by Paul Therouf
Whenever I get sentimental and tell people how my father used to read to me and encourage me, I realize that I’m lying. Is it a gesture of kindness toward him—like “You look marvellous!” (something he used to say), or “Pretty as a picture!” (seldom true), or “Looks good enough to eat!” (of my mother’s gristly meat loaf)? Generosity, I suppose, can often verge on the satirical.
My father, apparently a simple, cheery soul, was impossible to know. In his lifetime, I found it hard to see him through his niceness, and now, ten years after his death, he seems more enigmatic than ever. There he stands, at a little distance, jingling coins in his pocket, waiting for someone to need him: a satisfied man, with the sort of good humor and obliging manner I associate with an old-fashioned servant.
A smile is the hardest expression to fathom. He must have known that. In the period I am thinking of, around 1956, he lost his job. Never mind, he said, and found another one. Did he like it? “I’m tickled to death!” he said. He didn’t drink. He didn’t smoke. He never went out at night, except to church. Bowling and the movies he abandoned after becoming a father. He had few friends, no close ones, no confidants—he wasn’t the confiding type.
I was eleven. With two older brothers and a younger sister, I was invisible, in the lower middle of the pack, always a few steps behind, unnoticed. And my father was the insubstantial presence he wished to be, merely a man who lived in the house. Dramatic entrance, and then silence. Dramatic departure, and then silence again.
This all sounds harmonious, yet there was disorder and tension and conflict in our household. It bristled like the angular splinters in the woodwork; it pulsed in the air, a disturbance that was deep, subtle, and voiceless, the vibrant presence of low-pitched rivalries, masked by politeness, or sometimes by hostile displays of affection. The quiet household is often more turbulent than the household of the tyrant or the drunkard.
One of the unspoken conflicts in our house concerned the house itself. My mother’s version of the story—the blaming version, the one she wouldn’t let him live down—was that my father, having decided that we had to move (four kids in a tiny house and a fifth on the way), was appointed house-hunter. My mother was pregnant and busy, but she was also the sort of person who provoked others to make decisions, so that if they made the wrong ones she could say, “Well, whose fault is that?” She greeted a good choice with silence, a bad one with loud reproach. Deniability was a defense she mastered long before the word was coined.
Dad was like hired help: the house-hunter. Unused to spending large sums of money or to making big decisions on his own, he became more affable, more genial than I’d ever seen him. He did so out of sheer nervousness, a kind of helpless hilarity, like that of an almost ruined gambler at the blackjack table, risking everything on the turn of a card.
He saw three or four houses. They were all unsuitable, though he liked them. My mother was vexed. This was our dinner-table talk. (We children were discouraged from speaking at mealtime, so we listened.) “What’s good about it?” my mother would say. “It’ll be hard to heat,” or “It’s not on a bus line,” or “That’s a bad neighborhood.”
One winter night, she was in tears. Dad had seen a house that he liked. He had been told the price. In his anxiety, he had not bargained; he had not said, “My wife will have to see it,” or “We’ll think it over.” He had said, “We’ll take it!,” with a sudden flourish of cash that startled even the seller of the house, a cranky old woman in a soiled apron. At least, that was my mother’s version, and, in the oral tradition of our family, the only version that was allowed.
In a matter of an hour or so, my father had seen the house and agreed to buy it. Another detail to his discredit was that he had seen it only in the dark. It was January, and he worked until five-thirty; he had driven there after work, tramped through the snow, and looked it over, and by seven the deal was done.
The reason for my mother’s distress was that, in anticipation of finding the right house, Dad had been carrying five hundred dollars in small bills around with him. The papers he’d signed that night had specified a deposit of that very amount, nonrefundable. “Our whole life’s savings!” my mother cried, thumping the table. “How could you?”
Obviously, he’d liked the house; he hadn’t wanted to risk losing it; he wasn’t a bargainer; and he had been pressed for time, house-hunting after work. Now the situation was: buy the house and pay the rest of the money with a mortgage or lose the deposit. “Our life’s savings—wasted!”
