Just like with Napster, there wasn’t a big call for other p2p methods until Napster was closed by the RIAA.

Each time they go after some victim, they provide advertisement that you can get free music, where it is at, and they provide a hate factor against their product to those that might have considered buying the product. Those that escape the attention go off with hate in their hearts towards the major labels, purposely intending to continue the legacy of file sharing and hunting new ways to do it. Each time, a new twist is added to escape the last weakness that caused the trouble.

Every time the RIAA has a success in shutting down a site, they provide a new rule in the rule book for what not to do for the next application, providing a near step by step solution on what to avoid. As time goes by it gets tougher and tougher for them to grab hold of the reason to bring a site down. Everyone at the closed sites go off to find new methods, often starting a site themselves, multiplying the mole holes.

It isn’t even about private trackers versus public ones– I’ve used both with impunity. I even used one tracker that was shut down by court order and had on its front page that the court had our data and they were going to come after us. That was four years ago!