Harvard Crimson to the RIAA
p2p news / p2pnet:- The organized entertainment cartels are patently losing as they desperately try to gain control of what people do online, and what and whom they do it with.
The bizarre sue ‘em all marketing campaigns run by their RIAA, MPAA ‘trade’ organizations have created a huge store of ill-will from people who should have been their customers. And the press-release journalism practiced by the always-compliant corporate mainstream print and electronic media is slowly, but surely, giving way to information supplied by blogs and news sites concerned with accurate reporting, rather than keeping the record labels and Hollywood happy.
Harvard is one of America`s leading universities, and it`s also one of the schools whose students now make regular appearances on hit lists compiled by the RIAA (Recording Industry Association of America) and MPAA (Motion Picture Association of America), owned by the major music and movie cartels.
The RIAA will never succeed in changing the habits of 60 million people in the US and untold other millions worldwide, says an OpEd in the Harvard University Harvard Crimson, which goes on, To put the risk-reward equation into perspective, if an average settling cost of $6000 for the 13,000 people sued so far were distributed across the entire file-sharing population in America, everyone using the software would owe $1.30.
With CDs selling for $15 a pop, and individual songs going for $.99 on iTunes, we see little chance that $1.30, or even $130, will dissuade an entire generation accustomed to file-sharing from illegally serving copyrighted materials.
Instead of punitive lawsuits, the RIAA should seek less divisive, alternative ways to ensure the music industry gets its due. It should embrace reality before the file-sharing arms race it is spurring makes reality impossible to tackle.
Earlier, the OpEd says the Supreme Court Grokster vs MGM ruling, gave record labels and movie studios the green light to sue file-sharing services and since then, the RIAA has been busy with a letter writing campaign to shut down these services.
The letter the post refers to was the missive the RIAA sent to seven US p2 file sharing application companies ordering them to, immediately cease and desist from enabling and inducing the infringement of RIAA member sound recordings”.
Though file-sharing services are only guilty of a crime if they encourage illegal downloading these services lack the resources to fight the RIAA in court, says the Harvard Crimson.
Driven by an arrogance born of its deep corporate coffers, the RIAA is muscling legitimate startups out of business because some users are using the software to commit copyright violations. By doing so, the RIAA will only succeed in driving file-sharing services offshore, where it can`t touch them.
It would be better off filing suits only against services that explicitly encourage the sharing of copyrighted materials.
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See:-
hit lists – 757 new RIAA victims, September 30, 2005
Harvard Crimson – High Stakes Sharing, October 11, 2005
cease and desist – RIAA attacks p2p companies, September 15, 2005
First they ignore you, then they laugh at you, then they fight you, then you win
- Mohandas Gandhi
Tired of being treated like a criminal? They depend on you, not the other way around. Don’t buy their ‘product’. Do bug your local political representatives. Use emails, snail-mail, phone calls, faxes, IM, stop them in the street, blog. And if you’re into organizing, organize petitions, organize demonstrations and then turn up on your local political rep’s doorstep, making sure you’ve contacted your local tv/radio station/newspaper in advance.
October 12th, 2005 at 7:06 pm
Couldn’t agree more. File sharing growth is increasing day by day, these organizations are fighting a losing cause.
It’s clear what will happen eventually, they will lobby every government until they tax everything(hardware) enough so we are effectively being forced to subsidise the fat cat cartels through legislated taxation.
I think it’s about time they should be forced to stand on their own two feet. Survival of the fittest, not survival of the biggest lobbists.
October 12th, 2005 at 8:54 pm
I think the RIAA is pulling a big con job. they don’t want to stop file sharing. they know they can’t, and won’t put a dent in it. (after all they can’t be THAT stupid) It’s a very good source of revenue for them without even trying.
October 13th, 2005 at 7:14 am
yo rick, gotta agree with you, I’m waiting fer the point where they make more cash from mafia tactics than sale of “product”, then what happens?
Bri
October 14th, 2005 at 11:05 am
Although not mentioned in the article, Harvard is one of the institutions of higher education that is not simply rolling over and coughing up ID information when confronted with a ‘request’ letter from the RIAA or one of their flimsy and defective DCMA subpoenas.