway. But the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA) and the Motion Picture Association claim MusicCity knows full well what's going on, and is knowingly abetting the unlawful distribution of copyright material. The suit against MusicCity was filed in the Los Angeles federal court. No dates have yet been set for the case to be heard. But its outcome could be highly significant for all P2P players and the online software distribution business in general.
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