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Tuesday, May 10, 2011

Teh Internets Google Music Vs. Pirates

Posted by Paul Constant on Tue, May 10, 2011 at 12:26 PM

I was excited to hear about Google Music this morning. I tried to be excited about Amazon's Cloud Player, but the uploader crashed repeatedly and I finally gave up. Google is usually pretty good about making the uploading process fairly seamless.

But Gizmodo says that Google has some plans that make the service look a lot less appealing to lots of folks:

Word from Google IO is that Google Music will delete user MP3s, if the copyright holder has a legitimate claim against their music being on the server. And it will use the same backend tech to do so as YouTube...For end users, this means that album/song leaks and pirated music will not be tolerated.

The window for legally acquired music is actually pretty narrow. It'll be interesting to see how tough Google will be on this issue, and how people will feel about having private files deleted from their private accounts. Gizmodo likens it to deleting YouTube videos, but I think, since this service isn't intended for sharing with the public, it may feel more to users like deleting personal e-mails.

Comments (11) RSS

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how do they know if my music is pirated? not uh lady gaga but my collection of minimal german techno for example?

Posted by aardvark on May 10, 2011 at 12:40 PM

never had any trouble with the amazon cloud player. uploaded 30G in one evening.

Posted by user error on May 10, 2011 at 12:51 PM

To be fair, they're not "your private files" and you'd still have your local ones. Removing pirated music from their servers is not like deleting personal emails because you didn't create the music and you don't own the music. It's someone else's music that you're using illegitimately.

Maybe within your moral sphere keeping pirated music is acceptable but within the letter of the law, it's not and Google is obliged to abide by that.

Posted by sven forkbeard on May 10, 2011 at 12:52 PM

I second what aardvark said. By what method do they determine that your music is pirated? I have lots and lots of music I ripped myself from CDs I paid for. It would piss me off if I couldn't upload that because it isn't flagged as downloaded from iTunes or something.

Posted by tired and true on May 10, 2011 at 1:01 PM

The bulk of my MP3s are ripped off of audio CD. How would anybody know if they were "pirated" or not?

Posted by BostonFontSnob on May 10, 2011 at 1:02 PM

this is just their way of saying they will comply with the §512 notice and takedown procedure.

Posted by duhpaul on May 10, 2011 at 1:17 PM

I get what you're saying sven, but if someone emails me the entire text of The Pale King , it's someone else's text that I'm using illegitimately. Google doesn't get to go in my gmail and remove it. In fact, I've had people email me mp3s, and Google didn't scan them to see whether they're copyright protected or not. Dropbox doesn't go through my files to see whether they're within copyright (whether I'm backing up photos, music, videos or text) unless required by law.

Posted by Canadian Nurse on May 10, 2011 at 1:19 PM

@6: If it was just that, they wouldn't be offering to use the backend tech that YouTube uses. That tech searches for songs, rather than just following the "copyright holder complains and we respond" policies that other companies follow.

Posted by Canadian Nurse on May 10, 2011 at 1:22 PM

Music Beta is getting lamer by the second, and it's only day one. What is next: Chinese users will only have access to songs that praise the government?

Posted by cosby

on May 10, 2011 at 2:04 PM

This sounds like it could shape up to almost be as cool as the dude who brings his own CD to listen to in your car. Plus, the added disappointment of half his songs gone missing.

Posted by Dougsf on May 10, 2011 at 2:39 PM

It doesn't sound like this is limited to "illegal" music. It sounds like if a label objects to having ANY of its music on Google's cloud - regardless of how it was obtained - Google will take it down.

Posted by Free Lunch on May 10, 2011 at 3:48 PM