Commentary
Between the recent lawsuits filed against Mp3 sharers and the (almost unreported) bill floating around Congress, threatening to make peer-to-peer network file trading illegal, these past few months have been less than encouraging for us fans of programs such as Kazaa.
At the forefront of the heated peer-to-peer debate is the issue of Internet piracy. This is obviously something that is important. But I believe it has been blown out of proportion by the industries which claim to have massive losses stemming directly as a result. In this case, I am referring to the music industry (RIAA), which is well known for winning the court battle against the then popular Mp3 peer-to-peer network Napster. In fact, as many of you know, Napster was created here at Northeastern by former student Shawn Fanning. The problem with the RIAA’s push for more regulation against peer-to-peer networks (such as Kazaa) is that these communities are not the “hacker safe-havens” they claim them to be. If that were true, then we are to believe that roughly 60 million Americans use these programs for the purposes of waging varying degrees of electronic warfare. The truth, however, is that Napster, the first peer-to-peer network, was an American technological revolution, and one that the entire world had embraced. Millions of its users were international. In fact, Kazaa, one of the few surviving (but not for long if these groups win favorable verdicts) peer-to-peer networks, was founded outside the United States. This was partly due to crazy U.S. laws that the creators believed might force them to shut down (a reality they still face). These programs have spawned a new technological frontier that is changing interaction around the world. However, if organizations like the RIAA continue to win absurd lawsuits against legitimate file sharers, the United States will be the country left behind.
At the core of any bill that would regulate these networks lie two incorrect beliefs. The first is that these enormous online communities were created for the express purpose of trafficking illegal software. The second is the attempt by organizations (like the RIAA) to convince the legislators that their industry is in decline specifically because of these peer-to-peer networks. Hollywood studios (represented by the Motion Picture Association of America, MPAA) have also jumped on the bandwagon recently, citing that their profits may be down this year. The problem is that both organizations are using distorted information for their statistics. If you look beyond the RIAA’s published accounts, you will see an industry that has manipulated the public for decades. Finally losing a class action lawsuit a few years ago for “price gouging” its CDs, they were required – by law – to partially reimburse everyone who had purchased a CD within the past decade. The RIAA loves to throw around their statistic that CD sales have dropped 15 percent since 2000, attempting to prove Mp3 trading, like that done on Kazaa, is to blame. Apparently they didn’t realize that since 2000, the entire country has been in a recession, which means less spending – especially on non-essential items like CDs. The same is true for the MPAA whose profits have actually gone up every year but one in the past decade, and seems to be the one truly recession-proof industry in the U.S.
So, why then are these industries starting a full-fledged attack upon these online networks? Because it is a medium they simply do not understand and thus feel threatened by. Their track record for understanding new technologies has been consistent. When the technology was created to copy audiotapes, the RIAA took the manufacturers to court – only to lose in a decision that basically stated that “copies for personal use” are legal. Another similar case involved Sony who was sued by the entertainment industry for its then new “VCR” technology. The movie industry felt that if these products were to hit the mass market, all chance of compensation for their works would be lost. As we all know, exactly the opposite happened. In fact, VCR tapes and rentals became the most profitable distribution method the movie industry has ever seen.
In reference to the proposed Authors, Consumer and Computer Owners Protection and Security Act, (ACCOPS) these industries would like to make users who share copyrighted files a felony, with a sentence of up to five years in prison. Yet there is no way to track which users legitimately own copies of these works being distributed. The bottom line, however, is that these online networks are truly the wave of the future.
They allow opinions, essays, shareware games, applications and independent artists and directors (among many others) the ability to reach a massive and truly worldwide audience. To close them down or attempt to restrict access impacts everyone’s freedoms.
-Sean Riley is a junior business major.
