File swapping vs. Hollywood

Found on CNet on Tuesday, 25 January 2005
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Backed by a diverse coalition of influential groups, including the Bush administration's top lawyer and the Christian Coalition, the Recording Industry Association of America and the Motion Picture Association of America on Monday asked the court to overturn previous rulings that have let file-swapping software companies such as Grokster operate with only minimal legal restrictions.

"The Sgt. Schultz defense for Grokster doesn't work," RIAA Chief Executive Mitch Bainwol said at a press conference Tuesday, alluding to the bumbling camp guard from the "Hogan's Heroes" sitcom. "'See nothing, hear nothing,' doesn't apply."

At the case's heart is the 20-year-old Supreme Court ruling that made Sony Betamax videocassette recorders legal to sell. That ruling said technology that could be used for illegal purposes could still be legal to sell without liability, as long as it had substantial commercial noninfringing uses.

Those groups, which included the Christian Coalition, the Concerned Women for America, Morality in Media and others, wrote that the lower-court decisions relieving file-swapping companies of legal liability could lead to a "proliferation of anonymous, decentralized, unfiltered and untraceable peer-to-peer networks that facilitate crimes against children and that frustrate law enforcement efforts to detect and investigate these crimes."

I couldn't help but laugh when I read the list of supporting groups: the axis of the puritans. Anyway... First of all, such a ruling would cripple innovation. Think of photocopiers and VCRs, for example. Plus, I doubt it would stop P2P; rather, more anonymous and decentralized systems will be developed.