The Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA) submitted comments to the FCC encouraging the agency to adopt flexible rules that allow Internet service providers (ISPs) to implement anti-piracy measures that deter illegal downloading and enable legal music services to flourish. This week was the deadline for submitting comments to the FCC as it considers proposed regulations for "Net neutrality," the term meaning that the Web should be open to all forms of content, websites, and platforms without ISPs charging users higher rates to access different sites or content. The RIAA wants to make sure that these "Open Internet" principles do not interfere with anti-piracy efforts. "We encourage the FCC to stay its course and explicitly support, encourage, and endorse ISP efforts to fight piracy," the RIAA wrote in its comments, adding that the Internet will soon become the recording industry's primary channel for distributing content.

The RIAA also highlighted the ill effects that illegal file-sharing has on people's capacity to use the Internet. "Piracy, particularly piracy conducted by high-volume users, notoriously hogs bandwidth," it wrote. "Peer-to-peer file sharing services represent a huge portion of the traffic on the Internet today. Based on recent estimates, peer-to-peer file sharing applications represent over 20 percent of the total bytes that traverse the Internet and 17 percent of the bandwidth used during peak hours... Put bluntly, huge amounts of the Internet's bandwidth are tied up in unlawful traffic. Piracy wastes scarce network resources and crowds out legitimate uses of the network. It costs more to bring broadband to additional areas because of this inflated bandwidth usage. As we, along with our partners launch music services depending on higher bandwidth, we have a particularly strong interest in ensuring an Internet in which media applications – which, unlike file-sharing applications, have a low tolerance for network delay – can function smoothly and without the network congestion caused by piracy-inflated traffic."

The RIAA also argued that, "ISPs are in a unique position to limit online theft. They control the facilities over which infringement takes place and are singularly positioned to address it at the source. Without ISP participation, it is extremely difficult to develop an effective prevention approach. We thus urge the Commission to adopt rules that not only allow ISPs to address online theft, but actively encourage their efforts to do so. Crucial to this project, the Commission must ensure that its Open Internet rules do not have a chilling effect on such efforts."

In light of the filing, RIAA Chairman/CEO Mitch Bainwol added, "The future of the music community is dependent on a healthy and vibrant digital music marketplace. ISPs play an essential role in fostering that legitimate marketplace and discouraging the illegal trafficking of copyrighted works. We foresee a future where ISPs are our partners, enabling new business models and delivering new content to fans in ways unimaginable today. We hope that any final rules established by the FCC reflect this forward-thinking reality and support ISP action against unlawful activity for the benefit of fans, creators and for the rich fabric of American culture."


When did 17-20% become "huge"? Doesn't this say that at least 70% of bandwidth is used 'legally' - that seems a lot more huge to me...