RIAA to abandon Mass Lawsuits

We have all read the stories. A young child, an old man, or even a deceased person being sued by the RIAA for thousands of dollars per song. To begin, I would like to assure you that I am in no way endorsing stealing material but these lawsuits are simply ridiculous. I mean, a thousand dollars per song is just crazy. Plus, when you look at the tactics of the RIAA, in same cases they hosted the illegal files and baited pirates into downloading the content. Again, I am not saying stealing is right but am simply questioning the methods used by the RIAA.

When it comes down to crunch time however these lawsuits have done nothing to help the cause. Content is being downloaded in larger numbers then ever before. Plus, the costs for the RIAA have been astronomical. But are there any better options?

Well, after years of lawsuits the recording industry has announced they will drop their current methods as they search for better ways to combat this theft. To start, the RIAA will begin working with ISP to crack down on illegal file sharing. When the RIAA finds someone is stealing files they will alert the ISP who will in turn discipline the customer. Depending on the ISP, the costumer will be forwarded the information. If the file sharing continues, the costumer risks slower service and even cancellation of service all together.

But can this work? In a time with a poor economy and people cutting back will service providers risk losing large chunks of their businesses? I don’t think they will. When you consider how many people and therefore how much money these ISP’s would loose it is almost comical to consider that these companies will enforce these laws. Of course there will be a moral impact on their decisions but from a business prospective there is too much money to loose.

Furthermore, what actually is stooping you from downloading? I mean if an ISP terminates your service you can just move to another provider. From their you can continue your habits only to repeat the process if you are caught again.

What does this mean for us everyday folks? Well, to combat this file-sharing we could see an increase in metered plans and more strict bandwidth limits. Overall though, these precautions are just crippling American technology advancements. When you consider the speeds at which other countries enjoy all these restrictions to stop illegal downloading is just hurting American advancement. Hopefully this realization and the poor economy will stop ISP’s from following in the footsteps of the RIAA.

[Via. WSJ]