Shaking Down the World

The fight against file traders had another round in the international community. The IFPI filed 459 lawsuits against individuals in various European countries. In the U.S., the RIAA is appealing the Grokster ruling to the Supreme Court. That’s the one that says the Peer To Peer networks are not liable for the content transmitted on their systems. Basically, the RIAA wants to make all P2P activity illegal regardless of legitimate uses. Here’s a news brief on the European action from Edupage, an electronic publication of Educause:

MUSIC INDUSTRY FILES LAWSUITS IN MORE COUNTRIES
The International Federation of the Phonographic Industry (IFPI), a European music trade group, has filed 459 civil and criminal lawsuits against file traders for copyright violations. Included in this round of lawsuits are users in Britain, France, and Austria—countries not included in previous lawsuits—as well as users in Germany, Italy, and Denmark. The lawsuits are said to target “uploaders,” those who make music files available for others to download. According to the IFPI, one of the defendants has 9,000 music files on his system. Other defendants include a teacher in France who faces three years in jail under a new French counterfeit law. The IFPI argues that illegal file trading has cost the music industry significant amounts of money, and the group said the lawsuits came as a last resort, after an extended public awareness campaign. In all, 650 users in Europe have been charged with illegal file sharing since March. In the United States, the music industry has filed suits against more than 5,700 individuals since September 2003.
Reuters, 7 October 2004
http://www.reuters.com/newsArticle.jhtml?storyID=6442562

The increasing number of users on P2P networks indicates that the lawsuits are not having the effect the RIAA hoped they would. Personally, I don’t think they’ll stop suing people until their is federal legislation that makes all Peer To Peer technology illegal. And then instead of sending out lawsuits, they’ll send out the FBI to hunt down these rogue teenagers.