Whenever the RIAA stamps out a filesharing network (such as Napster) it creates greater animus between music consumers and music companies - there's some awareness in the industry, which is why companies are hesitant to really go after these services.
Assuming the lawsuits are a decoy, and are intended to rustle up congressional support for hardware detection/locks || taxes on blank cds, would also incite (possibly far greater) animus against the music/movie industry. There's a far greater resistance to taxation in the US than there is in Germany or Britain. I do not buy the arugement that since the American public "accepted" the incursion on freedoms that has taken place during the war on drugs, they will also accept incursions on freedoms in the war against filetrading. The war on drugs could point to examples of young men and women who had suffered tremendous physical and emotional ills because of their addictions to justify their actions - the war on filetrading cannot make any claim that it is trying to save lives.
I am not suggesting that the RIAA/MPAA strategy will necesarily fail, or that it will be short-term. However, the costs to these industries, whose main demographic is under-25 youth, and whose product is ostensibly about freedom and especially freedom from petty laws and "authourity figures" - could be severe in terms of audience alienation/consumer loyalty. Eventually, these suits and the resulting consumer fallout may serve as the main incentive for an alternate music distribution model, with artists selling their wares online through centralized and decentralized networks, and independent companies hired by some of these artists to do the promotion that the major recording companies do now, but for a smaller share of royalties.
Slashdot Mirror
Whenever the RIAA stamps out a filesharing network (such as Napster) it creates greater animus between music consumers and music companies - there's some awareness in the industry, which is why companies are hesitant to really go after these services. Assuming the lawsuits are a decoy, and are intended to rustle up congressional support for hardware detection/locks || taxes on blank cds, would also incite (possibly far greater) animus against the music/movie industry. There's a far greater resistance to taxation in the US than there is in Germany or Britain. I do not buy the arugement that since the American public "accepted" the incursion on freedoms that has taken place during the war on drugs, they will also accept incursions on freedoms in the war against filetrading. The war on drugs could point to examples of young men and women who had suffered tremendous physical and emotional ills because of their addictions to justify their actions - the war on filetrading cannot make any claim that it is trying to save lives. I am not suggesting that the RIAA/MPAA strategy will necesarily fail, or that it will be short-term. However, the costs to these industries, whose main demographic is under-25 youth, and whose product is ostensibly about freedom and especially freedom from petty laws and "authourity figures" - could be severe in terms of audience alienation/consumer loyalty. Eventually, these suits and the resulting consumer fallout may serve as the main incentive for an alternate music distribution model, with artists selling their wares online through centralized and decentralized networks, and independent companies hired by some of these artists to do the promotion that the major recording companies do now, but for a smaller share of royalties.