“Life’s savings” was probably an exaggeration, but not by much; my father’s new job was menial, as a shoe salesman. He was grateful for the work, but a man selling shoes spends a great deal of time on his knees.
Dad suffered, smiling sheepishly through a number of scenes at the dinner table—and at other times, too. I heard bedroom recriminations, which were rare in our household. But, in a short time, the mortgage was granted, the house was bought, and we moved—a hugely disruptive event in a family that experienced few, almost no, events that involved a substantial outlay of money. It was the only time we moved in the course of my childhood, and what made it most memorable was the fact that my mother was briefly shocked into silence.
to be continued
Wednesday, September 19, 2007
Cigarettes Are Costly, but Often Less So in Chinatown
All over Chinatown, cigarette butts dot the sidewalks: blue, white and brown ends labeled with names like Seven Wolves in Chinese, Shuanxshi and Yes in English. But the most common name is Marlboro.City RoomThe latest news and reader discussions from around the five boroughs and the region.
The stubs are tangible evidence of the ready supply of illegal cigarettes in Chinatown, available at sidewalk stalls and variety stores, where they typically sell for $4 a pack — as much as $3.50 less than those sold legally. They include Chinese brands and knockoffs of popular American brands smuggled into the United States, all untaxed.
Under the Manhattan Bridge, a popular shopping place for many immigrants from Fujian Province, there are illegal cigarettes for sale amid the shopping stalls, the private bus operators, the makeshift employment agencies and the booths where international calling cards are sold. Cautious vendors sell cigarettes mostly to customers they already know: people who speak Fujianese, people who work in restaurants, people waiting for buses to take them to jobs in Washington or Richmond, Va.
Neither the merchants who sell them nor the people who buy them are willing to speak publicly about the black market. But several smokers who said they had smoked counterfeit Marlboros or Chinese brands said that they bought them because they were cheap; some said they thought they were buying legitimate brands at bargain prices.
The smuggling and sale of illicit Chinese cigarettes has long been a challenge for law enforcement agencies in New York. And it appears to be growing, but reliable statistics on the volume of the trade are not available.
“It is a problem,” said Joseph Green, a spokesman for the federal Bureau of Alcohol, Firearms, Tobacco and Explosives. “Eight years ago, say, there were only 100 investigations, and now we have several hundred” in New York State.
In a raid at a warehouse in Corona, Queens, in August, federal and local authorities found 600,000 cartons of cigarettes, many marked “made in China”; 125,000 counterfeit tax stamps from Kentucky, Virginia and New York; and $350,000 in cash.
In April, the police seized 243,000 cartons of counterfeit Marlboros and Newports from China as they were being unloaded from a van into a self-storage facility in College Point, Queens.
Philip Morris USA, the nation’s largest tobacco company — whose Marlboro brand is one of the most popular among bootleggers — helps law enforcement officers distinguish between genuine brands and counterfeit ones by checking obvious and more subtle features in the packaging.
Counterfeiting is so prevalent that the British American Tobacco company, the world’s second largest publicly traded tobacco group, estimates the total loss of sales incurred by tobacco companies at roughly $4 billion per year.
And some tobacco companies have started researching electronic chips and other technology that would help customs authorities at airports sort the legitimate brands from the fake.
So far this year, the police, in precincts throughout the city, have received about 240 complaints about contraband cigarettes from cigarette retailers and customers. Other numbers tell a similar story about the prevalence of illicit cigarettes. A survey conducted in 2006 by the state’s Department of Health found that nearly half of the smokers interviewed in New York City said that they had bought illegal cigarettes within the year.
The black market in cigarettes in New York is run largely by Chinese and Russian groups, according to Mr. Green, of the Bureau of Alcohol, Firearms, Tobacco and Explosives.
Yet, though Chinatown offers a large market for contraband cigarettes, smoking rates among Asians are lower than for any other racial or ethnic group in New York, according to the city’s health department. Beyond the legal issues, there are health concerns. Contraband cigarettes have been shown in studies to contain higher levels of toxic metals, like lead, than legitimate brands do.
