If You Can"t Beat "Em, Join "Em
The RIAA (Recording Industry Association of America) and MPAA (Motion Picture Association of America) have inundated the United States Congress with lobbying efforts aimed at getting exemptions from existing laws and having new laws created to allow them to squash P2P networking and punish those who swap and trade illegal copies of songs and movies.
Dating back from the attempt to add a blurb to the USA PATRIOT Act that quickly followed the 9/11 terrorist attacks which would allow them to hack into the system of any computer believed to be housing illegal files the RIAA and MPAA have lobbied congress both federal and in individual states.
Through their lobbying efforts and with the passing of the DMCA (Digital Milennium Copyright Act) they have managed to get preferential treatment that allows them to essentially subpoena the personal information of users from ISP's without having to actually get full court approval- a simple signature from a court clerk will do.
They have also managed to push laws in many states commonly referred to as state Super-DMCA laws which are intended to allow them to catch law-breakers, but the way they are worded also seem to make legal security measures such as firewalls, encryption and VPN's illegal.
Most recently Senator Hatch made statements to the effect that he would support a plan to allow the RIAA and MPAA to hack into the computers of alleged copyright violators and erase their hard drive or otherwise "destroy" their system.
Rather than sit back and take the onslaught of attacks from these lobbying organizations, the president of one of the more well known P2P networks, Grokster, has decided to start his own lobbying organization to forward the interests of the P2P networks and defend themselves against the accusations of the RIAA and MPAA.
It is sad that the lobbying efforts of the RIAA and MPAA have won them so many legislative victories. It would be nice if the elected officials would realize that the RIAA and MPAA battles are not a matter of national or even state importance and let them fight their own battles following existing laws like every other company. But, since elected officials listen more to lobbyists than to their own constituents hopefully this new P2P lobbying organization will be able to undo some of the damage.
For the record, I have an intense dislike for lobbying. I have this idealistic point of view that my elected representatives should "represent" me. Lobbying organizations get unfair preferential treatment and do not serve the greater good in my opinion.
I have a particular dislike for the RIAA and MPAA because their efforts at profiteering through legislation continue to cross the line into the realm of information security and result in laws that are mis-applied and abused to squash legitimate information security development and research.
That said, the P2P lobbying organization has a major uphill battle to fight to gain legitimacy. While I do not support the RIAA or MPAA lobbying Congress for their own laws and exemptions to laws, I can't dispute their right to enforce the copyrights they own. I am not in any way trying to support or defend the illegal use of P2P networks to swap and trade songs and movies that are protected by copyright.
The RIAA and MPAA continue to lament the decline in CD sales and try to pin the blame on P2P networks (while not mentioning that CD sales have further declined since the demise of Napster). Newer services like Apple's iTunes are beginning to lend legitimacy to the concept of downloading songs legally.
In the end though it seems that lobbying is about money. Money buys power and influence. Unfortunately for the P2P community the RIAA and MPAA have more financial backing than they do. We shall see whether they can effectively lobby to prove their legitimacy against the likes of the RIAA and MPAA.
Dating back from the attempt to add a blurb to the USA PATRIOT Act that quickly followed the 9/11 terrorist attacks which would allow them to hack into the system of any computer believed to be housing illegal files the RIAA and MPAA have lobbied congress both federal and in individual states.
Through their lobbying efforts and with the passing of the DMCA (Digital Milennium Copyright Act) they have managed to get preferential treatment that allows them to essentially subpoena the personal information of users from ISP's without having to actually get full court approval- a simple signature from a court clerk will do.
They have also managed to push laws in many states commonly referred to as state Super-DMCA laws which are intended to allow them to catch law-breakers, but the way they are worded also seem to make legal security measures such as firewalls, encryption and VPN's illegal.
Most recently Senator Hatch made statements to the effect that he would support a plan to allow the RIAA and MPAA to hack into the computers of alleged copyright violators and erase their hard drive or otherwise "destroy" their system.
Rather than sit back and take the onslaught of attacks from these lobbying organizations, the president of one of the more well known P2P networks, Grokster, has decided to start his own lobbying organization to forward the interests of the P2P networks and defend themselves against the accusations of the RIAA and MPAA.
It is sad that the lobbying efforts of the RIAA and MPAA have won them so many legislative victories. It would be nice if the elected officials would realize that the RIAA and MPAA battles are not a matter of national or even state importance and let them fight their own battles following existing laws like every other company. But, since elected officials listen more to lobbyists than to their own constituents hopefully this new P2P lobbying organization will be able to undo some of the damage.
For the record, I have an intense dislike for lobbying. I have this idealistic point of view that my elected representatives should "represent" me. Lobbying organizations get unfair preferential treatment and do not serve the greater good in my opinion.
I have a particular dislike for the RIAA and MPAA because their efforts at profiteering through legislation continue to cross the line into the realm of information security and result in laws that are mis-applied and abused to squash legitimate information security development and research.
That said, the P2P lobbying organization has a major uphill battle to fight to gain legitimacy. While I do not support the RIAA or MPAA lobbying Congress for their own laws and exemptions to laws, I can't dispute their right to enforce the copyrights they own. I am not in any way trying to support or defend the illegal use of P2P networks to swap and trade songs and movies that are protected by copyright.
The RIAA and MPAA continue to lament the decline in CD sales and try to pin the blame on P2P networks (while not mentioning that CD sales have further declined since the demise of Napster). Newer services like Apple's iTunes are beginning to lend legitimacy to the concept of downloading songs legally.
In the end though it seems that lobbying is about money. Money buys power and influence. Unfortunately for the P2P community the RIAA and MPAA have more financial backing than they do. We shall see whether they can effectively lobby to prove their legitimacy against the likes of the RIAA and MPAA.
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