Illegal downloading and copyright infringement is most certainly one of the most pressing issues in the music, film and television business right now and it has been this way ever since P2P’s came into existance. Many of these businesses are going bankrupt over time, hence the reason why Hollywood only release those darn sequels and cheesy romantic comedies, but the RIAA are really knuckingly down on catching (and sueing) those individuals who think that a simple illegal download in your own home is ‘no big deal.’
The RIAA have systems set in place with universities and ISP’s to locate where a file is being downloaded from, they can simply knock of your door and launch a lawsuit at you – with the recommendation being to settle out of court for a few thousand dollars (although this can be multiple thousands, depending on the circumstance).
The reason I write this is because I had a small run in with the HBO over a tv program they were airing at the time of download. I was lucky enough to be given a warning, maybe hence to my international status.
But my one state of upset on the situation is that I dont know if they are targeting the right sources. Sueing individuals is like trying to tag a million sheep spread out over 10000 acres for drinking your water, you may cause a frendzy in the process and get a few sheep – but you’re not hitting the source of the problem.
Most of the torrent sites around the world are not located on American soil. America doesnt usually seem to have any problem going into other countries and doing what they please, why not target their attention at these torrent hosts around the world? You could argue that by simply shutting one down, another one will start – but that is my point. A simple person in their home downloading a song should not be the target by the RIAA, it should be those people whom have devoted their lives to keeping illegal torrents as available as they are today.
One can also look at the upside of torrents, which is that new artists, musicians and film-makers are able to compete with the record industries in the ability to distribute their material around the world at little to no cost. They may be very little money made in this ‘upside’, but lets face it, there is very little money in the art of music making these days; live performances are where most of the artists make their money.
Maybe bands like Radiohead have the right idea - people care about the music and if the artists stand their ground (instead of rich men in suits) maybe the message will get through.
The Nation Party in New Zealand, were inches away from passing a bill recently which gave the ISP the power to not only pass on IP addresses of illegal downloaders to RIANZ, but also to shut down the downloaders internet access. This was to be the same way for both home users, businesses and the like. Thankfully this bill was not put through due to intense citizen and corporate distaste to the idea, a simple mistake could have destroyed a web-based business over night.
Maybe all the need to do is make a few more videos like the 1992 anti-piracy video below, I’m certain this would deter people from doing the wrong thing.
