RIAA pushes Google, Verizon for piracy crackdown

From CNET News.com: Net neutrality regulations could, if the music industry gets its way, usher in more Internet surveillance and a crackdown on suspected pirates.

This week, just about every music trade group called for broadband policies--which could include a new federal law--that would "encourage" Internet providers to crack down on suspected piracy by their customers.

"The current legal and regulatory regime is not working for America's creators," the groups, including the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA), said Wednesday in a letter to Google CEO Eric Schmidt. "Our businesses are being undermined, as are the dreams and careers of songwriters, artists, musicians, studio technicians, and other professionals."

The music groups' letter came in response to a joint proposal that Google and Verizon Communications released last week. Their proposal says that Americans will "have access to all legal content on the Internet," which leaves open the questions of access to illegal content and who decides what material may violate copyright law.

The Internet should be "predicated on order, rather than chaos," wrote the 13 groups that signed the letter, which also included the American Federation of Musicians, the American Society of Composers Authors and Publishers, and the National Music Publishers Association. It said that broadband providers must "take measures to deter unlawful activity such as copyright infringement."

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