JAMCOPY and MOE Copyright Infringement – UWI License to Kill in a Clash of the Titans

And whether you’re an honest man or whether you’re a thief

Depends on whose solicitor has given me my brief

W.S. Gilbert, Utopia, Limited, I

The issue of Copyright protection for one intellectual property is a very serious issue still plaguing the local Jamaican Music Industry. A solution may soon be in grasp, if Jamaica follows the example of our American Cousins. Of what do I speak?

Just in case you have been under a proverbial Cone of Silence Get Smart (2008) Style, the US Government has been shutting down File Sharing Networks such as Limewire in a bid to make money from Online and Physical Disc sales of  Digital Video and Music as stated in my blog article entitled “UWI and Piracy - The Real Pirate Bay” and the article “UWI and Piracy - Release the Kraken”. Good idea, as that money can wean the US Government off its insatiable appetite for using Treasury Bills to borrow money!

Telecoms Providers and ISP (Internet Service Providers), under pressure form Hollywood Studios, have decided to follow the French and High Authority for Dissemination of Works and Protection of Rights on the Internet (Hadopi) and threaten Millennials [ages 18 to 28] with lifetime bans for Digital Video and Music Piracy in a “six-strikes-your-out” system dubbed the Copyright Alert System as stated in my blog article entitled “Telecom Providers and Copyright Alert System - Pirates on Stranger Tides experience Pain au chocolat”.

Their efforts appear to be showing signs of success, with Nielsen SoundScan recording 1% growth in sales figures for albums, both Digital Online and Physics Discs in July 2011AD over a six (6) month period, the first such growth after years of decline as chronicled in my blog article entitled “Nielsen Soundscan 1% Rise in Music Album Sales - Greg Sandoval's FireStarter”.

A similar measure is desperately needed in Jamaica involving the cooperation of the Government of Jamaica, the local Telecom Providers and copyright watchdog JAMCOPY (Jamaican Copyright Licensing Agency). Already, JAMCOPY located at Building 3, 17 Ruthven Road in Kingston, has signed agreements with the US Government that retroactively protect Jamaican and American Intellectual Property in each other jurisdictions since 2004AD as stated in the article “Ja/US move to protect authors”, published Wednesday, April 28, 2004, The Jamaica Observer.

Shirley Carby of JIPO (Jamaica Intellectual Property Office) and chairman of JAMCOPY, then intoned the eventual intentions of JAMCOPY, quote: “We are now preparing to negotiate with the Ministry of Education....and we intend to do the same with universities and then private institutions”. A noble ambition, being launched on an equally noble World Copyright Day on Monday April 26 2004AD!

Fast forward to the year 2011AD, a good seven (7) years into the future and very little headway has been made in this area of protecting the Intellectual Property in printed form. Granted, JAMCOPY has now began collecting royalties on behalf of authors of printed material and has up to December 2010AD, disbursed up to about JA$3.3 million to two hundred and five (205) copyright holders as stated in the article “JAMCOPY distributes $3.3 million in royalties”, published Thursday, December 16, 2010, The Jamaica Observer.

JAMCOPY states that, quote: “This is good news for the students, lecturers and administrators of those eight colleges, who will now be able to make legitimate copies from image and text-based copyright material published in Jamaica and 30 other countries.” However, left out of the Copyright Act loop are the UWI (University of the West Indies) and the Ministry of Education, a Ministry with which JAMCOPY has been in negotiations since 2006AD to have signed on to getting a license that allows them to copy and reproduce the work of their registered members.

If this sounds strange in a world with computers, Scanners and the Internet, rest assured it is not.

Disclosure: One of the easiest ways to Pirate Books on the UWI is to simply scan them using OCR (Optical Character Recognition) software such as ABBY Fine Reader Professional 10.0 and upload to the Internet as a PDF file for fellow University Students to download, a task no more difficult and no different from ripping a CD (Compact Disc) and putting it on your MP4 player or making bootleg copies of said CD’s.

CD’s by the way, JAMCOPY along with the JAPA (Jamaica Anti-Piracy Alliance) and the Jamaica Constabulary Force aka the Jamaican Police helped to destroy during Intellectual Property Week 2011 in April 2011AD as stated in the article “VIDEO: 1.2 million bootleg CDs destroyed”, published Saturday, April 16, 2011 BY SHAWN BARNES Observer video editor, The Jamaica Observer, roughly about one million two hundred thousand (1,200,000) CD and two hundred and twelve thousand (212,000) DVD’s.

