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Mr. Starrett worked extensively with CD recordable technology at Meridian Data, Inc., the producers of the first CD-Recordable system, installing and supporting many of the early CD recording systems. While at Meridian Data he was also responsible for the development of applications, including data conversion, indexing and retrieval, and production of CD-R prototype discs for Fortune 500 companies.
Mr. Starrett has a B.A. from Metropolitan State College, in Denver, Colorado. He was twice the recipient of the Colorado Scholar's Award. He has a J.D. degree from the University of Colorado School of Law, in Boulder, Colorado. He practiced law in Colorado for several years before becoming involved exclusively in Compact Disc technology. [an error occurred while processing this directive]
For the Record: The RIAA Position on Home Copying
The Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA) represents the interests of record companies, and indirectly, the interests of the artists, backup musicians and vocalists, and songwriters whose music they produce. The RIAA cannot speak for all record copyright owners, let alone the songwriters and music publishers who own the copyright in the musical works embodied in every recording. Each copyright holder individually has the right to interpret--and enforce--his or her own copyright rights as he or she deems appropriate. So what follows is merely the RIAA's view on home taping generally.
Any unauthorized reproduction of a sound recording is technically a copyright infringement. It does not matter whether the reproduction is from a CD to a cassette tape, from a CD to a hard drive, or from a CD to a CD-Recordable disc. In reality, however, no record company has ever sued a consumer for copying music for noncommercial purposes. Moreover, since 1992, with the passage of the Audio Home Recording Act, consumers have been allowed immunity from lawsuits for copyright infringement for all analog and some digital recording. Importantly, however, that immunity does not extend to recording by means of general-purpose digital recording devices, including almost all of the CD-R and CD-RW devices on the market today.
The problem record companies have with home copying is its aggregate impact. One individual making one copy is not going to cause significant harm. But millions of individuals doing the same thing can, and do, cause extraordinary harm. And with the advent of the Internet, a single individual can do incalculable damage all by himself.
It's important to understand that record companies make their money virtually exclusively from the sale of records. If records aren't sold, but are copied instead, the business of making music suffers. Artists and songwriters don't collect royalties, and at some point, can no longer make a living in the music business; record companies don't recoup their investment, and at some point, are no longer able to invest in new artists and new music. In the end, the losers will be those who love music--because the breadth and depth of the musical talent supported by the U.S. music industry cannot exist without financial support. The winners are the companies that make copying machines and blank media; they profit from selling their devices to consumers who want music without having to pay for it.
What record companies want and need is a technical means of preventing unauthorized transmissions and preventing or limiting copying. It happens that such a technical solution is already available with respect to CD copying. Every CD has a copy protection bit encoded in it. If the software used to copy CDs on CD-R machines would simply read for that bit and disable the record function when the bit is found, the aggregate damage caused by unlimited CD copying could be avoided.
Steve Fabrizzio is vice president for anti-piracy and civil litigation at the Recording Industry Association of America.
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