U2"s manager might love the idea of legally-mandated filtering, but the head of the RIAA says that there"s no need for such an approach in the US. The RIAA still wants to see a thousand filters bloom, of course, but it holds out hope for a "marketplace solution" to the issue. Cary Sherman, the RIAA chief, made his comments today at a Washington, DC tech conference where he expressed his differences with U2 manager Paul McGuinness. McGuinness generated applause in Cannes this week at a music industry event by calling for mandatory content filtering at the ISP level. "Paul is European," said Sherman, according to CNet, "and in Europe there has been much more of a regulatory approach to these issues."
The RIAA does not support this approach in the US, opting instead to back the tradeoffs of the DMCA. That law allows ISPs a "safe harbor" for the content passing through their networks so long as they respond to takedown notices and legal requests in a timely fashion. But the group welcomes voluntary filtering of the kind promised by AT&T. This is sometimes said to be in the best interests of ISPs because it can help them control bandwidth. Verizon, which has bandwidth to burn, though, has showed no interest in becoming a copyright cop.