File Sharing.. the fight continues..

I'm sure everyone has heard about the case where the RIAA sued four college students for setting up file sharing networks and finally settled for around $15,000 from each of them. I'm sure they meant it to be an example for other students so that it would deter them from downloading files or setting up similar networks. Very honorable intentions indeed, but I'm not sure how many students are really deterred by such things. The people who downloaded files from KaZaA are still doing so, and I see no reason for them to stop unless all p2p networks go poof! into thin air. I'm not saying that it's ethically correct to share or download files, but if the industry thinks that they can stop the problem by making students look like criminals, they and their lawyers need to so some rethinking.

Joe Nievelt, one of the four students who were sued setup an index of files that were available on computers in the school network. In this Wired news article, his lawyer compares the action to Google since all they did was to put up links to files. The RIAA spokesperson disagreed saying that "When you search on Google, you get links to Web pages. These mini-Napster networks do not create indexes of links to websites; what they create are indexes of media files. Then with a single click of your mouse, the file is immediately downloaded to your hard drive. This is just like Napster,". Oh, is that so? This spokesperson obviously has not seen too much of the Net to know what he's talking about. Google does not just index webpages and create links to them. It indexes EVERYTHING it can find on the Net.If you have a server and you do not set up your server to hide the directory listing, u can bet your sweet behind that you will find an index of all the files on Google, much like the index Joe Nievelt is talking about. I regularly use Google to find files that I need especially when some program of mine crashes because of some corrupt files. Just try this query on google to see the snapshot of someone's folder. It's not just an index, you can click on the link to download the file exactly the way the RIAA spokesperson accuses Nievelt's index of doing. Will the industry sue Google for creating file indexes? After all, as you can see if you click the link I've provided, it's not just a link to someone's folder, it's a copy of the index stored on Google's computers, much like Napster was accused of doing sometime ago.

File sharing is definitely a problem, but it should be solved in a more sensible way. For one, the industry should recognize that the Internet is built for file delivery. If they do not provide media legitimately, there will be others who will do it. For ages, the industry said that people would not pay for legal file downloads. Apple trashed that myth in a week when they got a million song downloads for the not-so-cheap price of $0.99. Once upon a time, the industry went to court saying that VCRs should be banned since they allowed people to make bootleg copies of television shows and movies. Can you imagine what would have happened if we didn't have some sane judges to throw out their case back then? In much the same naive way, they want to shut down all p2p networks while ignoring that it is an amazing technology with zillions of legitimate uses. Yeah sure, you can use them to share copyrighted stuff, but you can also use a car to run down a person in the middle of a street - the possibility of illegitimate use is no reason to get rid of technology which can be put to good use in so many other situations. People will pay for legitimate stuff, as long as they are not restricted by DRM rules which say that you can play the file on your computer, but only if you keep paying a monthly fee and promise to kiss the industry's sweet butt every morning of your life. Whatever many companies might have to say on this matter, I believe there is only one simple rule of buying and selling : If I pay for something, I should own it. If I want it, it should be for sale else I'll take it from someone who's willing to give it for free to me. If that sounds unethical, think again - we all act by those rules.