Looks like the RIAA is dropping the policy of suing individuals who share music online in favor of one that cuts off their internet access after repeat violations. Before you say, “That’s fair,” consider the importance of Internet access today. Consider also that, unlike Cory Doctorow has suggested before, the reverse (cutting off the Internet access of companies who make repeated spurious copyright claims) would be met with outrage from the same people who support such a system. Finally, consider that this creates a situation where the RIAA is effectively allowed to pursue vigilante justice. So, what we’re really saying is that, when big business deems it acceptable, we can strip citizens of basic rights (i.e. the right to free speech in a communication channel that has permeated every aspect of our lives) without the use of our legal system. Read more here.
Or perhaps instead of trying to destroy everything that doesn’t fit the RIAA’s perception of reality (file sharing, the internet, our basic rights, etc.), they could just change the way they approach the business of making money off of music. I hate to invoke Orwell, but the similarity is too obvious to resist.
Brian Toder of Chestnut & Cambronne is the lone voice of reason within the article, which almost makes it sound like the RIAA is doing everyone a favor, when he says this: “People like to share music. The Internet makes it so easy. They have to do something to change this business model of theirs.”