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For Immediate Release: Monday, June 30, 2003

Electronic Frontier Foundation "Let the Music Play" Campaign

Urges 60 Million Music Lovers in U.S. to Demand Legal Rights

Electronic Frontier Foundation Media Release

San Francisco - The Electronic Frontier Foundation (EFF) today launched a "Let the Music Play" campaign urging the more than 60 million U.S. citizens who use file-sharing software to demand changes in copyright law to get artists paid and make file-sharing legal.

The EFF Let the Music Play campaign counters the Recording Industry Association of America\'s (RIAA) announcement that it will file thousands of lawsuits against individuals who use file-sharing software like Kazaa, Grokster, and Morpheus.

"Copyright law is out of step with the views of the American public and the reality of music distribution online," said EFF Executive Director Shari Steele. "Rather than trying to sue people into submission, we need to find a better alternative that gets artists paid while making file sharing legal."

EFF\'s Let the Music Play campaign provides alternatives to the RIAA\'s litigation barrage, details EFF\'s efforts to defend peer-to-peer file sharing, and makes it easy for individuals to write members of Congress. EFF will also place advertisements about the "Let the Music Play" campaign in magazines such as Spin, Blender, Computer Gaming World, and PC Gamer.

"Today, more U.S. citizens use file-sharing software than voted for President Bush," said EFF Senior Staff Attorney Fred von Lohmann. "Congress needs to spend less time listening to record industry lobbyists and more time listening to the more than 60 million Americans who use file-sharing software today."

According to online media analyst Big Champagne, more than 60 million Americans are using file-sharing software.

Links:

Contact:

Shari Steele
  Executive Director
  Electronic Frontier Foundation
  ssteele@eff.org
  +1 415 436-9333 x103

Fred von Lohmann
  Senior Intellectual Property Attorney
  Electronic Frontier Foundation
  fred@eff.org
  +1 415 436-9333 x123 (office)

About EFF:

The Electronic Frontier Foundation is the leading civil liberties organization working to protect rights in the digital world. Founded in 1990, EFF actively encourages and challenges industry and government to support free expression and privacy online. EFF is a member-supported organization and maintains one of the most linked-to websites in the world at http://www.eff.org/

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