Music group aims to charge Internet users

[Flightful]

Not satisfied with the cash grab from taxing blank CDs, the music industry is now looking to shake down every internet user.

From CTV News:

Canada's songwriters will ask the Supreme Court of Canada next week to force Internet service providers to pay them royalties for the millions of digital music files downloaded each year by Canadians.

{snip}

If successful, the legal pleadings of the Society of Composers, Authors, and Music Publishers of Canada (SOCAN) could open the door to other rights holders -- groups as diverse as software publishers or Hollywood movie distributors -- who could use SOCAN's precedent to force Internet service providers (ISPs) to collect royalties for their members.

Although those groups are prompted to seek new sources of revenue because of what they say are illegal downloads of copyrighted content, SOCAN is asking ISPs to pay a blanket annual royalty regardless of whether the ISP is transmitting legal or illegally downloaded music.

http://www.ctv.ca/servlet/ArticleNews/story/CTVNews/1069987965274_65397165///?hub=Entertainment