ISPs Refuse to Block Cheap Russian Music Sites
Written by enigmax on August 11, 2009ISPs and their trade association have refused to block a pair of websites on demands from the music industry. RISA, South Africa’s answer to the RIAA, demanded ISPs block the Russian sites because they sell music for as little as 9 cents per track – or less for full albums.
The Recording Industry of South Africa (RISA) recently demanded that ISPs should block two Russian hosted music sites because they offer music for sale at much cheaper rates than those already available in the country.
Soundike and GoMusicNow are very much like the AllofMP3 alternatives we wrote about a while ago. They all offer dirt cheap music for direct download with tracks as low as 9 cents each with further discounts for whole album purchases.
Adding insult to injury, many of these sites carry content which would be more at home on a torrent site, such as a full length ‘Michael Jackson Memorial Mix’ bootleg being sold by Soundike for $0.12. So-called ‘Scene’ rips can be found on these sites in abundance.
Needless to say, the music industry in most parts of the world hate these sites and isn’t averse to taking legal action against them to shut them down or in this case, get them blocked from the Internet. Hindering this process is the fact that many such sites are licensed in Russia by the Russian Organization for Multimedia and Digital Systems, which they claim allows them to operate legally, at least inside Russia.
Despite the noise being made by RISA, South African ISPs aren’t about to comply with their requests. On behalf of its members the Internet Service Providers Association (ISPA) wrote to RISA rejecting the demands.
“It isn’t up to ISPA to decide whether or not websites should be blocked. It is up to ISPA to assist and advise its members in dealing with take-down notices made in terms of the ECT Act,” Mybroadband reports ISPA GM Ant Brooks as saying.
Brooks went on to explain that copyright law only allows for removal of content hosted on the network to which any takedown complaint is sent and cannot be used to block access to material on other networks or indeed, in other countries.
ISPA has informed its members that the music industry demands are invalid and will be rejected. However, blocking sites is possible, just not via the route RISA would like.
In common with other attempted blocks around the world on various sites (including the recent proposed block of The Pirate Bay in The Netherlands) courts in South Africa do have the power to block websites although that would require some expensive due process, something RISA would like to avoid.
Previously: Is a Fair P2P Trial Possible?
Next: Pirate Party UK Officially Registered
44 Responses
Check RIPE. TPB has moved to ES
#1- what’s a RIPE and an ES please edify my neophyte mind
Well, this is what russian specializes in, I guess. Criminal activity. Except with the advent of the digital age, they’ve moved everything to the internet. Making money off of infringement is just about the most blatant criminal offense.
RIPE is an IP address registry. ES is I’m guessing Spain … What does this have to do with the story in question? %D
Offtopic, but thepiratebay.org is totally down for me now.
Dnsstuff did not report any changes tho. The domain owner is still “Reservella” and “Fredrik Neij”.
Check it by yourself:
http://www.dnsstuff.com/tools/whois/?tool_id=66&token=&toolhandler_redirect=0&ip=piratebay.org
No changes. However,
http://www-piratebay.org is down right now.
From tpb:
We got some problems…bla bla bla…
pwr FAIL
Not Brein FAIL
——–
But this is of topic!
The Recording Industry of South Africa (RISA) recently demanded that ISPs should block two Russian hosted music sites because they offer music for sale at much cheaper rates than those already available in the country.
Emm.. WTF?!??
well maybe www-piratebay.org is down but that isnt the link for http://thepiratebay.org/ which is working just fine
Sorry, I must have mistyped the link.
Is it up for you? For me it’s still down. I have just read that they are moving.
http://freakbits.com/pirate-bay-down-nothing-to-do-with-brein-0811
IN SOVIET RUSSIA, MUSIC PIRATES YOU!
http://thepiratebay.org/ works fine for me. just did a quick search on there and its all going great.
tpb wasn’t workin 20 min ago but workin now ;P
back on topic ,, blocking don’t work anyway
Uhm. No.
Because the music industry would never authorize the sales of their music at that low of a price and none of that money is probabaly going to the artists. Which isn’t surprising.
Russia is a perfect place for piracy since most of the crime there goes unsolved or even un noticed.
“Well, this is what russian specializes in, I guess. Criminal activity.”
Wait a minute… you are not saying that all of Russians are criminals… are you? the whole country? Mmm… Ineresting. It just so happens that I live in Russia and I do not see my people specialize in crime. At least none of the people I know and I know lots.
However, in Russia stupid copyright laws are not strong, so I guess atm there is a lot of informational freedom here. And this is good, right? Or no? The choice is always yours here – either pay 9 cents for an album or just use torrents and get it for 0 cents. Most of the people I know (and I know lots) choose the latter. And, if you think about it, I can’t name a single person I know who ever paid for music online. Ah, right. Criminals. We are all criminals here. I am forgetting, sorry.
TPB was down all night for me..
those sites are shit, maybe some guys buy there smth, but i never knew such idiots
Stupid bloody wp said I was posting to quickly.
Can people shut the f**k up about tpb?
