Police raid 7 homes to track down illegal downloading of son

last SG · 2006-10-09T23:12:39+00:00

a 17-yr-old has been charged in court for piggybacking on his neighbour's account.

alvin-ncs SG

nice 1...arrest mata lao den no 1 arrest us rite?

arrest mata please....

^tamago^ SG

25 new cases of illegal music file-sharing handed over to police
17 October 2006 1921 hrs (SST) 1121 hrs (GMT)

The Recording Industry Association of Singapore (RIAS) has found 25 new cases of illegal music file-sharing and downloading.

It has filed these cases with the police, in line with international efforts to deter copyright theft.

Over 8,000 new cases in 17 countries were also reported on Tuesday.

The International Federation of the Phonographic Industry, an organisation against music piracy, says legal action is being taken against the biggest culprits of South America and Eastern Europe.

Over in Singapore, the 25 new cases were reported just days after the police had raided the homes of seven illegal music file-sharers.

RIAS says that the new cases involve users who are illegally downloading and sharing music files via international networks like Limewire and Gnutella.

In October last year, over 800 instant warning messages were sent to illegal music file-sharers.

That number dipped to 32 last month alone.

Edward Neubronner, CEO of RIAS, said: "So it's clearly an indication that the majority in Singapore understand and know that these activities are wrong, they are illegal and the consequences can be very dire."

Two Singaporean men were jailed four months and three months respectively in February for distributing hundreds of pirated digital music files through an Internet chat program.

They were the first to be punished in Singapore for a non profit-making offence under the city-state's Copyright Act.

A third was let off with a warning because he was only 16 years old at that time.

"The reaction when three were arrested was that: there are so many of us, are you going to catch all of us? Now, after the seven whose homes have been raided by the police, it's clear that everybody is saying, 'ok! it's not fooling around, and I don't think I want to face such severe consequences'," said Mr Neubronner.

A media expert believes the new cases will have a chilling effect among online users.

Associate Professor Ang Peng Hwa, Chair of Wee Kim Wee School of Communications and Information at the Nanyang Technological University, said: "The volume of downloading will go down at least for a while. You have to see what kinds of penalties are levied on those people who have been charged.....I'm not sure if many people know, but the copyright laws in Singapore are very tough. In fact, they are the toughest in the world right now. We are, for better or worse, leading the world in this area."

Liew Woon Yin, Director-General of Intellectual Property Office of Singapore (IPOS), said: "The provision is actually not meant to target the one or two individuals who download and distribute music. The whole purpose and objective of the Act is to tackle infringers who download music wilfully and to a significant extent. We're of the view that the activities that we've conducted so far have been effective. We can't say that people are not aware of the provisions in the law and people are not aware that it's wrong to infringe somebody else's work."

IPOS admits that it's not possible to eradicate music piracy in Singapore.

But education is the key.

IPOS has been alerting the public about the importance of honouring intellectual property through its advertisements in movie theatres and magazines.

And if need be, it says it will step up its educational campaign. - CNA/ir

http://www.channelnewsasia.com/palmnews/singaporelocalnews/view/235999/1/.html

^tamago^ SG

Technomage SG

cheebye, block us from the website lar. knn. fucked up country

Ponders SG

Hmm, we should start buying $5 China CDs and not break the law.

We must not support RIAS and their members.

We do not buy RIAS products.

See who gets last laugh.

oozie SG

sbst275 SG

Yeah...

Catch... Those songs that dun release CD download how ar? Rolling Eyes Laughing

sirAdrian SG

IP address is some sort of an home address or ....Example: 10.00.222 = blk 20 download ruz #100-200 spore 999.....easy to track..jus like some1 said the police ask the service provider can liao.....

although some of the ppl IP is not the same everytime, with the technology nw wat the ***** ppl cannot do???

Well...if u smash ur Harddisk, those IT guy may also can find out, maybe not all but some. If u wan to smash pls really smash it into thousand of pieces then burn....

ndmmxiaomayi SG

Originally posted by wenyong90:
[b]I do have some comment on this "illegal downloading" issue.

Firstly, i dont see wat's the point of tracking down downloaders when Mp3 players are selling all over in the country. By allowing mp3 players to be sold in the country, the country should knows well that people will download songs and transfer into their mp3 players. Dont give me the crap that people can get their own CDs and rip it in... The government is telling the people that everyone can own up CDs with about 30GB?

The government will probably say it's illegal if you rip the CDs. Use a discman instead.

Secondly, some albums are really trash,only about 3 tracks are nice or should i say "listen-able", and the remaining 7-9 songs are just crap. So u are expecting us to get those album? Hello?

I suppose you heard of Apple iTunes and Soundbuzz? They allow you to download individual songs legally.

So the Government thinks that they will really be able to stop the country for downloading by just catching 10 plus people so far? Please, We are not stupid, Trust me, no one would ever stops. At most, they will only stop for a moment and start all over again.

The government obviously did not think so. They are well aware of it, so laws are being reviewed all the time.

ndmmxiaomayi SG

And nuke yourself such that God can't save you either. Laughing

dragg SG

it is high time they lower the sales price of cds.

R3SsH|n SG

IP address is like the pipe given to your household to surf the internet. Everyone's pipe is different so that there won't be a conflict. This is how they identify the individual household.

i seriously would like to know how in the world do RIAS know which person download. Their process of accusing someone has broken the IPOS law...and how they make a report to the police, how the ISP has a hand in all this(definately so)

ST reporter, f you are looking at this, do us the favour. Wink

_n00b_ SG

so we cant use the RIP function…are they going against Mr Bill?

alvin-ncs SG

maybe not....

alvin-ncs SG

bloody helll...

like they never dl like that lor...

Evil or Very Mad

mahawarrior SG

this ‘no illegal downloading of music’ is just a plain stupid, childish and ridiculous law. it serves no meaning at all other than just to give those police something to do. imagine composing a music but not allowing other people to download it? hahaha…

toyota-corolla SG

walao. when will thet stop sia, my song list reach up to 5songs and so despo to download.

Impact Player SG

anyway, iTunes shop will be coming to Singapore next year.

and if downloading songs are illegal, then what is the point of selling portable media players? I simply don't get it.

LazerLordz SG

We need a global class-action boycott of RIAA managed artistes and bands. Start small, spread the word amongst your own communities. Think global, act local. Resist packaged popular music and gleaming, glitzy packages that come with it as a result of a full-spectrum marketing and media blitz that is all-encompassing through all channels of human interaction and interactivity.

Support independant music, listen to your local bands who need your airtime and are willing to put music ahead of overemphasis on glitz and profits. Return music to its community roots.

RIAA and RIAS has gotten it's act all wrong, and using the criminal justice system will not revive their Golden Age of platinum albums and what not. It is dead and flogging a dead horse only stinks up the place.

The world's social order has changed. They must get with the times.

ndmmxiaomayi SG

Nice question, but how to do it? Most users in Singapore uses dynamic IP addresses, unless you are on dial-up or you are facing connections problems.

This question has been raised a lot of times, but nobody would just come out and verify it.

ST reporter probably won't know, and won't ask. It's as good as telling the public how the investigation is conducted and people will think of ways to avoid it.

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