On P2P File Sharing

[T. Wedd]

By INQUIRER staff: Tuesday 29 July 2003, 10:31

READER MICHAELA STEPHENS says that if the Electronic Frontier Foundation (EFF) is right and that 60 million US folk are file sharing, it's going to take the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA) a mighty long time to get round to them all.
She said: "I pulled out my calculator to see just how long it would take the RIAA to sue all 60 million P2P music file traders at a rate of 75 a day. 60,000,000/75 = 800,000 days to subpoena each person or 800,000 days/365 days in a year = 2191.78 years to subpoena each person".

Michaela points out that it's unrealistic to suppose that the RIAA will have any money left in 2191 years, and she even wonders whether the trade association will exist then.

Plus, she points out, given the rate of tech advancement, it's likely that we'll have moved on to many different types of music media in even a hundred years.

She continues: " So let us consider more realistic numbers. The RIAA plans to sue thousands of file sharers. Working in increments of 5000: 5,000 people/75 subpoenas a day = 66 days How are they going to keep track of all these lawsuits going on? 10,000 people/75 subpoenas a day = 133 days or about 2/3 of a year.

"Keep in mind suing 10,000 people is still only going to impact only one six thousandth (1/6000) of the file traders out there. And who is getting rich off of this? The lawyers. Betcha not a single musician will see a cent of this money.

"15,000 people/75 subpoenas a day = 200 days (1 out of every 4000 affected) 20,000 people/75 subpoenas a day = 266.6 days (1 out of every 3000 affected)

"When might this actually start affecting us? When 1 out of every 10 is affected? That would mean they'd have to sue six million people. That would take,...(6,000,000/75 = 80,000)... 80,000 days.. or 219 years! They'd have to sue our great grand children!" µ

[Kakkaraun]

Heh...I hadn't thought of it that way. Of course, there's still a chance that /I'll/ be one of those few...I guess I'm kind of paranoid that way. Hey, Paranoid...I'm gonna go download that .

[Stone]

They say that the illegal file sharing will destroy the music industry. But they also said the same thing when the Recordable Cassette was invented...

[D°©tª·D [DD]]

P2P filesharing is a big hit, worldwide. How are the RIAA going to fight piracy in, say, Finland? Or Australia?

Maybe the whole thing is simply a method of finance for the RIAA... sue the Americans for some stupid reason, like listening to music.

[Stone]

I read in the newspaper he other day that they are suing a 12 year old girl because she downloaded nursery rhymes... They showed pictures of her and her parents and had an interview with her mother and nanny, so I do believe that it is true. But for fucks sake, she is only 12 and they were nursery rhymes!

[ZBoxDemon]

Good lord . The RIAA is a bunch of fucking dickheads. What are you going to take from a 12 year old girl? Her dolls? Jesus Christ the RIAA needs to get disbanded or something. Better yet, make music more affordable, or give more money to the artists.

[Kakkaraun]

Yep, the ages range from 12 to somewhere in the fifties, the social and economic statuses dot the chart, and both sexes are well-represented (or are they?).

There was an interesting article in Rolling Stone.

[Xaroc]

Yeah my Rolling Stone Kak! But I digress. My take on it is if you like music enough to buy or “steal” it then the artist is getting recognition and if he/she is popular enough the artist gets more money by making personal appearances and doing commercials and so forth. More money going to him directly then the other middlemen who don’t fucking deserve it.

[Kakkaraun]

Yeah, an artist gets--at most--15 cents a pop for CDs. They make all the money on tour. Greedy bastards, those that support the RIAA. Let's go kill Lars Ulrich with our hard drives. No, literally, if you filed it down on the edge you could fuck someone UP.