The comment points to an item in The Register, which in turn links to Britain’s Evening Gazette in Teeside which has a write-up of a serious embarrassment centering on the Big 4 record labels and the Cleveland police — the very same department whose officers have been acting as corporate copyright cops funded by local taxpayers.
In Canada, it’s called SOCAN. Its job? To use legal threats to force the likes of dentists and hairdressers to pay exorbitant royalty fees every time they play music for their patients and customers.
In Britain, it’s the Performing Rights Society (PRS) and, says the Gazette Live, “A police force that launched a crackdown against music piracy may itself be breaching music copyright laws, it has emerged.
“But Cleveland Police chiefs today claimed they would rather spend public cash on fighting crime than paying for music rights.”
Last October, “Cleveland Police’s Organised Crime Unit have been working closely with the Music Industry to uncover a massive piracy scam, the first such international operation in the country,” it boasted in an online statement, going on »»»
The organised crime unit, in conjunction with the International Federation of the Phonographic Industry (IFPI) and the British Phonographic Industry (BPI) have been working closely on the investigation for several months, and today arrested a 24 year old man in connection with Conspiracy to Defraud and Infringement of Copyright Law.
Detective Sergeant Tony Keogh was in charge and according to him, the site, OiNK, “specialized in sharing music and media including pre-release material, this is an infringement on copyright law that in financial terms causes immeasurable loss to the record companies.”
In the statement, “We have been working closely with Interpol and our Dutch colleagues in Amsterdam where the website server is based to ensure that it too was secured at the time of arrest,” he says.
And on behalf of the corporate music industry, “whilst some might view this type of act as a victimless crime there’s no such thing, as the cost of an enterprise such as this will be added to the cost of any legitimate purchases further down the line,” declares chief superintendent Mark Braithwaite, head of crime in Cleveland Police.
Said a p2pnet post on the bust »»»
“Strike, strtike, strike, going in,” says a tense, disembodied voice over a police radio in Britain.
Must be something serious.
And just before that, “The tactics were the same, but this time the target was very different.”
That’s from a reporter who, by an amazing coincidence, happened to find out about the Warner Music, EMI, Vivendi Universal and Sony BMG initiated raid on a 24-year-old man in England just in time to be included.
The man is accused of facilitating the non-existent crime of online file sharing on OiNK and, “The aim was to catch the man while he was logged on to the site,” the reporter continues in a video shot from inside a police car nearing the home of the ’suspect’.
But he’s not alone.
As the videoman follows the police into the man’s house, you see camera flashes popping off.
Next up is local cop enjoying his 15 minutes of fame as the Big 4 milk the situation they created bone dry.
“The police say it is no longer a victimless crime,” the reporter continues, “but they admit few feel sympathy for the multi-billion-dollar record companies being deprived of their profits.”
By another amazing coincidence, the video of the bust turned up on YouTube, as a p2pnet reader pointed out.
British taxpayers will no doubt be delighted to see their hard earned money is being well spent - by Warner Music, EMI, Vivendi Universal and Sony BMG.
Don’t bother to stay tuned.
“Alan Ellis the admin of OiNK, will appear in court along with five users accused of uploading music via the BitTorrent tracker. The six will appear before magistrates to learn if their cases will be sent on to a Crown Court,” says TorrentFreak.
And the apprehension of these wicked, file sharing P2P criminals is largely due to the sterling efforts of the Cleveland cops.
But wait!
“Music licensing authority the Performing Rights Society (PRS) claims many forces have no licence to allow the playing of music in their stations,” said the Gazette Online yesterday, going on:
“A PRS licence is required by law in many cases when music is played outside a domestic home.
“The licence fee - which for a whole police force could run from several hundred to thousands of pounds a year - is applicable to music played on a television, radio or CD player, music played in areas such as staff canteens or social areas, and during a presentation or social event.
“Cleveland Police is among dozens of forces that have not paid up.”
But no worries.
“The legal action is on hold while negotiations take place in a bid to reach a settlement,” the story adds.
After all, what are friends for?
Here’s a video of the bust referred to earlier on.
The Register - BitTorrent crackdown cops fail to pay music copyright fees, September 24, 2008
Evening Gazette - No licence for police, September 24, 2008
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