In Chinatown, Louisa Lam works with people trying to kick their smoking habits at Gouverneur Healthcare Services and hears reasons that keep the market thriving.
There was a high school student who said he bought counterfeit Marlboros because he did not want to ask his mother, a home health aide, for the money for real ones.
And there are some older people, suffering from smoking-related illnesses, who buy Chinese brands in the belief that they have less nicotine than the American ones.
“Most of them will tell you it is not as strong,” Ms. Lam said of the flavor of the Chinese brands. “But nobody really knows what’s in the cigarettes.”
About a year and a half ago, Hunter College began a smoking-cessation program intended especially for Chinese restaurant workers, but the program has had few takers. Recruiters visited about 500 restaurants in Chinatown, Queens and Brooklyn, but only about 65 smokers signed up for nine sessions of telephone counseling and a $90 reward.
One restaurant worker, Toiyan Auyeung, who lives in Pittsburgh and was in New York recently awaiting a bus to Maryland for a restaurant job, said, through an interpreter, that he did not want to buy illegal cigarettes and that he relied on a friend to buy him real Marlboros in Chinatown. “I can’t figure out,” he said, “which ones are real and which are fake.”
The stubs are tangible evidence of the ready supply of illegal cigarettes in Chinatown, available at sidewalk stalls and variety stores, where they typically sell for $4 a pack — as much as $3.50 less than those sold legally. They include Chinese brands and knockoffs of popular American brands smuggled into the United States, all untaxed.
Under the Manhattan Bridge, a popular shopping place for many immigrants from Fujian Province, there are illegal cigarettes for sale amid the shopping stalls, the private bus operators, the makeshift employment agencies and the booths where international calling cards are sold. Cautious vendors sell cigarettes mostly to customers they already know: people who speak Fujianese, people who work in restaurants, people waiting for buses to take them to jobs in Washington or Richmond, Va.
Neither the merchants who sell them nor the people who buy them are willing to speak publicly about the black market. But several smokers who said they had smoked counterfeit Marlboros or Chinese brands said that they bought them because they were cheap; some said they thought they were buying legitimate brands at bargain prices.
The smuggling and sale of illicit Chinese cigarettes has long been a challenge for law enforcement agencies in New York. And it appears to be growing, but reliable statistics on the volume of the trade are not available.
“It is a problem,” said Joseph Green, a spokesman for the federal Bureau of Alcohol, Firearms, Tobacco and Explosives. “Eight years ago, say, there were only 100 investigations, and now we have several hundred” in New York State.
In a raid at a warehouse in Corona, Queens, in August, federal and local authorities found 600,000 cartons of cigarettes, many marked “made in China”; 125,000 counterfeit tax stamps from Kentucky, Virginia and New York; and $350,000 in cash.
In April, the police seized 243,000 cartons of counterfeit Marlboros and Newports from China as they were being unloaded from a van into a self-storage facility in College Point, Queens.
Philip Morris USA, the nation’s largest tobacco company — whose Marlboro brand is one of the most popular among bootleggers — helps law enforcement officers distinguish between genuine brands and counterfeit ones by checking obvious and more subtle features in the packaging.
Counterfeiting is so prevalent that the British American Tobacco company, the world’s second largest publicly traded tobacco group, estimates the total loss of sales incurred by tobacco companies at roughly $4 billion per year.
And some tobacco companies have started researching electronic chips and other technology that would help customs authorities at airports sort the legitimate brands from the fake.
So far this year, the police, in precincts throughout the city, have received about 240 complaints about contraband cigarettes from cigarette retailers and customers. Other numbers tell a similar story about the prevalence of illicit cigarettes. A survey conducted in 2006 by the state’s Department of Health found that nearly half of the smokers interviewed in New York City said that they had bought illegal cigarettes within the year.
The black market in cigarettes in New York is run largely by Chinese and Russian groups, according to Mr. Green, of the Bureau of Alcohol, Firearms, Tobacco and Explosives.
Yet, though Chinatown offers a large market for contraband cigarettes, smoking rates among Asians are lower than for any other racial or ethnic group in New York, according to the city’s health department. Beyond the legal issues, there are health concerns. Contraband cigarettes have been shown in studies to contain higher levels of toxic metals, like lead, than legitimate brands do.
