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P2P Music Sharing Remains Popular Despite RIAA

KarmaOverDogma writes "The New York Times reports that the RIAA's attempts to cut down on (music) file sharing are slow to show any effect, as much of the public still considers the activity to be useful and/or acceptable. P2P filesharing activity has decreased very little since they began their end-user legal campaign."

25 of 521 comments (clear)

  1. Agenda by grub · · Score: 5, Insightful


    from the article: "What we're trying to drive for is an environment in which legitimate online music can flourish."

    Read as: "We want online music to be hosted by our business partners, protected by DRM and for which we get get paid every nickel we think we're due."

    --
    Trolling is a art,
  2. Let's pay the artists intstead... by pointbeing · · Score: 5, Insightful
    I vote for embedding artist PayPal addresses in mp3s. Then we can send the money directly to the artist.

    I'd imagine the RIAA wouldn't think too kindly of this idea - but it is kinda fun to think about :)

    --
    we see things not as as they are, but as we are.
    -- anais nin
  3. No effects YET but, by kunsan · · Score: 5, Insightful

    If the RIAA wins a few decisions in a courtroom, I think it safe to say it will scare the crap out of quite a few folks. Thereby causing a decrease in the number of people sharing music.

    JP

    --
    The facts expressed here belong to all, the opinions to me. The distinction between fact and opinion is yours to decide.
    1. Re:No effects YET but, by TGK · · Score: 4, Insightful

      But that won't happen. The RIAA is -=not=- interested in a courtroom decision. Think about it, and chart the possible outcomes.

      1.) Defeat -- The RIAA knows that this is shakey ground. It's that way for two reasons. First, there is some indication that users may be able to pleed ignorance of what tracks are copywritten and which are for general distribution. Secondly, a judge is unlikely to award the RIAA the vast sums of money they sue for. When a person settles out of court that's one thing, but when a judge flat out tells you that your lawsuit is both insane and very unreasonable it has deeper consequences.

      2.) Victory -- The RIAA wins the trial. But wait, suddenly they've gone from being "defenders of their legal copyright" to the 2003 version of the woman who spilled coffee on her lap... taken to the Nth degree. Come on, what kind of reaction would you see when some 12 year old kid holding his puppy calls a news conference on the steps of the court house to announce that the RIAA has won a judgement against him for over a Billion dollars?

      3.) An out of court settlement. The RIAA gets the money, little Johney doesn't get to call his news conference, and the entire thing never appears in front of a judge. There's no appeals process and no danger of a legal decision shattering the buisness model.

      Someday someone's gonna take this to court. Someone with very little to loose. It'll be interesting to see how that plays out.

      --
      Killfile(TGK)
      No trees were killed in the creation of this post. However, many electrons were inconvenienced.
  4. lets see them try and put everyone in jail by mrfibbi · · Score: 5, Insightful

    It's always been a fact that the worst way to tackle piracy is by nabbing the end users. Remember that humerous article a while back about the major detaining facility in Death Valley for file sharers? The problem is that they let filesharing get so widespread that everyone and their mother now download music. They're going to have to be a bit more creative if they want to stop people from using P2P.

  5. Re:It'll start working eventually by grub · · Score: 5, Insightful


    Enough people will be prosecuted and then people will stop.

    This approach has worked wonders for the "War on Drugs". How many people are "criminals" because they dared have a few grams of pot on them?

    --
    Trolling is a art,
  6. I have a hunch... by RealityProphet · · Score: 5, Insightful

    I have a hunch that this is because programs like Kazaa are devious. Even when you think you're not sharing anything, you are. So, there are probably many many people who think they are only downloading music, not sharing it, too. For instance, only the most clever will point their shared folder to an empty directory, so as not to share anything. But only the cleverest of the clever realize that your download directory is automatically shared, so that each and every file you download is shared, unless you move it out! Ooops! Combine that with Kazaa's infamous difficulty to actually close, and you've got plenty of unwitting file sharers out there.

  7. really by Boromir+son+of+Faram · · Score: 5, Insightful

    In other news, crack cocaine remains popular, despite War on Drugs. No healthier or more legal, of course...

    --

    Boromir, son of Faramir, King of Gondor and Minas Tirith
  8. Well, well.. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 4, Insightful

    neither will their crippled CD's have a negative effect on filesharing..

  9. Of course it's popular still... by overbyj · · Score: 5, Insightful

    because until the RIAA hunt down every single P2P filetrader, people are going to continue to do it. Certain drugs are illegal but people still sell and buy them because the government can't stop every single person. The RIAA has to realize that basically the only way to stop P2P is to pull the plug on the internet (which btw they might eventually try to do once they run out of other bright ideas!)

