Arrrrrrr, ye mateys! Do ye have stolen music?
I in no way think Apple was behind this part of the iPhone deal, however; it bears a mention. As badly as I want an iPhone, and as badly as the rest of the Appleverse wants one, I can’t believe there isn’t more buzz in the blogosphere about the little AT&T program designed to catch music piracy, which will include the iPhones and their users.
AT&T marks the first of the big Telcos to join forces with the RIAA and MPAA to clear the internet of pirated content. AT&T makes claims that this technology they are developing will only target the most egregious offenders, however; it is a huge leap of trust that I just can’t see my way clear to make on their behalf. Why don’t I trust them? They were the company that released private user phone data to the governement not so long ago, and that agreed to allow the government to spy on users’ calls.
“The risk AT&T faces is fighting the last war by spending money and energy plugging an old hole in the wall when new ones are breaking out,” said Fred von Lohmann, a senior staff attorney at the Electronic Freedom Foundation. The San Francisco digital-rights organization has sued AT&T, alleging it illegally released customers’ phone data to the federal government.
Will I still buy an iPhone? Perhaps. I was more excited when the deal was first announced last year under the auspices of Cingular, the company I used for my wireless carrier and a company I trusted. Now that Cingular has become “The New AT&T”, I have less enthusiasm for the deal. I hope Apple knows what it has gotten itself into – this deal with AT&T, known for shady tactics and consumer abuses, could backfire and erase decades of good will Apple has developed with its customers.
My honey asked me how this would be a problem, and I had to explain to him that most of us keep our music on iTunes and in an iPod. The iPhone also contains iTunes and an iPod and will sync with your computer’s iTunes, just like your existing iPod. So even if you don’t use AT&T for internet, if you are a music pirate, your music could end up on your iPhone, accessible by AT&T in their piracy sweeps.
But what if you don’t put stolen music on the iPhone? It’s always possible to make a mistake and allow a stolen tune to slip through on a playlist, all it takes is one careless sync. But what if you don’t steal music (or maybe you used to, and you have a couple of files from years and years ago, but you haven’t in ages)? My worry here is that people like me, who either don’t steal music at all or who stopped snagging free music long ago, but who do support unsigned bands and little known artists by swapping files with other music lovers, will get culled in a sweep simply because the files aren’t on the RIAA radar. I’ need to see significant proof that the RIAA and AT&T can and will tell the difference between unknown music files like those, or between “Hey Joe, check out this song” swaps that lead to sale, and so far I don’t see the RIAA enforcers as capable of telling these swaps apart from actual piracy.
Proceed with caution Apple Fanz, proceed with caution.
Hire Me On 
