Future Newswire

A newswire story from 2010.A routine train ticket inspection at London Bridge International Train Station heralded the beginning of a brand new type of inspection. Now ticket inspectors not only have the power to enforce fare-dodgers, but now have the powers to audit passenger's iPods.

Using a hand-held device the inspectors are able to perform an iAudit of the MP3's music collection, and a ticket is issued to the owner giving them 28 days to produce evidence that they have legally purchased or own the right to listen to the music.

The trial device compares the music in its database to the music on the iPod, and using state-of-the-art fuzzy logic it can even detect renamed files. At the moment the hand-held can only store 100 albums worth of music, but the Metropolitan Police (who are running the scheme) say they are in contact with the Recording Artists of America and the Rest of the World who are supporting the scheme to acquire more music with which to compare to. The more music they have access to, the more music files can be checked for validity. Those users who are unable to produce the revelcant documentation, are fined.

The trial scheme is planned for 3 months.

A follow-up newswire story from 2011
In the ultimate "Bite the hand that feed you" sensation of the year, we have this to report.

The Recording Artists of America and the Rest of the World are taking the Metropolitan Police to court over copywright violations. It claims the MP have illegal music on its Hand-Held device database.

A Metropolitan Police spokesman said in response, that they had requested over the last 11 months for copies of all of the RAA & ROTW music so as to administer the scheme better. The RAA & ROTW has not replied and so the Metropolitan Police had no other choice but to begin downloading the music themselves.