Art,
re: The recording industry is now armed with a legal decision that gives it the upper hand in any legal action. A software designer who sells software that would allow someone to make an illegal copy almost indistinguishable in quality from the original risks getting sued in the same way that gun manufacturers are being sued for making it too easy for their products to find their way into the hands of criminals.
The software is free, the distribution is over the Internet, originally from a web site, secondly from PC to PC. It costs next to nothing to set up a web site, the record companies can sue, but the people with the web sites probably don't have enough money to make it worth the cost of litigation. And once the software is on the PC's, it impossible to stop, unless you sue each individual PC owner, assuming you can find them.
Also there is talk of setting up Napster type service all over the world, places where it would be difficult for the recording industry to even initiate a court action.
I'm not saying this is a good thing, I'm saying it's reality.
I don't know what the new business model could be for the record companies and the artists, but it sure appears they will need one.
John |
