Indies Accusing MySpace, Major Record Labels of Possible Collusion

By Eriq Gardner

MySpace has been a respected breeding ground for independent musicians. But is the social networking website about to provoke a major backlash?

News Corp., which owns the site, is about to launch an online retail spin-off called MySpace Music, which many hope will compete with industry leader Apple iTunes. According to the Register, the upstart service has secured the catalogues of three major record companies, possibly by giving them equity. However, the paper also reports that independent labels are being excluded from the service over an inability to secure song rights. Many indiess don't have worldwide rights over songs — only certain territorial rights — and MySpace Music is requiring worldwide rights clearance in order to stave off any copyright infringement claims.

Or at least that's one theory. Another?

Updated News On NBC, MySpace, and SAG

Posted by Eriq Gardner

Just some updates on some stories we posted last week:

• There was some confusion last week after Windows Vista Media Center users couldn't digitally record NBC's Monday night programming. Now, Microsoft has acknowledged that it blocked its own users at the request of a broadcaster. They didn't finger the broadcaster, though it's pretty apparent who it is.

• A case of MySpace bullying opened up the door to criminal prosecution for website users who violate terms of service. In another case, the 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals has ruled that that the Communications Decency Act of 1996 gives MySpace immunity from lawsuits stemming from sexual assault incidents that arise from the popular social networking site. "(Parties) may sue the third-party user who generated the content, but not the interactive computer service that enabled them to publish the content online," wrote Judge Edith Brown Clement in the ruling.

• Consent and compensation for clips of film and TV work posted online has become a major issue of contention in talks between SAG and the AMPTP. SAG national exec director Doug Allen has posted a video on on SAG’s website that outlines the union's position and stresses that actors have had the right of refusal in traditional media for 50 years.

MySpace Suicide Case Could Open Door To Criminal Prosecution For Many

Posted by Eriq Gardner

A suicide that resulted from alleged MySpace cyberbullying has caught the eye of civil libertarians.

Thirteen-year-old Megan Meier committed suicide after one of her cyber-boyfriends online, 49-year-old Lori Drew, pretended to be a 16-year-old boy named Josh Evans and told her that the world would be a better place without her. Allegedly, Drew was getting even after the girl had a falling out with her daughter. Meier suffered from depression.

Now, eager to punish Drew for her deception, federal prosecutors in Los Angeles are charging Drew with one count of conspiracy and three violations of the anti-hacking Computer Fraud and Abuse Act.

What makes this interesting from a legal perspective is that the Computer Fraud and Abuse Act is a decades-old statute intended to prevent "hacking." Prosecutors are interpreting the statute to mean that anybody who violates the terms of service of any website can be charged with a felony.

"This is a novel and extreme reading of what [the law] prohibits," says Jennifer Granick, civil liberties director at the Electronic Frontier Foundation. "To say that you're violating a criminal law by registering to speak under a false name is highly problematic.

MySpace Wins 'Landmark' Judgment Against Spammers Who Want to be Your Friend

Posted by Eriq Gardner

It probably won't do much to ease the steady flow of junk e-mail to our inbox, but MySpace has just laid claim to the largest ever judgment against spammers.

After two of the Internet's most prominent spam defendants, Sanford Wallace and Walter Rines, failed to show up in U.S. District Court in Los Angeles, a judge awarded a default judgment of $234 million. Wallace, known to some as the "Spam King," and his cohort were accused of sending more than 730,000 messages to MySpace members. The News Corp.-owned social network brought suit under the federal anti-spam law known as CAN-SPAM. MySpace described the victory as a "landmark."