1. The RIAA lobbybots already have this type of “send them a note, and ask them to stop”, in the form of DMCA takedown notices. The thing that nobody bothers to understand about the dmca is that it has completely and utterly failed to DO anything against “copyright infringement” because the vast majoirity simply find nothing wrong in “infringing” a century-long monopoly power wielded primarily by corporate megaliths who — in the vast majority of cases — had absolutely nothing to do with the “creations” they now monopolize.

People realize (especially after the Sonny Bono copyright extension act), that — barring the lobbyists’ actions, the vast majority of copyrighted work SHOULD be in the public domain by now. They also realize that patent and copyright are NOT “fundamental human rights”. They’re compromises struck between lawmakers and special interests (NOT “creators” by any stretch of the imagination.) Nobody feels particularly “guilty” about getting something that SHOULD have been freed up years ago.

Especially not after having seen how the corporate lobbyibots — when confronted with the specter of their copyright monopolies ending, simply go and “buy” themselves another twenty years.

The RIAA is — despite their confident pose — frantically backpedalling at this point: they’ve alienated their two key demographics (teenagers and music fans), shown themselves to be outright OPPOSED to any genuine “innovation” they can’t hamstring (region coding for DVDs, the VCR as “boston Strangler” etc, ad infinitum). Nobody’s buying it, any more than Australian ISPs actually believe that State-coerced censorship/filtering can actually work.

This whole premise rests on the fallacy that connectivity is static. True, many broadband users DO have an “always on” connection (cable modems or dsl), but with the growth of WIFI and other technologies, “networking” has become progressively more ad-hoc, and I’m not just talking about “wardriving” either.

This shit fails utterly the first time somebody suspends a bittorent download, goes to a friend’s house, and reconnects using his wireless network (or maybe Starbuck’s free wifi hotspots, etc.)

Not to mention the fact that people can buy 8 gig USB memory sticks for, what, twenty bucks?

The REAL solution to the collosal non-”problem” of file-sharing is twofold:

1. Limit the terms of copyright monopolies to the original 14 years, with NO RENEWALS.
And,
2. Explicitly prevent the awarding of “excessive” damages even DURING the 14 year monopoly period. Make the maximum possible award the price of the “content” itself.

Patents and copyright are SUPPOSED TO EXPIRE.
Maybe it’s high time they all “expire” entirely….)