the RIAA is now offering an amnesty program to filesharers, read here:
http://www.reuters.com/newsArticle.jhtml?type=topNews&storyID=3399602
some people are fighting back:
http://www.rollingstone.com/news/newsarticle.asp?nid=18658&afl=frnd
the same thing is happening here in the netherlands; 'stichting brein' an
organisation that could be compared to the RIAA, has been demanding the
names of people who's IP adresses they've got. But the internetproviders
refuse to give those names, referring to those persons privacy rights.
christiaan alberdingk thijm [kazaa's lawyer] points out on the website of
his lawfirm why 'stichting brein' has not much chance of winning their fight
for those names.
i'm not sure what to think of all this.
first of all, the extreme long time it took the recording industry to do
something it could have done long ago, thereby only making things worse. and
secondly giving the public the wrong impression; the impression that
eventhough filesharing is not ok, it will have no consequence on you.
the way they sue 12 year olds doesn't really help them either, it's like a
shopkeeper who sees hundreds of people stealing from his shop day in day
out, and finally does something about it, by picking out the weekest person
that has ever done so, in the case a 12 year old.
third, i'm really puzzled by all these settlements. $2000 for a thousand
songs she allegedly shared through her computer? that's $2 per song!!! in
court the RIAA would have to convince the judge and the jury that this girls
filesharing has caused the recording industry $2000 damage. they could NEVER
pull that off! they would even face a hard time trying to prove that there
is a direct link beteen the decrease in sales in the music industry, and
filesharing. just look at the shift in sales towards dvd's or even
ringtones, and combine that with the bad economy.
jurren
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