The RIAA has finally taken the final step in the beginning stages of what will be one very long and never ending battle that has been raging for years: they’ve officially begun the process of suing the first 261 alleged criminals who have stood out predominantly in the digital black market called Kazaa.
Slashdot has been following this very closely and has been complaining about it nonstop. Why? Because they simply don’t get it. Back when the internet was relatively new the digital black market mainly consisted of warez sites; sites which specialize in distributing illegal media over the internet. Most allowed you to download ROMs of popular video games. Others gave you access to popular computer games. Since the advent of the CD-Rom and Nintendo 64, it’s become increasingly difficult for small fry crooks to peddle their warez on-line due to hosting limitations imposed by free hosts like GeoCities, Yahoo, and Angelfire. Products have simply become too large to fit in the allowed space. Warez sites were quickly reduced to link sites that merely (in most cases pretended) to tell you were the warez could be downloaded from. This was perfectly legal and didn’t take up much hosting space. Tied in with ads, most warez sites are simply out to make money from ad revenue while having no real intent of getting you to what you’re actually looking for.
With the advent of easily accessible broadband connections it has become possible for people to run warez sites out of their home. In order to tap into those it is necessary to have personal connections in order to by pass the small time weasels running link sites that only link to more and more ads. By having a small hand picked club such sites can stay below the radar of law enforcement longer. Then Kazaa showed up. No technical expertise is needed for anyone to host warez and other illegal digital media. It’s also more difficult (at least not readily apparent) to trace the people hosting the files. What is done to trace Kazaa users is to initiate a download of an illegal file and then some form of netstat (Windows command) is used to see what IP is being connected to. Evidence is collected and the legal process ensues. Those who host warez on free or paid sites are easier to trace because personal information is generally needed to acquire an account. Even if the owner can’t be traced, a simple e-mail to the hosting company will get the site removed. If the hosting company refuses they can be held legally responsible. Finding the IP and thereby the owner of a server hosting warez is even easier.
I’m not sure what all the confusion on Slashdot is. Nintendo, Sony, Sega, etc have been fighting the digital black market for years and years. Web-sites hosting warez are shut down on a daily basis. Those who run them are fined and or jailed if caught. I don’t know why Slashdot thinks that Kazaa users are somehow exempt from being prosecuted for participating in the black market just as those who post the files on web-sites are prosecuted. Apparently since the illegal files are being served up on a port other than 80 (standard HTTP port) or 21 (standard FTP port) they’re exempt from being rightfully called criminals and hit with heavy fines and or jail time.
Oh wait. I remember. On Kazaa it’s called “sharing.” And that supposedly makes it all better. After all, we’ve been “sharing” our CDs and movies and whatnot with friends since forever. But wait! That’s also illegal. What the Slashdrones are conveniently ignoring is that “sharing” is also illegal. It’s just that law enforcement and those who own the copyrights can’t feasibly do anything about it (heck, they can’t even know about it without breaking constitutional laws) and besides, it’s free advertising. It’s perfectly harmless. The reason companies have always attacked the digital black market is because it’s not harmless. It hurts the bottom line in a very real way when you “share” your music, movies, games etc with a million of your closest “friends.”
I’m also not sure what the confusion is with the general public. Some girl from New York was charged with illegal trading and whined that it was “illegal search and seizure” that allowed the RIAA to press charges against her. The RIAA argued that they’re a private entity and not a government entity so that amendment doesn’t even apply in the first place; which is true. But let’s step back for a second and think. Some dumb girl is trading illegal files in a public area and the owner of those files stops by to check out her selection which has been publicly posted for anyone to see. Then they owner presses charges. That’s about as illegal as an officer looking through a box of illegal DVDs sitting out on a street corner being sold and promptly arresting the seller. Hint: it’s not illegal at all. You don’t need a warrant to search something that’s completely out in the open for looking through. “Illegal search and seizure” is a law to prevent government authorities from looking through your belongings without your permission. But by posting your belongings in a public space granting anyone the ability to look through them, there’s no issue. When I log onto Kazaa there’s no agreement I have to click through that says if I’m a government authority figure, I can’t log on and search. Warez sites have tried that one for years. There’s a long winded agreement that basically says “by entering this site you agree not to take legal action of any sort against the owner.” Then you go in and they’re just another link site because they know such an agreement would never hold up in court so they don’t host anything they could be prosecuted for.
The digital black market, of which Kazaa is being used to propagate, has only initiated a fight against companies which “dare” to shut down the criminals who peddle their warez through it because Kazaa has made the digital black market socially acceptable and easy to access. Now, after the fact, people are attempting to rewrite history to justify their illegal actions. Companies have been fighting the black market that has existed on the streets of major and minor cities for centuries all over the world. The digital black market is now taking the place of road side stores and companies are rightfully putting their foot down on it as well. Just as the black market has and always will exist, there is no end in sight for the fight against the digital black market. All the RIAA and other companies who are victims of these thieves can do is to educate the public that participating in the black market in any form is illegal and that they will take action against those they can.
By starting the campaign with 261 major players in the digital black market who distribute music illegally, the RIAA is sending a strong message that they will not tolerate this criminal activity. And if they’re lucky, John Q Public will stop believing the propaganda and lies that they’re “sharing.” It’s stealing. Slashdrones will be quick to claim its “copyright infringement” and not “stealing” simply because they’re willfully ignorant of the law and want to put a more pleasant spin on what they’re doing. The fact is, copyright infringement is a form a stealing; one that has been historically proven to result in many arrests and countless fines against the individuals who participate.
It’s all very simple. If you’re peddling thousands of MP3’s or numerous movies on Kazaa, try not to act too shocked when the cops haul you off. They’ve had plenty of practice with this sort of thing. Slashdot may be confused by the new medium by which the digital black market has spread but the law isn’t.
9-8-2003