    --
    No trees were harmed in the composition of this; however, numerous electrons were inconvenienced.
  10. Well.. by jamesjw · · Score: 4, Insightful


    What did they expect?

    I mean the RIAA has only the reach in the US it seems, its up to individual countries appointed authorities to persue foreign traders.

    The problem will come for the RIAA when the trading goes underground to private FTP servers and the like, it wasnt that long ago when it was the only way to find music online..

    Napster changed things, it was probably the most significant 'killer app' next to Yahoo when Yahoo first started as somebodys bookmark page and grew to something thats been copied over and over and over (And which Google has perfected *grin*) :)

    -- Jim.

    --
    -- If at first you don't succeed, lie!
  11. Litigation/legislation doesn't change anyone by nenya · · Score: 3, Insightful

    This is just another case of an existing power structure being threatened by new technological and social realities, and, being unwilling to evolve, reacting with force. This has never, ever worked, except in cases of actual armed revolution, when the governing forces actually have the upper hand. But trying to prevent social change through jailing/fining people has never been an effective deterrent. What are they going to do, throw 20% of the country in jail? I don't think so.

  12. A very good point from the article... by pirhana · · Score: 5, Insightful

    >"Law, technology and ethics are not in sync right now,"

    This one sentence sums it up well. Despite the massive propoganda , people are not convinced by RIAA arguments and they dont find anything wrong in sharing things they possess. These file sharers are not "crminals" as RIAA says. They are just normal human beings who are not convinced by RIAA arguments, period.

  13. In other news... by radish · · Score: 4, Insightful


    Reports indicate crime still occuring despite existence of Police and Judicial system...film at 11.

    Really, I'm against the RIAA action as much as anyone else (and likewise the DMCA), but experience shows us that making something illegal rarely prevents it from occuring.

    --

    ---- Den ene knappen er powerknapp, den andre er Bender voice knapp "Bite My Shiny Metal Ass"

  14. Re:It'll start working eventually by Ziest · · Score: 3, Insightful

    Enough people will be prosecuted and then people will stop.

    The key for the RIAA is to ingrain the meme that if you illegally trade files that you will be caught and fined.


    to paraphrase "If enough people are prosecuted for smoking marijuana then people will stop. The key for the DEA is to ingrain the meme that if you smoke weed then you will be caught and sent to jail."

    Ummmm, next time think it all the way through before you post one of your brillent non sequiturs

    --
    Another day closer to redwood heaven
  15. Criminality? by DesScorp · · Score: 5, Insightful

    "How many people are "criminals" because they dared have a few grams of pot on them?"

    All of them.

    Because the law currently says pot is illegal, case closed. They may not be evil for smoking pot, and maybe pot should be legal. But until it is, using it is a crime. No debate here.

    It never ceases to amaze me that so many people here rage at the fact that people get sued and prosecuted for doing illegal things just because they disagree with the law. What they need to be doing is trying to get those laws changed. And if you can't get them changed, and the majority of the public does NOT support your position on getting it changed, tough luck, you lose, move on. That's how it works in a democratic republic. Just because YOU don't support the law, that doesn't mean that you have a blank check to defy it. If we defied all the laws we didn't like, it wouldn't be much of a civilization, would it?

    --
    Life is hard, and the world is cruel
    1. Re:Criminality? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Insightful
      If we defied all the laws we didn't like, it wouldn't be much of a civilization, would it?
      On the contrary: if we spinelessly followed idiotic laws we disagreed with, it wouldn't be much of a civilizations. Dissent gives you progress.
    2. Re:Criminality? by lone_marauder · · Score: 5, Insightful

      If we defied all the laws we didn't like, it wouldn't be much of a civilization, would it?

      Well, at least in the context of the history of the United States, this civilization began through defying laws we didn't like. Whether the opponents to laws such as the Stamp Act were self-interested rabble rousers or conscientious objectors, everything we hold dear began by defiance which was not only illegal, but ultimately developed into the most dire sort of resistance to state authority.

      The idea behind this republic is that the government operates at the behest of and according to the will of the people, not the other way around. The glory of America is that no matter what attempts are made to socially stratify your viewpoints by categorizing you (extremist, right winger, left winger, etc.), or, as has become immensely popular around here - the lack of a business plan (horrors!), your opinion still counts. It is the government's problem to accede to the will of the people. Everything government represents, especially the law, must necessarily reflect that purpose.

      --
      who are those slashdot people? they swept over like Mongol-Tartars.
  16. It's like they're trying to hand the RIAA a clue by mblase · · Score: 4, Insightful

    The persistent lack of guilt over online copying suggests that the record industry's antipiracy campaign, billed as a last-ditch effort to reverse a protracted sales slump, is only the beginning of the difficult process of persuading large numbers of people to buy music again.

