That's not a trivial task for Corwin, the lobbyist for Kazaa's parent company. When making the rounds on Capitol Hill, Corwin, 54, is up against the dual political powerhouses of the Recording Industry Association of America and the Motion Picture Association of America.
Vanuatu-registered Sharman Networks hired Corwin almost three years ago to be its lone representative in Washington, DC. Since then, Sharman has been fending off lawsuits and a slew of legislative proposals designed either to shutter the service or scare users away from it.
Being an underdog is a switch for Corwin, who spent much of his career lobbying for the influential American Bankers Association, the Commercial Finance Association and the Independent Bankers Association of America, after a stint as a US Senate staffer. Now he's a partner at the Butera & Andrews lobbying firm.
Kazaa is one of the largest and most successful file-trading networks. It boasts about 2.48 million users a day, roughly the same as eDonkey's claimed 2.54 million.
CNET News.com spoke with Corwin about piracy, pornography and his experiences as a lobbyist.
Q: What's it like lobbying against the RIAA and the movie studios?
A: Personally I get along fine with them. But they play real hardball when they lobby, and we play just as hard when we're lobbying back.
RIAA President Cary Sherman told Congress last year that pedophiles were using Kazaa to seduce children. Is that what you mean by hardball?
They spend an awful lot of time dwelling on the allegations that minors are being exposed to pornography when they use peer to peer. I think this whole content path is a very dangerous one for them to go down.
 |
You wouldn't quibble with the claim that pornography is popular on peer-to-peer networks, would you?
My client provides software with highly effective filtering tools. The software comes with a content filter that's based on suspect words. Beyond that, we give parents the ability to set further filters with password control. We provide a way for parents -- who need to take some responsibility with any Internet use by their children -- to block that.
And if a minor downloads Kazaa without a parent's knowledge?
There's no software -- whether it's a peer-to-peer application or a Web browser -- that can be programmed to compel parental responsibility. Parents have to keep watch over what programs their kids are using and how they're using them.
Does your job ever get personal?
I don't think so. When they make gross misstatements about my client, we respond by correcting them, by setting the record straight. I think everyone understands by now that the RIAA and Hollywood in particular have really been involved in a vicious, inaccurate smear campaign against peer-to-peer technology over the last two years.
What differences do you see between the recording industry and the MPAA?
The RIAA lobbyists seem to be more fixated on pornography. Other than that, they can make claims -- which I think are suspect -- that they've been harmed in some way. Meanwhile, the movie industry is reporting record profits.
If Kazaa and its rivals become as slick and easy to use as Apple Computer's iTunes, do you honestly think that many people will still be buying music in a few years?
Absolutely. We've already got proof of concept. Peer to peer is already the leading technological platform for the distribution of licensed content. It's already well ahead of central-server models like iTunes.
It's not well-known, but every major manufacturer of computer games has licensed their content for peer-to-peer distribution. Even though those same computer games are available for free elsewhere on peer to peer, people are plunking down $30 or $50 for them -- so they have a warranty and no worries about a bogus or harmful file.
Sharman Networks has sent repeated notices to Google complaining about links to the ad-free version of Kazaa called Kazaa Lite. Is it ironic for your client to threaten lawsuits over copyright violations?
I don't think so. Kazaa Lite is an application that's using the Kazaa name in a way that's not tied to Kazaa. There are also, as I understand it, technical issues with the hacked software they were offering. My client's business model is simple: They offer a pay ad-free version and an ad-supported free version.
And if someone offered Kazaa Lite but with a name of P2P Lite?
If someone wants to offer their own self-created version of P2P software, we can't do anything.
Even if it uses the same network as Kazaa?
Then it's using proprietary code.
Why do you think the Induce Act died in Congress this year, even though it had the support of the MPAA and RIAA?
3%
2%
