Copyright Law

Interesting article: (1) Jacobson's software is purchased by MediaSentry and (2) RIAA admits it can only identify 'offering', not downloading

By Ty Rogers and Ray Beckerman

One of our readers has brought to our attention an interesting article in the Chronicle of Higher Education, which contains a number of interesting points:

1. MediaSentry is a customer of Audible Magic software, the software in which Dr. Jacobson has an indirect financial interest, and uses Audible Magic software as part of its investigation. So when Dr. Jacobson testifies about how reliable MediaSentry is, he's talking about his customer, and when he testified that he doesn't know what their procedures are, he was lying.

2. The software process used by MediaSentry differs markedly from the way Richard Gabriel has sought to describe it in his representations to various courts.

3. Cara Duckworth, the RIAA's spokesperson, admits that

the RIAA can tell only when a song is being offered for users to illegally download; investigators have no way of knowing when someone else is actually downloading the song.

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Full post as published by Recording Industry vs The People on May 13, 2008 (boomark / email).