Tuesday September 30
RIAA's Nazi Tactics Are Winning
Today's news indicates that P2P file sharing has dropped 45% since the RIAA started suing indiviuals a few months back. That is despite that fact that only 261 lawsuits were filed and that settlements accepted have been just a few thousand dollars each. Settling in With the RIAA [TechNews.com].
I think the lesson here is that the legal process can and often is used solely for purposes of intimidation. RIAA is not even covering its legal fees, and certainly not giving anything back to the artists who may lose royalties where songs are traded instead of bought. But from the user perspective, the randomness of being sued may overpower the relative anonimity of the Internet, where 261 folks out of the many millions utilizing P2P technology are surely just a drop in the ocean. It looks like alot of them are afraid of drowning!!
Posted by glenn at