Are you anti-RIAA deep inside?

by Hermilia C. Banayat-Nas

(8th entry)

Me, not.

News flash for free (music) loaders: the anti-RIAA site (p2pnet.net) has closed because of financial problems. It seems that no one is vocal enough to support the movement against the world's biggest holders of rights over records. RIAA is the PARI (Philippine Association of the Record Industry) of the United States. The Recording Industry Association of America's members include Vivendi Universal, Sony BMG and Warner Music.

p2pnet.net was a website featuring blogs and articles against the protection of copyrights over music. It has sang its advocacy through many lawsuits (although the courts did not like what they heard and ultimately decided in favor of RIAA) and popularized file sharing of copyrighted music without permission from the copyright owners.

The funny thing with the closure of p2pnet.net is that it does nothing to protection of copyrights. While there is no one corporation out there that is willing to be identified as anti-RIAA, the supporters of free music downloads are gaining strength. While more people are aware of the existence of copyrights, there is really no massive and positive action to show that more people would do something to show their respect to copyright holders.

In other words, copyright holders are still behind. They have not adopted a feasible plan to address the issue of costs. Until now, copyrighted material are expensive. It is just so tempting to download free without the owner's permission against paying at least US$5 for a short sound clip. People still think that the benefits that one can derive from undermining private rights over music outweighs the costs of respecting copyright.

Yes, deep inside people would want to respect copyrights. However, the inability of organizations like the RIAA to address the issue of cost prohibit people from putting their desires to concrete actions.

See related story at http://www.wired.com/threatlevel/2010/02/riaa-slam-site/