Will the P2P crackdown send users underground?
WaPo writer Brian Krebs asks and answers.
I'm wondering whether it will cause them to go back to the pre-Napster era of making mix tapes or copying whole albums for friends.
Also, are the record companies victimizing file sharers who use P2P services because they are less adept technologically? Do they really think it's the individual using Kazaa that is costing them money? Or is it someone who has the ability to create entire high quality albums?
This whole absurdity has me considering making every album in my collection available on Kazaa.
Update: Professor Felten shares his thoughts
Update: Blubster is a new P2P software which operates without a central server on a system, allowing "a user's identity to remain private, which makes all the file-sharing process completely anonymous." The software was launched today. [CBSnews.com via Digmi.net]
I'm wondering whether it will cause them to go back to the pre-Napster era of making mix tapes or copying whole albums for friends.
Also, are the record companies victimizing file sharers who use P2P services because they are less adept technologically? Do they really think it's the individual using Kazaa that is costing them money? Or is it someone who has the ability to create entire high quality albums?
This whole absurdity has me considering making every album in my collection available on Kazaa.
Update: Professor Felten shares his thoughts
The RIAA's new crackdown, if it works, will most likely cause yet another step in the evolution of P2P systems. P2P systems that provide only weak anonymity protection for their users will fade away, replaced by a new generation of P2P technology that resists the RIAA's new tactics.Update: Kazaa noticed a slight downturn during several hours after the announcement, however Grokster noticed that the usage went up with 10% for a little while after the announcement. However on friday everything seemed normal again, with trading the MP3's as usual. [Curlio.com and NY Post via Google]
The RIAA's new tactic is to join a P2P network semi-anonymously, and then to pierce the anonymity of people who are offering files. There are two countermeasures that can frustrate this tactic ... [t]he second countermeasure is share files only among small friends-and-family groups, making it difficult for investigators to join the group. If every P2P user is a member of a few of these overlapping small groups, then files can still diffuse from place to face fairly quickly.
All of this must look pretty unfair from the RIAA's point of view. No matter how strong the RIAA's legal and ethical arguments against file sharing are, people will continue to share files as long as they view it as a basically benign activity. It seems to me that only a change in public attitudes, or a change in the basic legal structure of copyright, can solve the file sharing problem.
Update: Blubster is a new P2P software which operates without a central server on a system, allowing "a user's identity to remain private, which makes all the file-sharing process completely anonymous." The software was launched today. [CBSnews.com via Digmi.net]
