I just realised something. All those who are opposed to the RIAA's crackdown on file sharing (in general, not its specific methodology) are working under one very mistaken assumption. So let me clear this up right now.
YOU DO NOT HAVE A RIGHT TO MUSIC
It's true. If the record companies are charging you too much for a CD, then that's a shame. I'm sorry for you. But they own the rights to the music, and may charge you what they like for it. If they choose not to sell the music at all, that also is their perogative. You have two options: pony up your $20 and buy the CD, or make do with listening to the music on the radio. If you can't afford $20 for a CD,
that does not give you the right to illegally copy someone else's.
Perhaps there's something fundamental I'm missing here, but I can't see where anyone has a leg to stand on against the RIAA. The thing is, like
this article said, sharing copyrighted files is not legal. Jaywalking is illegal, and you can get fined for it. I have. It sucked, but I couldn't complain, because I was knowingly breaking the law and I got caught.
Artists hold a copyright on the music they produce. When they sign a record contract, they hand those rights over to the record company, who may do with them what they wish. If the artist gets screwed in the deal, that's their problem; they should've read the contract better.
Now the record labels hold the rights to that music. Like it or not, when you copy music that you have no legal right to, you are violating the rights of the company, and that is illegal. If you get caught, I have no sympathy for you. If you are a 12 year old girl, or a retiree, you are still subject to the law. If a 12 year old girl ran up and stabbed you, would you say 'ah, I'd have to be a prick to sue her for that'? I doubt it. If the 12 year old girl didn't understand that she was breaking the law, her mother should have explained that to her. Likewise, if it was the retiree's kids or grandkids who downloaded the music, he should have been keeping a closer eye on what they were doing with his internet account.
The
only ground you have is that the RIAA's tactics may be unconstitutional. Go after them on that line, and you have my full support.
I say this, knowing that not many will agree with me, because I am soon to enter the workplace in computer science. If I write a nice piece of code, I expect to hold the rights to it. Even if it is open source, I still have some rights; for example, to have my name forever associated with that bit of code. If I sell that code to a corporate giant for a pittance, I expect to recieve my pittance, and I do not wish for you to use my code without in some way paying me for it. If it's only 0.1 cents a copy, it still adds up when a few hundred thousand of you are using it. IP laws, including copyrights, patents and open source licences are what make it worthwhile (financially) to do anything creative (including inventing stuff, writing code, making movies and recording music) in a capitalist society, and if we don't punish those who break the laws, it's going to become real, real hard to make any money at all in a thinking profession.