The war that the record labels is waging to protect its copyrighted music is mistakenly believed to only concern services that explicitly allow you to share music.
That’s not so true anymore. The RIAA is broadening its scope. According to The Hollywood Reporter, Its new targets are services such as Box.net, the subject of a subpoena this week in California, served by the RIAA’s vice president of online piracy, Mark McDevitt. The RIAA seeks information about people it believes are using Box to illegally use “sound recordings.”
In a prepared statement, Box.net said to The Hollywood Reporter:
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“We take the confidentiality of our customers’ information very seriously, but just like all other businesses, we are legally required to comply with court orders,” said Box.Net in a statement to THR. “Our compliance will be limited to the information the court requires we produce. At Box, we’re primarily focused on powering collaboration and information sharing within businesses, and it’s rare that we run into copyright infringement issues in those instances.”
This is a chilling sign of what may be to come as the RIAA sets its sights upon online services that provide online storage. And that could have impacts on any online service. That could be Google, Dropbox, Zoho or others that provide a space where digital files can be stored.
The entertainment industry’s war on sharing is not new, as illustrated by this infographic by Ashley Angell. It shows to what lengths the RIAA and MPAA will go to pursue lawsuits against consumers.
With Box, the customers are businesses for the most part. That is a key difference to other challenges by the RIAA. And It sets up a conflict between service providers and their clients who now face a determined media industry with a historic interest in litigation to protect its copyrights.
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