In Chinatown, Louisa Lam works with people trying to kick their smoking habits at Gouverneur Healthcare Services and hears reasons that keep the market thriving.
There was a high school student who said he bought counterfeit Marlboros because he did not want to ask his mother, a home health aide, for the money for real ones.
And there are some older people, suffering from smoking-related illnesses, who buy Chinese brands in the belief that they have less nicotine than the American ones.
“Most of them will tell you it is not as strong,” Ms. Lam said of the flavor of the Chinese brands. “But nobody really knows what’s in the cigarettes.”
About a year and a half ago, Hunter College began a smoking-cessation program intended especially for Chinese restaurant workers, but the program has had few takers. Recruiters visited about 500 restaurants in Chinatown, Queens and Brooklyn, but only about 65 smokers signed up for nine sessions of telephone counseling and a $90 reward.
One restaurant worker, Toiyan Auyeung, who lives in Pittsburgh and was in New York recently awaiting a bus to Maryland for a restaurant job, said, through an interpreter, that he did not want to buy illegal cigarettes and that he relied on a friend to buy him real Marlboros in Chinatown. “I can’t figure out,” he said, “which ones are real and which are fake.”
Lisa Bassenge Trio -《A Sigh A Song》
专辑名称： A Sigh A Song
专辑歌手： Lisa Bassenge Trio
发行日期： 2002
专辑语种： 英语
专辑类型： Jazz/ Rock/Pop
唱片公司： Minor Music
压缩比率： 491 Kbps APE
唱片编号： Minor Music/In-Akustik MM 801100
专辑曲目：
01. Can't get you out of my head
02. Adeus
03. Blue suede shoes
04. It's now or never
05. Everybody Loves Somebody
06. Shake the disease
07. My guy
08. Blue
09. A sigh, a song
10. My heart belongs to daddy
11. Are you lonesome tonight (Intro)
12. Are you lonesome tonight
13. Ol' 55
14. Golden earrings
15. Interlude
16. Junimond
Lisa.Bassenge.Trio.-.[A.Sigh.A.Song].专辑.(APE).ape
Lisa.Bassenge.Trio.-.[A.Sigh.A.Song].专辑.(APE).cue
Why Major in English
If you have ever thought about majoring in English but have not made up your mind, read on. The first part of this section describes the fundamental advantages of the English major; the second part discusses how those benefits can help you move ahead after you have attained your degree.
*****
WHY MAJOR IN ENGLISH?
The traditional answers to that question are still the most persuasive. Studying English means examining the whole heritage of our culture. It means coming to grips with the most fascinating ideas and thinkers in intellectual history. And it means dealing with concepts and movements not simply through abstractions, generalities, or statistics, but through great works of imaginative literature that capture the spirit of their times and the complex feelings of the people who wrote and read them. Studying English means learning about the passions and perplexities, the hopes and fears of human beings who sometimes appear very different from us, but who are at other times very much the same. Learning about them gives us the chance to learn about ourselves. In short, majoring in English provides an opportunity to grasp more profoundly what it means朼nd what it has meant杢o be human.
Comprehensive Knowledge
All of the liberal arts provide humanistic learning in one way or another. But the attraction of English is its comprehensiveness, the opportunities it offers either to pursue a particular focus or to try to see the whole picture and to write analytically about these insights. Since the principal subject of English is literature, and since the subject of literature is life, the possible approaches to a great novel, poem, or play can be as various and multifaceted as life itself. English ideally includes almost every other branch of knowledge, because virtually every part of human knowledge can be relevant to a great work of art. In English, therefore, a student has the chance to pursue particular interests that seem especially intriguing, or combine many different approaches at once. English offers you the chance to study the history of literature as well as the ways literature affects history. You can study the biography of a particular author, or the sociology of that author's culture. You can focus on the psychologies of writers as well as their readers. Even the history and methods of book publishing could be important--along with the very act of reading itself.
