The RIAA is coming after YOU!
(And believe it or not, that's good news)

According to MSNBC the RIAA is planning to come after the most prolific individual Internet music swappers. In an unprecedented step the RIAA is apparently planning and preparing to go after those mp3 file sharers who do the most trading. As we all know (ad nauseam) the big music companies have previously only attacked actual companies providing software for file sharing (ala Napster). This method was extremely successful in shutting down that specific company and it's technology. However, if you are even remotely in the know (read under 35) then you understand that file sharing continues and continues to grow (see http://www.zeropaid.com/ )

Due to a variety of technologies the newer manifestations of file sharing technology are more difficult to directly attack. Basically there is no central server that the newer software connects to so there is nothing to actually shut down. It's simply software running on individual machines and once software enters the "wild" of the Internet it's impossible to suppress.

So the RIAA and the big music conglomerates have only one realistic option left and that is to attack individual file sharers. This is considered to be a risky move from a PR perspective but in the minds of the backward thinking and greedy music industry it is their only salvation. In reality it is their certain demise.

The Death of Anti-Napster

The music industry can definitely survive the negative PR that may result from going after individual users. After all, we still love our favorite music and will continue to buy cds and lps. However, by going after the individuals INSTEAD of the companies making the software they are essentially saying they have given up. They are indirectly acknowledging that these Peer-to-Peer software manufacturers have a right to exist. Or, more to the point, that they (the RIAA and big music) doesn't have a case in court to prevent them from existing as they did with Napster.

So, what does this mean? How is putting file sharers into jail a good thing? Well, truth be told file sharing to some extent IS illegal. I do not believe that ALL file sharing is illegal but some of it is. And while I'm sure the details of the legality are not something that the RIAA and I will see eye to eye on, I do think that those who are sharing 3-5 gigs of mp3s every single day are probably breaking the law (trading software applications is another issue that is apparently not being addressed in the same manner as music).

Trade those MP3s

If you have some music that you want to trade with friends or there is a song you've heard on tv that you just MUST have then by all means share those files. This is essentially what is going to result from this stance the RIAA is taking. Casual, occasional file sharing (yes, even of copyrighted material) is fine and falls under the fair use interpretation of the law. So ma and pa file sharers need not worry. Both the act of sharing and the technology to enable the sharing is just fine and will be around for a long time (at least till the RIAA gets another crazy idea).

So celebrate and download some music today.