Whilst i’m against piracy for prophet, I actually don’t hate sites like this that much.
I’d never use one my self, but if you can get a album for $0.12 (about £0.07) via a fast http download, surely thats a lot more fairer than the guy thats selling shitty vbr rips of albums on the street corner which you won’t be able to listen to after a week because of the terrible media he’s using?
For sites like this, i’m assuming that most of the money made goes to bandwidth, so in realitty, there actually making a lot less than $0.12 per album. At the end of the day, if you said that for anyone to make any prophet from piracy is unfair then i’d have to agree, but, I can’t treat these sites with the same harshness that I do street sellers – plus, if you really don’t like them then don’t use them and the problem will sort itsself out.
As a side note, I wonder how many people that are going to be bitching about pay sites like this pay for usenet access?
At the end of the day, if you said that for anyone to make any prophet from piracy is unfair then i’d have to agree, but, I can’t treat these sites with the same harshness that I do street sellers…
making prophets from piracy, im sure jesus wouldn’t approve…
…dumbass PROFIT
Those sites deserve to be shut down and the owners arrested, never mind blocked. Commercial piracy disgusts me.
see. now if media was ACTUALLY sold at those kind of prices, this whole war on ‘piracy’ perhaps wouldn’t have started at all.
these sites are pricing music fairly. a digital file costs next to nothing to clone. the only major costs involved are the domain and the bandwidth, both of which are minimal. they may not currently be paying the artists, but it won’t raise the prices by much if they do.
RIAA? f*ck off you corporate fagg0ts. someone’s doing things better than you and you hate to admit it.
oops. a bit of a rant / lengthy post there. sorry ’bout that :P
TPB is a filthy dying coackroach..and should be squashed to release the little eggs…and that Russian thing is a pile of crap..I won’t pay for anything. EVER!
So if I buy a track from them, and can prove by way of a receipt, would/could i be prossicuted? How am I to know they are not authorised to sell on behalf of music industry.
I agree with above comments about pricing. I would certainly buy albums if they went for USD $0.09-0.15 range. I’d nearly give up bittorrent for good. Minus the TV shows and games I still get because they are being sold at ripoff prices.
There are two lines that I see.
First is the line between sharing and selling, I don’t view sites selling copyrighted stuff without permission with good eyes and will not support it in any form. If the guys were sharing something I have no problem with it but once money enters the equation I do see a problem.
Second is the thing about censorship for anything and even though I don’t like sites like the russian ones I like even less the idea that people want to implement infra structure to censor something, every single time a group tried to censor something and gained legal status always, always abuse took place.
this is a case in which if the operators of the russian sites were sued and condemned to death I wouldn’t care, but I don’t like the idea that someone can block anything.
In my country, pirate songs is good thing. Ask for piece of bread, KGB is waiting for you in basement.
Seriously, since when has it been acceptable to simply ban your competition from competing with you? Actually, don’t answer that.
why is a south african copyright group worried about a russian site?
when i think of south africa i dont really think of internet…or electricity for that matter.
and i also say ”fucking shutup” about the pirate bay already. these little twats on here act like its doomsday when the site is inaccessable…so what, there are other sites out there you know, try looking into a russian site…i hear their reallllly good.
Maybe it’s wishful thinking, but can I buy music from these Russian sites and not have to worry about lawsuits?
I understand that CD manufacturing, shipping and packaging costs money, so let’s be honest,.9 is about right for a copy of a song using your bandwidth and hard drive.
If only the MAFIAA wasn’t so geared for the rich. Not only the rich should be able to listen to whatever music they prefer.
@3 (neo.styles|nvDX)
“Well, this is what russian specializes in, I guess. Criminal activity.”
May your head rot on a pike, you racist, bigoted, ignorant, corporate ass-licker. Your words are unworthy of a dignified response.
Yeah i’ve noticed certain nfo databases linking to these russian sites where you can download scene rips. Not very good for the scene where the rule is always quality, tradition and pride rather than money.
Actually, the whole copyright concept is flawed – it was originally designed to protect individual’s rights, but is now being used by large corporates to keep us all screwed and maintain their monopolies. If you think that RISA and other similar organisations around the world have their musicians best interests at heart, you have swallowed the myth hook line and sinker :-/
All those Russian sites work according to the Russian law. If RISA doesn’t like it they can ask their American masters to try an invasion to change the law. After all, it’s no secret where the WMDs are. And, unlike Saddam’s, they are REAL.
Got some balls? I don’t think so.
neo.styles you are a scumbag.
I am not judging one way or the other here,
but in all this talk, not one comment has said anything about the terrific ARTISTS that create the music we all love.
The RIAA and its counterparts claim to be protecting the rights and royalties of their clients, the Artists. But it has been shown a few times now that when lawsuits are settled, monies collected, the Artists have been forced to sue these ‘protectors’ to get any of that money from them.
When someone pirates or buys an illegal copy of THEIR music, shouldn’t they be considered here? I mean they work hard to produce music/etc… for us to enjoy and we like it so much we want to have it for use anytime. Why is it so easy for some to say ‘ I will never buy music’?