These, in brief, are the traditional reasons for majoring in English. English makes you more aware of your own humanity by bringing you face to face with the humanness of others. It reminds you of the challenges people have faced and the ways they have coped with them. It introduces you to the accomplishments of our culture, and it offers models of behavior and thought to emulate or avoid. It cultivates your ability to analyze problems carefully but creatively, to explore and organize large masses of information, and to translate the discipline of thought to the written page. It makes for intellectual flexibility combined with intellectual rigor. In the final analysis, it brings a sense of reward, fulfillment, and pleasure.
English and the Professions
Is it practical? Can an English degree prepare you for a respected career that pays well? Yes! And for a number of reasons.
Teaching English. If you want to teach English, there are various options open to you. With additional certifications or advanced degrees, you can teach at almost any level, from elementary school to high school, at community colleges and at major universities. In almost every school at almost every level, the English department is one of the largest on campus, because the need for education in English never ends. Teaching English, moreover, can be a particularly satisfying career.
Jobs Beyond the Classroom. Let's assume that you don't intend to teach. What other options are available? Your degree in English will help you develop skills that will prove useful to you in just about any professional position you can imagine. Your ability to think clearly, to analyze complex problems, to sift the essential from the non-important, to focus on details without losing sight of the whole picture, to perform research, to evaluate evidence, to find new and creative ways to deal with old problems, and to express the results of your analysis in effective language杢hese are skills vital to genuine achievement in nearly every profession. In fact, the qualities that an English major develops--the talent to explain ideas clearly on paper or through speech--have been repeatedly rated by Fortune 500 company executives as the most vital skills for employees to possess.
Careers in Law. If you hope to become an attorney, the skills you acquire in English will obviously help. English has always been one of the most popular undergraduate majors for those planning to enter law school because it develops precisely the capacities a lawyer needs, especially the ability to construct a logical argument on behalf of a point of view.
Business Applications. If you want to enter the business world, your major in English can give you a definite advantage. The business community often complains that too many students, especially engineering, science, and business majors, cannot communicate adequately in undertaking such assignments as memoranda, reports, or speeches. Moreover, liberal arts majors can compete effectively for corporate managership in such areas as planning, organization, decision-making, face-to-face leadership, oral communication, intellectual ability, and motivation for advancement. Liberal arts majors demonstrate strong interpersonal skills and administrative abilities.
What can an English major do in business? Many things. Possibilities include editing and writing (including technical writing), public relations, training, sales and marketing, personnel relations, management, and research and development. Our on-the-job internships and editorial seminars can help in the publishing business. In the entrepreneurial world of small businesses striving to become large ones, the English major is a capable manager or an articulate and motivated employee. English offers supreme versatility.
Government Employment. In addition to careers in private business, a degree in English can help you find employment in the public sector. Many jobs in government emphasize skills in writing, including those of an administrator or administrative assistant, planner, community relations coordinator, editor, education specialist, research analyst, and legislative assistant. Numerous agencies at every level of government need people who can deal confidently with complicated ideas and express those ideas clearly.
Other Opportunities
English majors have distinguished themselves in fields as diverse as library and information science (where English remains a popular preparation for graduate studies toward the M.L.S. degree), art history, advertising, insurance, and tour planning. English is a preferred non-science major for medical schools. Many magazine editors were English majors. Verbal skills and vocational goals have a way of coming together if one is alert and diligent.
It's Up To You
Of course a degree in English cannot guarantee you a job. But it will definitely be an advantage. Pursuing an English degree seriously and thoughtfully helps develop your mind and cultivate your awareness as well as increase your employability. It can help give you confidence in yourself as a thinker, speaker, and a writer. It can help you earn a living, but best of all it will bring lasting meaning and satisfaction to your life.
*****
WHY MAJOR IN ENGLISH?
The traditional answers to that question are still the most persuasive. Studying English means examining the whole heritage of our culture. It means coming to grips with the most fascinating ideas and thinkers in intellectual history. And it means dealing with concepts and movements not simply through abstractions, generalities, or statistics, but through great works of imaginative literature that capture the spirit of their times and the complex feelings of the people who wrote and read them. Studying English means learning about the passions and perplexities, the hopes and fears of human beings who sometimes appear very different from us, but who are at other times very much the same. Learning about them gives us the chance to learn about ourselves. In short, majoring in English provides an opportunity to grasp more profoundly what it means朼nd what it has meant杢o be human.
