RUMOR MILL
Wednesday, August 15, 2001
FILE-SWAPPERS CHARGED WITH COPYRIGHT VIOLATION
South Korean Brothers May Face Jail, RIAA Wish They’d Though Of It First
Two brothers were indicted Sunday (8/12) in South Korea, on criminal charges of copyright violation, for authoring the file-swapping program Soribada, or "Sea of Sound."
The Columbia-educated Yang Jung-hwan and Virginia Tech-educated Yang Il-hwan face up to five years in jail and up to $38,500 in fines if convicted. Stateside officials wish they had it as easy.
"We could’ve done that here, too, if it weren't for that pesky Constitution," said RIAA CEO Hilary Rosen.
Similar to Gnutella, Soribada’s Korean-language program enables users to tap into a peer-to-peer network with other users, search each others' computers for MP3s and download them.
"We aren't gangsters," said Jung-hwan, "We wanted South Korea to have its own Napster."
Meanwhile, Napster founder Shawn Fanning has cancelled his trip to Seoul.
