Are you suggesting that they (the RIAA) should discriminate when filing these suits? Say, anybody under 14 should be immune or otherwise not subject to copyright laws?
What would be the ramifications? This would mean that the the RIAA should perform an investigation into who the person is before beginning proceedings. Those advocating privacy rights would surely find this chilling.
And what of the ramifications to the kids? Would it be ok to say that if your under 14 commit all the copyright violations you want? That would certainly be the message received. What is the ramification to their moral character and society as a whole in such a circumstance?
Lastly, if they screened who they go after, the conspiracy theories would soon follow. For instance, if you are a senator's son, you would be immune from such actions, would quickly arise.
No, the pursuit of these pirates must remain blind to anything other than the fact that they are in voilation of US copyright law. A $2000 fine (paid by P2P United and others) is modest and sends a strong message that it is wrong to copy music.
The music industry faces a significant problem in that there is a culture that believes it is ok to pirate music. In a recent survey, 69 percent of college students have downloaded music while only 8 percent have paid for it. (Business Wire, 2003). Another survey conducted in Australia, just over 50% of the people agreed that copying music was akin to stealing. But if one looks at the population under 25, the percentage drops dramatically, with only 1/3 of those surveyed believing it is wrong to copy music. (Pearce, 2003)
This subculture that feels that there is nothing wrong with copying copyrighted material, also feels that the artist and record label are making too much money, so they feel justified in just taking it. On the website “boycott-RIAA.com” they published a reprint of a debate between Hillary Rosen, former head of the RIAA and Nikki Hemming, CEO of KaZaA. Following the article, there is a bulletin board discussion. Here are a few quotes from the participants:
“Why didn't she just keep up the Johnny one note of "ITS ILLEGAL" like a bunch of mindless parrots.” (In reference to Hillary Rosen)
“I just want to say that i love this site, and everything it stands for. I am a music lover, but i refuse to buy music. I am taking a stand against the RIAA and against bands who support their Cartel/Terrorist views.”
(Boycott-RIAA.com, 2003)
If one reads through the thread it and other sites like zeropaid.com, a few things become obvious. First, these people are utterly contemptuous of the idea that they should have to pay for music. Second, they do not like the current business model of the recording industry. They operate on the principle that the recording industry has too much (money) so they are going to take it from them. Lastly, is also obvious that there are people who are going to steal the music no matter what the model of the industry. They operate under throroughly amoral and Communist principles.
I believe in the long-run that the record industry is going to need to adapt to the P2P technology and use it as a distribution mechanism. In this I would agree with the music pirates. The music industry is going to need to create a distribution mechanism that is subscriber based in some way, so that there is a legal channel to electronically distribute their music. The technology is there and demand is strong for electronic distribution. They should find away to adapt. I have no doubt that the music pirates will object, saying that whatever the price is, that it is still too much money to pay. Therefore, the RIAA and others will still need to aggressively pursue the music pirates.
The culture of stealing must be thwarted.
References
Borland, J. (2003, September 19). RIAA sues iMesh file-trading firm. Retrieved 09/19/2003, news.com.com
Boycott-RIAA.com (2003, August 6). Nikki Hemming - v - Hilary Rosen. Retrieved 09/17/2003, boycott-riaa.com
Bridis, T. (2003, September 10). Girl, 12, Settles Piracy Suit for $2,000. Retrieved 09/17/2003, news.yahoo.com
Business Wire (2003, September 16). New BSA Survey Indicates Campus Attitudes Invite Software Piracy. Retrieved 09/19/2003, cpwire.com
Jordan, J. (2003, June 22). Donations. Retrieved 09/17/2003, chewplastic.com
Martell, L. (2003, June 3). RIAA Wrath Hits Teen. Retrieved 09/17/2003, techtv.com
Pearce, J. (2003, July 16). Burning, sharing hurts AU music sales: Survey. Retrieved 09/19/2003, zdnet.com.au
RIAA (2003). Anti-Piracy. Retrieved 09/19/2003, riaa.com
Woody, T. (2003, February). The Race to Kill Kazaa. Wired, 11.02, . Retrieved 09/17/2003, wired.com |
