RIAA discovers Internet2 | The Register

RIAA discovers Internet2 and decides to get its clogs*.

The Register is reporting that the RIAA is threatening to sue some 400 students with access to I2 for copyright infringement. The RIAA was shocked to see that a full DVD could be swapped in 30 seconds straight and have decided to scale up their work provision scheme for counsel(s).

I wonder whether the good people at the RIAA have really bothered to think things through - how many proceedings can they commence? And how long before the public decides that it is time for a backlash.

On the one hand you can argue that a paradigm shift is taking place: users are starting to disregard artists' intellectual property rights and are ripping and downloading ever more music. Yet I do not feel that this is truly a paradigm shift: I do not believe that the 'average individual' has ever, in his/her gut, felt that intangible (intellectual) property is real property. As mere humans we reason that theft has to do with denying someone else acces (property) to a scarce good. If I steal a compact disc, I have denied the rightful owner his rights. If I download a song, I have not diminished the pool of available 'goods'. The perverse thing is that I have increased the number of goods available since a copy now exists on my storage. This is one perverse aspect of the current debate: stealing does not reduce the availability of the stolen good, rather it increases it.

The other perversity in the debate is that the current online business models are making theft ever more attractive. With ("legal") mp3 downloads (ie. non-infringing digital distribution) costing 99 cents (euro or dollar, your pick) mp3's could end up costing the user more than album purchases which at going rates are too expensive anyway. This all at a time that the average personal entertainment budget is under constant siege. In the Netherlands we see that the cost of going out has gone up while gaming and wireless communication (mobile phones, SMS, MMS, ringtones etc. are also starting to grab an ever larger share of the individual wallet.

The old phrase was: pop will eat itself. Right now it's got a good chance of actually doing that.