The reverse is also true for E-Books too, from our American counterparts, which can be easily downloaded from the Internet from torrent sites such as KickAssTorrents, The Pirate Bay and 4Shared as I did while at the UWI studying for my Degree in Electronics and Chemistry in the Faculty of Pure and Applied Sciences as stated in my blog article entitled “UWI and Piracy - The Real Pirate Bay” and the article “UWI and Piracy - Release the Kraken”. 

E-Books Readers such as the Amazon Kindle or the Barnes and Noble Nook can go a long way to protect printed material and modernize the UWI Library as stated in my blog article entitled “How UWI can save money in a recession”.

Hence JAMCOPY interest in getting the Ministry of Education and by extension the UWI signed up for a Licence to Kill (1989), JAMCOPY style as stated in the article “VIDEO: Copyright infringement by gov't schools continues”, published Tuesday, July 19, 2011 BY JANICE BUDD Associate editor - Sunday, The Jamaica Observer and the article “JAMCOPY turns focus on tertiary institutions”, published Tuesday, July 19, 2011 BY ALICIA DUNKLEY Senior staff reporter, The Jamaica Observer respectively.

The Internet, for the cash-strapped student, is their ultimate saviour. But the Intellectual Property of Copyright holders of works of art must be protected, especially from such large institutions that copy and reprint books with photocopiers and thanks to the Internet, have the ability to fuel a rapid proliferation of e-book Piracy as per my Geezam Blog entitled “Piracy and E-books in a Tale of Two Cities”.

A Local Writer’s Guild, in much the same way that other professions have a membership platform that speaks on their behalf and represents them, is also required to make writers more organized and offer Copyright protection to Jamaican authors, writers, poets, songwriters, programmers and bloggers who do not work for a large company or Statutory body as stated in the article “Wanted: A local writers' guild”, published Tuesday, July 19, 2011 by Alicia Dunkley, The Jamaica Observer.

Once Copyright holders of written or spoken material are members of a Writer’s Guild, which would naturally seek a JAMCOPY affiliation, you are automatically protected whenever your work is used without your permission. Thus, your case goes straight to the Copyright Tribunal as opposed to going through the long circuitous process of the Courts as JAMCOPY General Manager Carol Newman emphasizes.

Even the Intellectual Property of those us who gave away our ideas and songs but were caught on a hidden audio-visual device or recorded in some way, as this is the first form of Copyright according to JAMCOPY Vice Chairperson, Dianne Daley. Such as is my case back in April 2009AD while traveling with a bunch of brain-dead Shurpower Engineers and speaking out aloud and even singing (literally, I do remember!!) my creative ideas in songs.

That’s why, in case anyone is wondering about the Copyright of the Viral Video hit as chronicled in my blog article entitled “Daqri combines QR Codes with Augmented Reality - Ads and PR Minority Report Cat on a Hot Tin Roof” and my Geezam blog article entitled “Social Media Marketing – Advertising and Marketing in Ja on a Shoe-String” nobody canna cross it!

So it is hoped that the Ministry of Education and by extension the UWI will cooperate with JAMCOPY and be Licence to Kill (1989), JAMCOPY style, as unwittingly, not only are they accelerating Printed and Online e-book piracy, but they may also be allowing foreigners to copy their Intellectual Property without knowing it.

A group effort by the Government of Jamaica and Local Telecom Providers and ISP’s, to take a page from our American cousins would also be helpful in stemming the distribution of Copyright Infringing Material aka Digital Music and Video Piracy over the Internet as Copyright protection works both ways in this Clash of the Titans (2010). 

Nielsen Soundscan 1% Rise in Music Album Sales - Greg Sandoval's FireStarter

There’s music in the sighing of a reed;

There’s music ion the gushing of a rill;

There’s music in all things, if men had ears:

Their earth is but an echo of the spheres.

Byron, Don Juan, XV

It seems that the Local Music Industry, which has taken a lot of flack from yours truly especially as it relates to the quality of Music et al as stated in my blog article entitled “Jamaican Music Industry 2 Years post-Ban - How Artiste and Booking Agents Launder Money”, may be seeing a curious uptick among it North American cousins.

This with the recently published results by analyst Nielsen SoundScan that indicate a 1% increase in U.S. Album sales for the six (6) month period ending July 2011AD as stated in the article “Nielsen SoundScan: Album sales inching up”, published JULY 6, 2011 4:01 PM PDT by Greg Sandoval, Media Maverick - CNET News.

RIAA (Recording Industry Artiste Association) 's CEO Mitch Bainwold, puts it into perspective, quote: “We're still an Industry that is hard hit by digital theft and half the size it was ten years ago. There's probably no one single reason (for the rise in sales), but improved marketing efforts ...and antipiracy successes like the closure of LimeWire have helped.”

