Posted by Novus on July 07, 1999 at 15:04:28:
Friends, sceners, musicians, lend me your eyes...
The recent situation involving DJ Carbon's blatant
theft of tracker tunes has frightened me to no end.
(Don't know what I'm talking about? Check the News Page
and read the story entitled "Carbon Copy." I guess in
the back of my mind I always knew something this
devious was possible, but I naively never believed a
person could be that evil and actually do it.
Throughout the debate about forming ICOMM, I've heard
people question whether song theft is something to get
this worked up about since usually no tangible harm is
caused by it, only bruised egos. I've also heard
people ask if commercial theft of tracker songs has
ever even taken place. But the DJ Carbon incident puts
both of these arguments in the trash heap.
It is now clear to me (and it should be clear to
everyone else!) that ICOMM is neccessary to protect the
scene from thieves like DJ Carbon, who are not only
stealing credit but are actually stealing money from
sceners. But perhaps the most important reason we need
ICOMM is to deal with the mega-sites MP3.com and
Tripod, both of which reacted swiftly to remove DJ
Carbon's songs and web pages from the Internet, but who
are now refusing to release any personal information
about DJ Carbon, information that his victims will need
so that they can take legal action against him. A few
individuals writing plaintive e-mails to impersonal
administrators will probably be ignored. But an
organization backed up by lawyers representing the
affected parties will get a response.
The time for debate is over. ICOMM is clearly needed,
and it is needed now more than ever.
Sincerely
Novus