Like I said, not judging, but the Artists are getting screwed by the managers, the protectors and now by us, the ones who eventually get the Music but never consider the source. We really should.
@32 Aug 12, 2009 at 12:48 by Noone Important:
First it’s not theirs, music or films cannot be owned in the real sense of the word but only in a imaginary construct that the people agree to respect and once the respect is gone so is the imaginary construct that made that possible, don’t believe me?
Try and stop anyone from:
- Singing in the shower.
- Performing acts, music at home.
Can people do that? Of course not still some think they own ideas, sounds and images and they should have total control over it which is not possible, desirable or even true because people end up with the same results all the time leibneiz and newton discovered the same thing at the same time.
Second artist do have ways to make a living and may or may not in the future be more profitable or less but they always will get paid for example free music on the internet doesn’t mean artists cannot make money with shows which they do see madonna she is living proof that one can make millions and even less known artist make in the tens of millions so no it is not going to be the end of times for them maybe the corporations behind it will really suffer but I got no sympathy for them, for the movie industry the same thing they could lost the DVD revenue and still there would be a market for theaters, paid services that offer something more like cables did competing with free television how did they(cable) gain so much costumers competing with free?
Third the most important part, non-commercial use will always be free and should be free, the curtail was lift and showed human behavior in action on the internet that is scared some but I can assure you nothing new was happening, “pirates” are normal people and what they do on the internet is the same they would do on the streets and you talk to them everyday, work with them, go shopping with them, you are one of them have you not ever made a mix tape, have you not listened to music for free? have you not watched films for free in any form?
Hmmmm.
You make good pints, but I still feel you are mixing in free with what may be paid for.
Sure madonna and others still make millions. And yes I have watched a Movie for free. But not one I downloaded.
Yes I make mix tapes/playlists, but from music I bought. So I agree there is that free aspect to this. I can do whatever I want with what I bought.
See, that’s my point. I bought. I am thinking that too many people think because someone bought it, then shared it, it’s ok to take as many copies of it as needed and not buy them.
That is what I see the problem is. Not arguing, not hatin’, but just see it differently.
thanks for the reply
As a South African, I’m happy to hear we aren’t going to be pushed around by our authorities.
Our government should realize that getting our economy in motion is a lot more important the buying music from places like that when there is NO effective form of Digital Distribution in South Africa.
They should set-up a legal alternative FFS. South African’s will use an iTunes-like service.
Quote: “making prophets from piracy, i’m sure jesus wouldn’t approve…
…dumbass PROFIT”
Hahaha, you crack me up! *roflol* *lmao*
Quite easily one of the best responses I’ve read lately concerning someones typo! ;)
Why is it, that nobody here has taken into account that what the sites are doing isnt actually illegal??
RIAA, RISA and the morons might think it illegal, but as its clearly stated in the article, what theyre doing isnt illegal… IN RUSSIA!
Why is it nobody ever thinks about country boundaries anymore? They actually still matter, even thou countries like US would want nothing more than decide for everyone what is legal or not!
But, really, block the site! what do I care?
Opendns.org: 208.67.222.222
208.67.220.220
@38 Aug 12, 2009 at 15:29 by WiseOdd:
I really don’t care if it is legal in Russia, those guys behind those sites are just as bad as the MAFIAA if you buy from them you are just forming another cartel that will go after the people who share.
And to be completely honest I do think this is a case were the industry have all the rights to bitch about it and ask for punishment and I don’t like the MAFIAA, copyright in my view is exactly for this purpose. To stop people trying to make a profit from others.
I actually resorted to buying my music off of GoMusic.ru or some other site it was really good it had a lot of music mostly newer stuff and they didnt scam my card like I thought would happen the only problem and probrably reason I stopped and went back to bt is because they wouldnt let me top up no less than 30 dollars into my music account after the first top off which allows you to top up less. I definitely didnt like that. I mean it was cool, the speeds where fast and the digital tracks werent bad…and it was DRM free. Too bad if they would’ve changed that I might’ve continued… but ah for now its bt if i ever need music at least until its time for me to stop.
also I disagree with post number 39…. i mean I think buying for them would actually be doing the opposite. If you understand that being that they are basically saying fuc you RIAA its legal over here in Russia…if the RIAA decides to sue at least all the music bought from them would actually allow them to put up a fight against them….so it might actually be a good thing… Everybody knows money make the world go round.
@3: “Making money off of infringement is just about the most blatant criminal offense.”
Go tell that to the RIAA.
I don’t think it is fair to see artists get nothing for their work, I expect to be paid for mine. I don’t however agree with big corporates ripping us off for 10-15 pounds per album, that is too much money.
As for blocking sites, I am 100% against that, if they have a problem with these sites go and deal with them directly.
.neo.style$|nvDX
After I was done satisfying the Russian mafiaa my man literally shoved all the russian coin up my arse and forced me to walk through the scanner.. I’m so lucky I diddn’t get caught by russian government.. I ejeced a small coin turd right onto the floor without them noticing
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