Starting from today the popular Net radio/music discovery site Pandora will stop most non-US IP addresses from accessing its streams because of legal pressure by record labels!
Launched in 2005, Pandora has always billed itself as a service for US listeners only, but until now it never enforced that policy. Beginning Thursday, people accessing Pandora from most IP addresses originating outside the US will be prevented from accessing streaming services.”It’s devastating for us to have to do that,” Pandora founder Tim Westergren told The Register. “We’re terribly disappointed and frustrated, but the existing law right now is such that we can’t legally,” stream to most users outside the US.
It looks like if you’re living in the UK you’ll still be able to listen (it’s currently working for me):
The Digital Millennium Copyright Act mandates compulsory licensing to internet broadcasters streaming to US-based listeners, but there are no such laws requiring copyright holders to license their works for net consumption in other countries, Westergren said. Pandora has been working to secure licenses to stream music to non-US listeners, but other than in the UK, has made little progress so far.
High time to bin the damn DMCA – and with it the big labels!
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