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File-Sharing Winners and Losers of 2005

Posted by ScuttleMonkey on from the sucker-born-every-minute dept.

An anonymous reader writes "A lot happened in the P2P world in 2005 according to Slyck news. From the article: 'BitTorrent soared to new heights while Steve Jobs enjoyed record breaking iPod sales. Yet not everyone shared this success. The RIAA continued its fight against P2P networking with little effect, as Sony-BMG disgraced itself and the DRM concept.'"

5 of 140 comments (clear)

  1. Quick Summary by ndansmith · · Score: 4, Interesting

    Winners: People who enjoy shared music and movies for free.
    Losers: **AAs, whose obsolete business model is faltering
    Biggest Losers: The poor pre-teens and grandparents dragged into court by the **AAs.

    1. Re:Quick Summary by TubeSteak · · Score: 3, Interesting

      And what about the people who were legitimately targeted for their file sharing activities?

      And the various Release Groups + Suppliers (who do what they do for free) that got arrested.

      Where do they fit?

      Does society win because those (international) law-breakers were arrested? Do the releasers lose because they got caught? Does the **AA win because they 'got their man.'

      I know this is touchy ground on /. because our desire for moviez and warez makes us a touch hypocritical at times. Hopefully someone can put this into perspective.

      It's pretty short-sighted of Slyck's article to ignore the hardcore Releasers who generate most of the decent content P2P progs have access to.

      --
      [Fuck Beta]
      o0t!
  2. saying by circletimessquare · · Score: 4, Interesting

    "The RIAA continued its fight against P2P networking with little effect"

    is like saying

    "The Aztec Empire continued its fight against the Spanish Conquistadors with little effect"

    duh

    both were quickly extinguished by the arrival of new tech, and i would say the RIAA knows what its like to be Montezuma right now

    --
    intellectual property law is philosophically incoherent. it is your moral duty to ignore it or sabotage it
  3. Not quite by trifish · · Score: 3, Interesting

    The RIAA continued its fight against P2P networking with little effect

    Doesn't really seem so. They managed to make the owners of the biggest P2P network (eDonkey2000) say they "throw the towel in".

  4. Define:Piracy by WhatAmIDoingHere · · Score: 4, Interesting

    A pirate is one who robs or plunders at sea without a commission from a recognised sovereign nation. Pirates usually target other ships, but have also attacked targets on shore. These acts are known as piracy. Unlike the stereotypical pirate with cutlass and masted sailing ship, today most pirates get about in speedboats wearing balaclavas instead of bandanas, using AK-47s rather than cutlasses.

    I use bittorrent to infringe on copyright, yes. But I've never commited piracy.

    And really, you've got most of that bass ackwards. It's the little guys who can go to places like iTunes or Amazon and get their CDs and songs sold for actual money, instead of signing a $10m contract with the RIAA and spending the next 20 years trying to pay off the $10m loan. Yeah. That's how the RIAA contracts work. You didn't know that, you say? You made that whole post with your ass you say? Hmm... Go back to kuro5hin.

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