This confirms news earlier in April 2011AD here in Jamaica Ring tones of the uptick in Music sales, particularly Digital Music and its use in Ringtones as stated in the article “Digital Music Sales up - Marley dominates local ring tone charts”, published Friday, April 08, 2011 by Steven Jackson, Observer staff Reporter, The Jamaica Observer.

Bob Marley getting most of the love on the Telecom Provider’s Networks heading the cattle drive for revenue from Music. Albeit not Album sales it is an indicator of possibly similar trend here in Jamaica, with a detailed study required to confirm a replicability of the Nielsens SoundScan’s results here in Jamaica.

For an Industry accustomed to doom and gloom news, this mere 1% uptick in Album sales is a shocker, as the usual scapegoat, piracy, seems to not be in play. This as, from an anecdotal point of view, people opt to download singles and make their own Music playlists, often due to the poor quality of Music, which is no enticement to buy an Album, be it in digital download or Physical Disc format.

The extent of the Music Recording Industry can be seen from the graph below, as I personally had no idea that so many means of distribution existed for Music.

It may have to do with continued US Government crackdown on piracy in 2010AD, led by Senator Joe Biden, in a bid to extract sales tax from online purchases by discouraging copyright infringement and encouraging legitimate purchases as stated in my blog article entitled “UWI and Piracy - The Real Pirate Bay” and the article “UWI and Piracy - Release the Kraken”.

Analyst NPD had reported the percentage of online users downloading music via P2P services in the fourth quarter of 2010 was 9%, a significant decrease when compared to the corresponding period in 2007AD where it was at 16% as stated in the article “Study: LimeWire demise slows music piracy”, published MARCH 23, 2011 5:47 AM PDT by Greg Sandoval, Media Maverick - CNET News. So their efforts are beginning to bear fruit!

This has now culminated in what is effectively a “six strikes you’re out” joint pact between Triple Play Provider Comcast, Triple Play Provider Time Warner, Telecom Provider AT&T and Telecom Provider Verizon in what is called the Copyright Alert System as chronicled in my blog article entitled “Telecom Providers and Copyright Alert System - Pirates on Stranger Tides experience Pain au chocolat”.

It is similar to the French Plan as noted in my Geezam blog article entitled “Digital Video and Music Piracy – A Land grab for Taxes on the Internet” as well as my blog article entitled “Telecom Providers and Piracy - After the Fox and the French Connection”.

French and High Authority for Dissemination of Works and Protection of Rights on the Internet (Hadopi) send warnings to high volume downloaders of Copyright Infringing Intellectual Property effectively The French Connection (1971) to the action being taken by the Americans! 

The French plan is a bit more harsh, however, with the threat of blacklisting and permanent disconnection from the Internet on the third infraction and a fine as stated in the article “France launches warning to web pirates”, published Monday October 4, 12:13 pm ET, AFP, Yahoo! News.

Thus this uptick in Album sales may, really and truly, be nothing more that the Millennials [ages 18 to 28], who are addicted to the Internet and Social Networking, which is their main portal for sharing Copyright Infringing content, getting scared out of their wits at a future prospect of being blacklisted from accessing the Internet due to the crackdown which began earlier in 2010AD.

The young ‘uns, just as they have begun to adopt Analog Photography as stated in my blog article entitled “Analog Photography a hit with Millennials - Digital Cameras in Katy Perry's Teenage Dream”, may also be returning to the physical formats for distributing Digital Video and Music content for the reasons as stated in my blog article entitled “Netflix & the Death of Blu-Ray - Rise of the Machines meets Chicken Run”.

This seeing as their free and organized means of downloading, such as Napster and Limewire have been taken down as stated in the article “What's driving rise in Music sales?”, published JULY 10, 2011 4:00 AM PDT by Greg Sandoval, Media Maverick - CNET News.

After all, the Physical discs, albeit old fashioned stuff, like Analog Photography, has better quality in terms of presentation and Audio Quality. The Baby Boomers lament breaks into praise “The young ‘uns do have good taste in Music quality after all!!”; a truism, as MP3’s with a sampling rate of 128kbps don’t sound all that great on your Stereo system with its five (5) high end speakers, subwoofers and tweeters.

The comment of NPD Senior analyst Ross Crupnick explains this phenomenon: “The cataclysmic drop in CD buyers may have stopped. Between the years 2006 to 2009, the number of CD buyers dropped by around 20 million. We talk about young people and the lost generation but some of these younger Music buyers are telling us ‘I want that thing I can hold, the liner notes and Album cover and the other ancillary materials that come with physical products’.”

