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According to music website Project Opus, the Recording Industry Association of America has sent cease-and-desist letters to YouTube users, demanding that said videos be removed from the site.

Project Opus says that RIAA-member Universal has called for 'an aggressive stance against amateur video using commercial songs'.

In its

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favour, the RIAA can cite not only copyright infringement but also the potential negative impact on sales that these videos could have.

However, Cory Doctorow, a leading campaigner for copyright reform, warns that the cease-and-desist letters may not have come from the RIAA at all. Last July, he notes, RPG Films - which hosts videos of people's video-game characters dancing to music - closed its website after receiving a letter which purported to come from the RIAA, except it didn't.

The RIAA's response to questions on the matter? Nada.

'So now we've got the RIAA (?) sending takedown notices to YouTube over kids who rock out to the songs they love,' Doctorow writes. 'You have to wonder - if this is a forgery, has the RIAA decided to do something about it? If it's not, does that mean that they now have a policy about fan-films made with music?'

We await the RIAA's response.