Comprehensive Knowledge
All of the liberal arts provide humanistic learning in one way or another. But the attraction of English is its comprehensiveness, the opportunities it offers either to pursue a particular focus or to try to see the whole picture and to write analytically about these insights. Since the principal subject of English is literature, and since the subject of literature is life, the possible approaches to a great novel, poem, or play can be as various and multifaceted as life itself. English ideally includes almost every other branch of knowledge, because virtually every part of human knowledge can be relevant to a great work of art. In English, therefore, a student has the chance to pursue particular interests that seem especially intriguing, or combine many different approaches at once. English offers you the chance to study the history of literature as well as the ways literature affects history. You can study the biography of a particular author, or the sociology of that author's culture. You can focus on the psychologies of writers as well as their readers. Even the history and methods of book publishing could be important--along with the very act of reading itself.
These, in brief, are the traditional reasons for majoring in English. English makes you more aware of your own humanity by bringing you face to face with the humanness of others. It reminds you of the challenges people have faced and the ways they have coped with them. It introduces you to the accomplishments of our culture, and it offers models of behavior and thought to emulate or avoid. It cultivates your ability to analyze problems carefully but creatively, to explore and organize large masses of information, and to translate the discipline of thought to the written page. It makes for intellectual flexibility combined with intellectual rigor. In the final analysis, it brings a sense of reward, fulfillment, and pleasure.
English and the Professions
Is it practical? Can an English degree prepare you for a respected career that pays well? Yes! And for a number of reasons.
Teaching English. If you want to teach English, there are various options open to you. With additional certifications or advanced degrees, you can teach at almost any level, from elementary school to high school, at community colleges and at major universities. In almost every school at almost every level, the English department is one of the largest on campus, because the need for education in English never ends. Teaching English, moreover, can be a particularly satisfying career.
Jobs Beyond the Classroom. Let's assume that you don't intend to teach. What other options are available? Your degree in English will help you develop skills that will prove useful to you in just about any professional position you can imagine. Your ability to think clearly, to analyze complex problems, to sift the essential from the non-important, to focus on details without losing sight of the whole picture, to perform research, to evaluate evidence, to find new and creative ways to deal with old problems, and to express the results of your analysis in effective language杢hese are skills vital to genuine achievement in nearly every profession. In fact, the qualities that an English major develops--the talent to explain ideas clearly on paper or through speech--have been repeatedly rated by Fortune 500 company executives as the most vital skills for employees to possess.
Careers in Law. If you hope to become an attorney, the skills you acquire in English will obviously help. English has always been one of the most popular undergraduate majors for those planning to enter law school because it develops precisely the capacities a lawyer needs, especially the ability to construct a logical argument on behalf of a point of view.
Business Applications. If you want to enter the business world, your major in English can give you a definite advantage. The business community often complains that too many students, especially engineering, science, and business majors, cannot communicate adequately in undertaking such assignments as memoranda, reports, or speeches. Moreover, liberal arts majors can compete effectively for corporate managership in such areas as planning, organization, decision-making, face-to-face leadership, oral communication, intellectual ability, and motivation for advancement. Liberal arts majors demonstrate strong interpersonal skills and administrative abilities.
What can an English major do in business? Many things. Possibilities include editing and writing (including technical writing), public relations, training, sales and marketing, personnel relations, management, and research and development. Our on-the-job internships and editorial seminars can help in the publishing business. In the entrepreneurial world of small businesses striving to become large ones, the English major is a capable manager or an articulate and motivated employee. English offers supreme versatility.
Government Employment. In addition to careers in private business, a degree in English can help you find employment in the public sector. Many jobs in government emphasize skills in writing, including those of an administrator or administrative assistant, planner, community relations coordinator, editor, education specialist, research analyst, and legislative assistant. Numerous agencies at every level of government need people who can deal confidently with complicated ideas and express those ideas clearly.
