LOS ANGELES - Music industry experts are concerned about a new piracy threat: unauthorized humming. Ordinary music fans hum every day, but most of them are out of compliance with federal laws. "We are concerned that hummers may not realize they are humming copyrighted music," says Robert Alred of the Harry Fox Agency. "Hummers, like Napster users, need to know that artists are hurt when royalties aren't paid." Humming occurs when music stored in Human Memory Medium (HMM) is vocalized through a user's vocal chords. This music is copied through a user's External Audio Receiver (EAR) to their HMM. Music can be copied from hummer to hummer as quickly as it can be played or hummed. "I like to hum," says says RIAA janitor, Paul Fiddlebum. People have been humming without proper licenses for the past three decades, perhaps even longer. Yet according to RIAA Executive Alex Porter, "Which ever way you look at it, humming is stealing." The RIAA estimates over $500 million are lost each year due to humming piracy. And that doesn't even count losses due to unauthorized singing, a process similar to humming, which includes lyrics. "We have no eay of estimating that number. But we expect it to be at least 5 times the losses we're seeing with humming." He adds, "People think that as long as they're not singing in front of an audience or making money from the song, that they have a right to sing it. This is simply not true. Singing steals money from the artist, whether you're at Carnegey Hall, or in the shower." Porter contends that, in addition to harming artists financially, many unauthorized singers get the lyrics wrong and sing out of tune. "Most artists do not want their music abused and misinterperted in this manner." Artists also worry that singing along to the radio is becoming more and more popular. "Radio stations pay royalities to broadcast our music. Do you?" asks drummer Lars Olrich from the popular heavy metal band, Metallica. The Harry Fox Agency fears humming and singing losses may be much worse overseas. "This is an international problem. The Human Memory Medium is portable. An illegal hummer can leave the country, and customs has no way of knowing that copyrighted music has just been smuggled across international borders," says Alred. "The hummer can then hum or sing the song anywhere, and the tune is now spread to hundreds, or even thousands of other music pirates." "The issue is further compounded because some nations do not respect protection of US and WIPPO copyright laws. The losses abroad may measure in the trillions of dollars." Some industry experts have suggested new technologies to prevent people from humming and singing copyrighted songs. Silentech has developed a new device, dubbed "The Silencer(tm)", which they hope to have installed on 1 million test hummers by the end of the year. The Silencer(tm) attaches to the exterior of the HMM, and uses a "audio digital fingerprint" to detect when the hummer is singing or humming a copyrighted song. Upon detection of infringement, The Silencer(tm) places a padded clamp over the singer's neck, restricting their air supply until they desist in robbing the artist of their well-earned royalties. "We plan to partner with BMG and Sony later this year," says Arnold Hobbs, CEO of Silentech. "Using the Silencer(tm), a singer's credit card can be charged a fair royalty for every song." But how much is fair? BMG would like to charge $2.50 for each song hummed, and $3.50 for each song sung. But Congress says this number is far too high, and that $2.00 per song would be much more reasonable. And the other "Big 5" record labels think the system will not be good enough. "The fact remains that a copy of the song still resides in the hummer's Human Memory Medium," complains Bud Calahan of CBS Records. "With The Silencer(tm), he may not be able to sing it anymore, but the copy is still there, and is still unpaid for. Even if they don't hum it, it could be running through the hummers mind, and we have no practical way of monitoring every single instance of that." CBS and RCA have openly advocated charging royalties for every song stored within an individual's HMM. The RIAA also supports this concept. "If a song is copied, it's copied. It doesn't matter if it's onto a CD, and MP3, or into the mind of a human being. The artist has worked hard to create that music. We can't just ignore that fact," commented Porter. Congress may have the answer to this delima with their new Federal ID Smart-Card system. Originally designed to prevent terrorism, the system takes a snapshot of each American's HMM and stores it on a magnetic strip. If government records could be opened up to the RIAA, each individual may then be back-charged for any copyrighted music they've ever thought about. "But that still won't help to solve the overseas problem," says Alred.