September 6, 2000 – CBS World News Roundup – Late Edition – Gordon Skene Sound Collection –
September 6, 2000 – A day of hearings and questions in Court and on Capitol Hill. The ongoing hearings regarding safety issues over tires made by Firestone brought about angry outbursts from members of, first the Senate and then The House, as Ford and Firestone as well as Federal Safety officials faced a withering barrage of criticism over their handling of the mess. Citing deep consumer anger and suspicion over million of dangerous tire that were blamed for almost 90 deaths in Ford Explorer accidents, Firestone officials took responsibility and apologized, but the Senate produced documents showing the problems existed years earlier and would have none of the apologies. Documents showed tire problems had been quietly investigated for years, citing defective tires produced several accidents in Saudi Arabia in 1990, and that Ford and Firestone officials knew a potential problem existed, but decided against a recall worldwide.
And court hearings were going on regarding the legality of file sharing and the Music Industry. On this day, the Music industry won, at least temporarily. The court ruled MP3.com did violate copyright laws by creating an online catalog of CD’s, but how that would bode in the long run for the music industry and copyright infringement and enforcement remained to be seen. While the suits and trials and hearings were going on, Music files were being shared at an alarming rate – in essence, the floodgates had been opened and the Music Industry, loathe to act quickly or to see potential dangers, did very little in the beginning to thwart just what was going on and to what extent damage would be done, or even the far-reaching effects of file sharing. It was a problem that, 18 years ago seemed remote and distant, but ominous over time – although not for the reasons one would expect. Legitimate (of a sort) online services would spring up and dominate the market – the music industry is still in a quandary and the artists are still being short-changed. Business as usual.
And that’s just a small slice of what went on, this September 6, 2000 as reported by the CBS World News Roundup – Late Edition.
