Well, here's the latest: digital gumshoes using 'matching technology' to find file swappers.
I'm really quite amused by the RIAA's activities here. The overall music spend of an individual will on average go up when they start using file-sharing software to trade music. So now the record companies are going to start suing folks who, by definition, are some of their best customers? And embitter a whole generation of music fans?
If this blog were to have a rule of 'full disclosure,' it would probably require me to say that I've never used file-sharing software in my life. (It's a security risk, in my opinion.) But at least in the case of music, my sympathy here is with the defendants. Yes, they're breaking the law, no doubt there, but hopefully this will serve as a prod for us to change the definitions of fair use.
Update: As reported at NTK (motto: "They stole our revolution. Now we're stealing it back"), the European Union is going to be passing the IP Enforcement Directive, and is using one of the more tacky methods of assuring passage, certain to become a classic of parliamentary methodology: put the bill up for a vote on September 11th.
Posted by Anthony at August 1, 2003 11:15 AMAll this goes to show that file sharing is a terrible way to go about getting your pirated music.
The RIAA keeps on saying that they have had a 25% drop in sales, but maybe they should look at the economy and the generally crappy quality of the music they produce for that.
Yes--because sharing via the traditional "I'll just put this up on my webspace and give you the link" is going to stop completely because of this. :)
Posted by: Anthony Rickey at August 1, 2003 01:29 PMWhether by private links or old-fashioned physical media transfer, I think file-sharing is going to be less anonymous from now on. We're going to see small, trusted networks spring up, but since these networks will consist of people whose musical tastes intersect significantly, it should be just as easy for people to get their fix.
There's also the possibility that truly anonymous file-sharing software will gain critical momentum, in which case the RIAA will have to get even more hysterically aggressive than they are now. Personally, I'm planning on spending as much of my legal career as I can getting rid of unenforceable restrictions on information sharing in this country and abroad -- these laws criminalize pervasive behavior, making them good for nothing but attacking individual enemies (see also illegal immigration, sodomy laws).
Posted by: Matt Norwood at August 7, 2003 10:14 AMI agree that the main issue with the RIAA's push to punish file-sharer's is that it is so pervasive a practice as to be unenforceable. Do we have any right, however, to complain about technological innovations that prevent piracy in the first place?
Posted by: Avi Frisch at August 7, 2003 12:36 PMHow old is this post?
Posted by: Jenny at April 12, 2004 03:34 AMWas browsing through blogspot when I stumbled here
Posted by: block pop ups at June 25, 2004 03:44 AM4340 Get WWW.I-DISH-NETWORK.ORG rid of cable and upgrade your living room by clicking here!
Posted by: dish network at August 28, 2004 06:13 PMBoren's Laws:
(1) When in charge, ponder.
(2) When in trouble, delegate.
(3) When in doubt, mumble.
Texas Holdem http://www.texas-holdem-poker-casino.com
Don't feed the bats tonight.
Credit Report http://www.credit-report-x.com
Living on Earth may be expensive, but it includes an annual free trip
around the Sun.
Online Dating http://www.online-dating-com.com
Barth's Distinction:
There are two types of people: those who divide people into two
types, and those who don't.
Auto Insurance http://www.auto-insurance-com.com
The older I grow the more I distrust the familiar doctrine that age
brings wisdom.
-- H. L. Mencken
Refinance Mortgage http://www.refinance-mortgage-com.com