Music Online Competition Act of 2001 - Update

["Stephen P. Goodman" <spgoodman@earthlight.net>]

According to the San Diego Daily Transcript, via the Yahoo site at
http://dailynews.yahoo.com/h/sddt/20010806/lo/federal_lawmakers_consider_mea
ns_to_regulate_online_music_1.html , mp3.com is in support of this bill,
which is interesting given the recent finding by Alex on LD, that mp3.com 
is
stripping the ID Tag data on MP3 files submitted to its system, including
the copyright data, year, genre and URL, the last of which being replaced
with mp3.com's main page address, instead of the actual page the MP3 file
comes from.  The Artist Name and Track Title fields are being re-filled in 
I
assume from the field fillins one does when the MP3 file is uploaded to
mp3.com.

According to the article above, the RIAA is now against this pending
legislation, though the statement they've made was dated today.  Given the
speed of statements from RIAA's Hilary Rosen in the past, it's strange that
it wouldn't be until today - the bill was first introduced last Friday -
that an official statement was made.  As it is Hilary Rosen's statement is
brief, and not what one would think is precise at best, and it is in full 
at
http://www.riaa.com/PR_story.cfm?id=442 - "Many in the industry will fight
this bill aggressively because we know that the marketplace is already
moving in the right direction and that consumers will be served well by 
both
the current and coming plans for online music services."

So was this a changearound for RIAA after the already-revealed contact with
the Copyright Office, concerning fees paid to composers/artists 
specifically
for online play?  Or was it just an unusually-delayed statement?  One
wonders indeed, but Rosen's statement is no guarantee that the bill will be
struck down.

I then repeat my request for those of you who care about this to contact
your Congressal Representative and voice your objection to the Music Online
Competition Act of 2001, via http://www.house.gov/ - It's your music.

Stephen Goodman
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