Bad RIAA

Speaking of Karma below, it is funny how things change. And how damn much they stay the same in the music industry.  For a moment we will assume that politics has some small possibility for change.

Three recent court decisions show us something hopeful.  Something that might shift the balance of power over the fight on digital downloading.   We are seeing, perhaps for the first time, a real increased scrutiny over one of the RIAA's -- Recording Industry Association of America (or as we know it, the only industry to sue its fans with malice) -- main legal arguments in prosecuting alleged music pirates on college and university campuses around this so-called country of freedom.  And this could actually be a very good development in the sad state of affairs where the RIAA is attacking the fans of digital music.

In those file-sharing suits, judges have wondered aloud and in their written judgements whether the RIAA must prove that music was actually copied and downloaded, not just that defendants had made the music files on their computers “available” to others. This “making available” argument was also called into question last year in the first successful suit against an alleged file sharer, Jammie Thomas.

The three recent court opinions all came to slightly different conclusions about whether making a file available constitutes copyright infringement, so the issue remains unsettled.  But we have an opening in which to call into question the assumptions (and the methods) utilized by the RIAA.

If you are interested in seeing this process.  I have links to all of the rulings: Atlantic Recording Corp., et al. v. Christopher David Brennan, Elektra Entertainment Group, Inc., et al. v. Denise Barker, and London-Sire Records, Inc., et al. v. Does.

We will see if this is the beginning of a serious reconsideration of these lawsuits, or just a road bump for an industry that has seriously lost its way.