Finally, after being scared by the U.S. Government crackdown and suddenly developing a love for physical formats, the MPP (Magical Pricing Point) of US$9.99 that Apple iTunes made standard on all its Albums has begun to work its “magic” on young people, who by the way are willing to spend online once the price is right.

This as a December 2010AD Pew Study hailing out of Harvard in the article “Study: So people do pay for online content”, published December 30, 2010 7:43 AM PST by Lance Whitney, Digital Media - CNET News suggested that people are wiling to make online purchases.

A baseline of one thousand (1000) people conducted from October 28^th 2010 to November 1^st 2010, it revealed that of the seven hundred and fifty (750) Internet users, 65% of them spent online, with about 43% averaging US$10 per purchase.

Put simply, price Music Albums below US$10 and introduce a “taste and buy” model or Freemium model as chronicled in my blog article entitled “Spotify and Freemium in the cloud - Shake, Rattle and Roll love for Internationals”, the reason behind Spotify success in the Music Industry over the past two (2) years, and Music Album sales in both Digital and Physical disc formats would start moving again and continue this 1% of CNET News Editor Greg Sandoval’s Firestarter (1984) of Album sales among Millennials.

Marmaduke from Hastings Entertainment puts it best, quote: “When you're competing with rampant piracy, the best way to combat it is to lower prices”. Something that cash strapped Millennials in college can certainly agree on – pay up or be banned from the Internet for life!!

A follow-up article on this trend tracking this phenomenon as it spontaneously bursts into flames Firestarter (1984) Style will be coming in a later Geezam Blog article. Stay tuned….

Telecom Providers and Copyright Alert System - Pirates on Stranger Tides experience Pain au chocolat

Men, my brothers, men, the workers, ever reaping something new;

That which they have done but earnest of the things that they shall do

Tennyson, Locksley Hall

I have seen stranger News than this, but in my book, this is not only unexpected News but totally caught me off guard. Initially when I read it, I had to do a double take: isn’t this a breach of the Digital Millennium Copyright Act as well as First Amendment Rights?

But alas it is not. It's the young ‘uns being given fair warning before being banned for life from the Internet, while the American Government seeks to organize the Internet in order to impose Sales Taxes on Online purchases.

The News in question: Triple Play Provider Comcast, Triple Play Provider Time Warner, Telecom Provider AT&T and Telecom Provider Verizon have now signed a pact called the Copyright Alert System to effectively disconnect Copyright infringers as stated in the article “Top ISPs agree to become Copyright cops”, published JULY 7, 2011 8:39 AM PDT by Greg Sandoval, CNET News - Media Maverick.

This after they have committed six (6) distinct infringements of Copyright as detailed in the article “ISPs join the Copyright fight, put broadband on the line”, published July 7, 2011, 10:42am PT By Stacey Higginbotham, GigaOM. This is effectively a six (6) strike rule, at which point the owner of the copyrighted material comes into the picture and may request that the Broadband Internet subscriber’s connection be disconnected.

And it has a hint of French too, Pain au chocolat (2000) style, which translated literally mean “Chocolate Pain” as I shall explain further on.

Their joint statement says it all, quote: “Leaders from the movie, television, music and Internet service provider communities today announced a landmark agreement on a common framework for 'Copyright Alerts. [Copyright Alerts] will educate and notify Internet subscribers when their Internet service accounts possibly are being misused for online content theft. This voluntary landmark collaboration will educate subscribers about content theft on their Internet accounts, benefiting consumers and Copyright holders alike”.

To be clear, the six (6) strikes as quoted from Stacey Higginbotham article ad verbatim are as follows:

1. First Alert: You get an email saying there’s a problem with your account or a user of your account and some educational materials about Copyright infringement.
2. Second Alert: Another email with educational information and the ISP may escalate you straight to the third alert.
3. Third Alert: An email that will force the user to click-through to acknowledge that he has received the emails noting the Copyright problems.
4. Fourth Alert: The subscriber gets another email that forces him to acknowledge that the ISP has flagged the account for Copyright abuse.
5. Fifth Alert: This is where the ISP can start taking “mitigation measures” that are “reasonably calculated to stop future content theft.” Those include reducing broadband speeds or forcing the consumer to a landing page that directs the user to call the ISP to discuss the content theft. It cannot include disrupting a person’s voice or email connectivity. The ISP doesn’t have to implement any of these.
6. Sixth Alert: Now the ISP must take some kind of mitigation measure described above. The ISP doesn’t have to cut off service but they could, or the Copyright owner could try to force them to.