Other Opportunities
English majors have distinguished themselves in fields as diverse as library and information science (where English remains a popular preparation for graduate studies toward the M.L.S. degree), art history, advertising, insurance, and tour planning. English is a preferred non-science major for medical schools. Many magazine editors were English majors. Verbal skills and vocational goals have a way of coming together if one is alert and diligent.
It's Up To You
Of course a degree in English cannot guarantee you a job. But it will definitely be an advantage. Pursuing an English degree seriously and thoughtfully helps develop your mind and cultivate your awareness as well as increase your employability. It can help give you confidence in yourself as a thinker, speaker, and a writer. It can help you earn a living, but best of all it will bring lasting meaning and satisfaction to your life.
Music industry takes on operators of eDonkey servers
On Friday the German music industry celebrated a partial victory in its fight against the illegal distribution of music on the Internet. A temporary injunction issued by the District Court (LG) in Hamburg and served to the operator of an eDonkey server had "ordered the said operator to take his computer off-line for as long as the range of music files offered for download via the server contains illegal files," the German Chapter of the International Federation of the Phonographic Industry (IFPI) declared (File Number 308 O 273/07). The way of describing the case chosen by the Chapter is a highly abridged version of events, however. As a matter of fact, in the case dealt with by the court in Hamburg, the operator was only prohibited from distributing the songs contained on one album of one band.
According to the IFPI the district courts in Frankfurt-on-the-Main and Düsseldorf have issued similar orders to operators of servers. "We shall in future take legal action against any operator of a P2P network server who makes tracks available illegally," Peter Zombik, the Director of the German Chapter of the IFPI, said on Friday. It was "sad to see the inherently beneficial P2P network technology still being used to violate copyright on a massive scale -- the availability of appropriate filtering technology notwithstanding," he added.
Because the eDonkey servers do not themselves offer the files that are being shared the plaintiffs in their complaints against the operators have to rely on the legal notion of disturber liability. Thus according to the opinion of the court the operator of the server had"willingly and in a causal fashion assisted in the illegal disturbance," without himself having been perpetrator or participant. At the very latest after the receipt of a warning letter from the copyright holders the operator must have been aware that copyright violations were being committed and should have "taken effective measures" to prevent any such violations from occurring in future, the court declared.
While talking to heise online the IFPI spokesman Stefan Michalk said that the Federation believed that it was now up to the Internet Access Providers to do their part. This was "the direction" future legal steps would be moving in, he remarked. The music industry could wield the notion of disturber liability to force providers to implement technical measures for blocking access to illegal tracks in P2P networks, he observed. The similar efforts of Belgian copyright holders have of late
been crowned with a first legal victory.
According to the IFPI the district courts in Frankfurt-on-the-Main and Düsseldorf have issued similar orders to operators of servers. "We shall in future take legal action against any operator of a P2P network server who makes tracks available illegally," Peter Zombik, the Director of the German Chapter of the IFPI, said on Friday. It was "sad to see the inherently beneficial P2P network technology still being used to violate copyright on a massive scale -- the availability of appropriate filtering technology notwithstanding," he added.
Because the eDonkey servers do not themselves offer the files that are being shared the plaintiffs in their complaints against the operators have to rely on the legal notion of disturber liability. Thus according to the opinion of the court the operator of the server had"willingly and in a causal fashion assisted in the illegal disturbance," without himself having been perpetrator or participant. At the very latest after the receipt of a warning letter from the copyright holders the operator must have been aware that copyright violations were being committed and should have "taken effective measures" to prevent any such violations from occurring in future, the court declared.
While talking to heise online the IFPI spokesman Stefan Michalk said that the Federation believed that it was now up to the Internet Access Providers to do their part. This was "the direction" future legal steps would be moving in, he remarked. The music industry could wield the notion of disturber liability to force providers to implement technical measures for blocking access to illegal tracks in P2P networks, he observed. The similar efforts of Belgian copyright holders have of late
been crowned with a first legal victory.
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