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A multinational recording-industry front group called the International Federation of the Phonographic Industry (IFPI) filed suit with the Tainan District Prosecutor's Office against fourteen students at Taiwan's National Chengkung University, earlier this month. The law suit accuses them of illegally copying and trading MP3 music files. According to reports from Students at the university, officials showed up at a campus dormitory with a few plain clothes policemen, picked rooms at random, and proceeded to ask the following question, "Do you have MP3s on the HD?" If the student answered 'yes,' the whole box was whisked away as criminal evidence.
Computers belonging to students not present were accessed and checked without their permission, and searched for MP3 files
(lucky for those who happened to use passwords). Word spread quickly and students on the upper floors began deleting files, hiding cases or removing HDDs." The IFPI is an international spin organization much like the American RIAA which tries to justify the imperialistic greed of the recording industry by demonizing copyrights violators.
East Asia is notorious for its absolutely laughable copyright enforcement, and we can assume that by terrorizing a handful of students in Taiwan -a notoriously authoritarian country- the IFPI is showing its exasperation -even desperation- with the current state of affairs. According to the Washington Post, "During the raid and in the few days immediately following, a spectacle could be seen on the NCKU campus:
Students going to class with HDDs stashed in their backpacks in fear of being caught in another raid.
Scooters carrying three or four computers could be seen in the surrounding streets, ferrying the 'hot potatoes' out of the dorms. Many students now have their cases open and HDDs unscrewed for a fast getaway."
The situation mirrors action taken in America, Sweden and Germany in the last few months, where students and universities have been put under pressure to put and end to Internet file sharing. It's not drugs they're after, it's MP3s, the contraband of the future, or at least that's how the producers of the 15-minute movie 'MP3 the Movie' would have it.
'MP3 the Movie' is a satirical look at the current situation between Napster and the RIAA (Recording Industry Association of America)," a production note posted on the Web site says, "In the film we tried to somewhat spoof the government's war on drugs; instead of drugs, the government is battling MP3s." The film can be seen at www.filmwave.com, The story is as follows: In the year 2002, the government has outlawed MP3s, the FBI has created a department called the MP3 Task Force to help combat illegal MP3s. They will infiltrate the MP3 black market and put an end to MP3s forever. The film won't be winning any oscars, but it is quite amusing if you've got 15 minutes of company time to waste! Seyi Rhodes