Are Russian MP3s Legal?

If you haven’t heard already, a Russian site called AllofMp3.com has been operating for years, selling mp3s for download at rates of only pennies per song. Since the site is based in another country, U.S. copyright laws don’t apply. The site claims it has licenses to sell these mp3s from a local clearing house, but the record labels disagreed, so the Moscow City Police Computer Crimes division launced an investigation last year. As it turned out, prosecutors did not pursue the case, since Russia does not actually have any copyright laws for digital media.

Along these same lines, torrent sites like The Pirate Bay claim to also be immune to U.S. copyright laws, since they operate out of Sweden, where our laws don’t apply. The question remains, despite months of debate, is this really legal? The answer at this point is probably not for long. I can only imagine the RIAA and the MPAA are spending all their resources trying to figure out how to shut these types of sites down. I’m surprised that the two haven’t joined forces to form some sort of evil conglomerate, whose sole purpose is to stop the creation and use of any technology that might cost them money.

In the meantime, the feeling is reminiscent of the early days of Napster - file-sharing and downloading without the guilt. Hey, it’s legal somewhere.