    I had the feeling that sentence was explicitly intended to be dripping with sarcasm. I could see the subtext as if it were in bright blinking neon: "The record industry would be much more effective at persuading people to buy music if they didn't feel like they were constantly being taken advantage of at the register."

  17. RIAA is HELPING file sharing by Valar · · Score: 3, Insightful

    The way I see it, the RIAA is helping file sharing. Firstly, they're giving it the best press money can buy. A lot of filesharing networks are noticing spikes in usage due to all of these RIAA press releases. The idea of thousands of 'criminals' distributing 'stolen' music for free just sounds too good for a lot of people for them to pass it up because of the miniscule chance they might be sued.
    Secondly, they are pushing the software along. More measures are being taken to produce software that can not only handle the increased usage, but also can ensure the privacy of the users.
    The only way I see for the RIAA to combat this is for record stores to have kiosks where you can burn a CD with songs you pick and chose, print out an attractive label and liner notes, for an affordable price. They may be too afraid of the new technology and the (temporary) profit losses to act however...

  18. You forgot the slaves [Re:Agenda] by Sphere1952 · · Score: 3, Insightful

    It is clearly part of the RIAA's agenda to close off any other avenue to becoming known so that their slaves (the artists) cannot escape.

    --
    Big Brother Bush is doubleplus ungood.
  19. Re:I doni't understand this "Sharing" mentality by mrtroy · · Score: 3, Insightful

    "You're one of those people who would walk into a grocery store and walk over to the bulk foods aisle. You'd grab granola from the bin and stuff it in your pocket. You'd then grab raisins and stuff them in there"

    Except that would cost the store owner money. I dont seem to recall reading anywhere where recording artists, or their labels, or the RIAA, buy the bits on your hard drive...

    Nice logic...*cough*

    --
    [I can picture a world without war, without hate. I can picture us attacking that world, because they'd never expect it]
  20. Destruction? by Jennifer+E.+Elaan · · Score: 4, Insightful
    I'm Canadian. Marijuana is so common up here that they're slowly decriminalizing it. Most of my friends (I'm allergic, so I don't do it myself) smoke a little pot once in a while.

    I've seen lives ruined from the criminal charges associated with marijuana. As for the substance itself, well... I do know a few people who abuse it, but in the long run, it's doing less damage to them than the alcohol they would have used in place of it. The lack of addiction or especially bad long-term effects means that when they "go clean", they recover.

    It's really no different from alcohol, except that it's not addictive and doesn't cause brain and liver damage (it does cause lung cancer, but like that ever stopped people from smoking tobacco). Some people abuse it, some use it responsibly.

    1. Re:Destruction? by chihowa · · Score: 3, Insightful
      I've seen lives ruined from the criminal charges associated with marijuana. I think that is a excellent argument against laws intended to "protect one from oneself." Justice is not intended to dissuade people from breaking the law, it's intended to right the wronged party and prevent the wrongdoer from doing again. Using justice as a deterrent for law-breaking leads to punishment that does not suit the crime, which is unconstitutional.

      When excessive sentences are applied to laws that are supposed to protect a person from themself, you get a punishment which wrongs the wronged (who is also the wrongdoer) much worse than the actual 'crime'.

      In this way, it is more damaging to a person to get caught smoking pot than it is to actually smoke pot. 'Justice' is doing more harm to members of society than the 'crimes' it is supposed to be punishing.

      This is a little shakier, but some of the laws (denying student aid to students convicted of drug offences) seems to serve to make less productive members of society of those who break certain laws. Are rapists and murderers and armed robbers denied student aid? If they aren't (I really don't know!), then why the disparate uses of justice?

      --
      If you want a vision of the future, imagine a youtube comments section scrolling - forever.
  21. Criminality by garrulous · · Score: 3, Insightful
    And dont sound so unforgiving, I doubt you follow all the laws.

    I'm willing to bet that he'd say that you are free to break laws as long as you are also willing to accept the risk of getting caught and being punished.

    There are laws on all kinds of things that there shouldnt be. Me I follow morals before i follow laws. You democratic republic escuse is bull.

    Actually your comments would suggest that you follow the lame platitudes espoused by your peers.

    So you say most people use aol so all of us should. Great way to look at things

    Actually your choice of ISP isn't a matter of law. So no, I don't think DesScorp would say that.

    Also I think as much harm that has come from religion, thats where civilization came from not laws.

    Ever hear of religious law? Oh right, they don't cover that in theosophy for asshats. Sorry.