Can RIAA "win" its lawsuit in any sense that works from the point of view of preserving its business model? Suppose the worst happens and Napster is put out of business. It seems like all that would happen is that a large number of Napster clones would spring up on home networks throughout the world. Even if the RIAA could shut these down -- and there are a lot of jurisdictions out there -- how could it even find them? Certainly if I were to set up a clone I wouldn't publicize it -- I'd just tell people I know and let them tell people they know, etc. What could the RIAA possibly do about that? It looks to me as though business models that depend on control over the distribution of stored static content have no hope at all, and I include mp3.com's business model in that. Am I overreacting?
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Can RIAA "win" its lawsuit in any sense that works from the point of view of preserving its business model? Suppose the worst happens and Napster is put out of business. It seems like all that would happen is that a large number of Napster clones would spring up on home networks throughout the world. Even if the RIAA could shut these down -- and there are a lot of jurisdictions out there -- how could it even find them? Certainly if I were to set up a clone I wouldn't publicize it -- I'd just tell people I know and let them tell people they know, etc. What could the RIAA possibly do about that? It looks to me as though business models that depend on control over the distribution of stored static content have no hope at all, and I include mp3.com's business model in that. Am I overreacting?