Good to note here that this was not without prior warning, as CNET Editor Greg Sandoval had raise the alarm a month prior in his article “Exclusive: Top ISPs poised to adopt graduated response to piracy”, published JUNE 22, 2011 5:27 PM PDT by Greg Sandoval, CNET News - Media Maverick.

The FCC (Federal Communications Commission) statement, however tows the US Government’s line, quote: “Today’s announcement of a voluntary, cooperative effort to combat online Copyright infringement is a positive development. As the Commission has recognized, Copyright infringement has serious adverse consequences for the economy, and efforts to address this issue can and must co-exist with robust protections for Internet freedom and openness. We look forward to the recommendations of the organization that will be created as part of this effort.”

As before, the News was unexpected and incredibly hard to believe at first, as I thought it was a prank. I would have never expected Telecoms Providers and Triple Play Providers to actually care about what is being uploaded and downloaded over their “dumb pipes”.

Not in a million years!!

Telecoms Providers and Triple Play Providers are in the business of providing access, not regulating content. This News means that they have effectively become enforcers, whether they like that label or not as the article “Should you fear new ISP Copyright enforcers?”, published JULY 7, 2011 1:31 PM PDT by Greg Sandoval, CNET News - Media Maverick.

I knew of the US Government’s efforts to clamp down on Copyright infringements, having made note of the connection to Copyright Piracy and College Students, mostly Millennials [ages 18 to 28] as stated in my blog article entitled ‘UWI and Piracy - The Real Pirate Bay” and the article “UWI and Piracy - Release the Kraken”. And for the better too, as it shows that they do have a conscience as it relates to Copyright Infringement of the stakeholders represented by the RIAA (Recording Industry Artiste Association) and the MPAA (Motion Picture Artiste Association).

A good turn of coat, after their initial resistance to the idea of policing subscriber traffic as stated in the article “One ISP says RIAA must pay for piracy protection”, published DECEMBER 22, 2008 4:00 AM PST by Greg Sandoval, CNET News - Media Maverick and the article “AT&T exec: ISP will never terminate service on RIAA's word”, published MARCH 25, 2009 3:15 PM PDT, by Greg Sandoval, CNET News - Media Maverick.

Maybe it has something to do with the brouhaha that came out of the ISP subpoenas brought to bear against ISP’s by Voltage Pictures, the Producers of the Oscar winning movie The Hurt Locker (2008) as stated in the article “Another ISP bucks 'Hurt Locker' subpoenas”, published AUGUST 27, 2010 3:53 PM PDT AUGUST 27, 2010 3:53 PM PDT by Greg Sandoval, CNET News - Media Maverick.

In the past, their concern has only shown itself when people exhibit behavior typical of Data Hogs i.e. constant downloading of large volumes of movies, which affects the user experience of other Internet Broadband users. When pressure was placed on them, they become turncoats.

Threats of more ensuing lawsuits that they might clearly lose would had had a negative fallout on their future customers, Millennials, who may shy away from their services, claiming Digital Millennium Copyright Act as well as First Amendment Rights breaches.

So Telecoms Providers and Triple Play Providers chose the middle-ground, not wanting to lose their biggest partners, the claimants represented by the RIAA and the MPAA. But they strike a stake in the ground by putting the Data Hogs ....er….I mean the young un’s on point as to the fact that, plain and simple, they are no way breaching their perceived rights.

Just informing them in six (6) easy steps that DOWNLOADING COPYRIGHT INFRINGING MATERIAL IS WRONG!

But what of my Pain au chocolat (2000) comment? Oh la la.

US Telecoms Providers and Triple Play Providers voluntary implementation of this Copyright Alert System may inspiration from the French as noted in my Geezam blog article entitled “Digital Video and Music Piracy – A Land grab for Taxes on the Internet” as well as my blog article entitled “Telecom Providers and Piracy - After the Fox and the French Connection”.

If these events and my past blog posts are anything to go by, similar action may be taken by Local Reggae and Dancehall Artiste against Telecom Providers and Triple Play Providers here in Jamaica and the wider Caribbean in a bid to recover revenue lost due to Digital Video and Music Piracy as hinted in my blog article entitled “LTE vs WiMax 4G - Jayce and the Wheeled Warriors”.

This as Telecom Providers and Triple Play Providers are now on an expansionist move as my blog article entitled “LIME and American Tourist Data Avalanche - The US$80 Million Dollar CannonBall Run” and my Geezam blog article entitled “LIME, Digicel and FLOW – Leading the Global 4G Adoption Curve”.

All of this, truth be told, may be a play for votes come US Presidential Elections in 2012AD, the other big ticket event than the London Olympics 2012 in July 27^th 2012AD.