RIAA to Prosecute End Users; P2P Gets you 1-5 Years in Club Fed

[dubstylee]

The article that inspired this forum:
http://www.zeropaid.com/news/articles/auto/08132002f.php

We need to do something. There are, at any given time, about 1.8 million people on KaZaA. Bundle all the P2P programs together, that number becomes more like 4 million. 4 million using P2P at any given time. So let's extrapolate that number into the number of people that have used P2P. Mind-boggling, those potential numbers are. And if focused in some sort of concerted political effort, we could be quite formidable even against giants like the RIAA and MPAA. No congressman wants to go up against 10 million of his constituents, no matter how many Rolexes Hilary gives his son. Who's down to fight?

[Paktu]

Voters are generally reactionary. Because government is so slow to move, very little direct action against p2p networks and users has been taken. If the RIAA actually pressed charges individual p2p users, there would be a significant backlash.

[Sephiroth]

Public Opinion is a powerful thing and if the public can get organized against the trade groups and their restrictive behavior and it doesnt matter how hard the trade groups lobby the government will have to listen to the people

Other orgainzations like the ALCU, EFF is fine and all but they do other things i think there might need to be a organization like that which people can get organized. What would need to be done would be a web page with things on how people can make sure that they are herd and full of resources like how to contact your representatives, goals and etc. Also a newsletter to keep people who wish up to date.. Also take donations to help fund it, and etc.. It could even be a added section here..

Then hopefully with coorporation and support of the programs and the developers and etc the word of this can get out and a sizeable amount of people will hopefully join the cause.. Then its just getting the message out to the general public and informing them to what the tradegroups like the RIAA and the companies that make up the trade groups want to do and etc and get them involved as well..

[PatientSaint]

Of Course my feeligns are yes i am down to fight this inexcuseable abuse of powers. The problems is those numbers are skewed one must tkae into consideration out of US residents, minors and non registered voters. I am a consumer advocate myself and the RIAA and MPAA have been taking advantage of consumers and artists for decades. I wonder how they feel about being helplesss now. BAck to my point anyway. If you've read through some of the forums here msot of the people i'd honestly say don't care about the cause of P2P. Most just want their free music fast and easy as possible. P2P is not limited to just music appilcations. It has a great potential for scientific possibilities as well as well as building interactive communities ofthe future i belive. If the masses of the US don't care about a point it's not going to change even if they see the hiporacy of it and thier freedoms slowly ebbed away.I'll always say i'l ltake liberty over safety everyday of the year. what is the point of being safe if you can't enjoy an freedom? Same for all these "anti -terrorist bill" flying through congress. People should wake up to the reality of things. Knowledge is the key get peopel educated and to think for themselves.....the world would be a much better place then.

[notbob]

what about all of the non us residents on (for example) kazaa? is the riaa going to pay for airfare to bring them all here? will their home countries even allow extradition? with as much as politicians know about the internet, we have absolutely nothing to worry about

[Sephiroth]

Originally posted by notbob
what about all of the non us residents on (for example) kazaa? is the riaa going to pay for airfare to bring them all here? will their home countries even allow extradition? with as much as politicians know about the internet, we have absolutely nothing to worry about

Just because its in the US now does not mean that the same thing cant happen in other countries.. Which if its successful in the US then chances are pretty good it will work in at least some other countries plus the majority of p2p users is from the US. So you should be worried becuase it will affect you in the future if its successfull..

[Caitlyn Marble]

Originally posted by PatientSaint
If you've read through some of the forums here msot of the people i'd honestly say don't care about the cause of P2P. Most just want their free music fast and easy as possible. P2P is not limited to just music appilcations. It has a great potential for scientific possibilities as well as well as building interactive communities ofthe future i belive. If the masses of the US don't care about a point it's not going to change even if they see the hiporacy of it and thier freedoms slowly ebbed away.

They'll see the bullshit behind it when the guy at the carpool gets busted with a fine, when thier kid gets sent to juvie, when thier best friend gets evicted because he had to pay a fine instead of rent, and when your lovley spouse gets sent to jail for two years. and so on. The ignorant users will not care now, but ultimatley they'll be the right in this with the knowledgable ones when it all starts flying and they'll learn soon enough. There are enough people in this so that most people will be affected. If people start gettting prosecuted, it will be final nail in the coffin. People aren't going to take this shit.

[Foreverboard]

Originally posted by Sephiroth


Just because its in the US now does not mean that the same thing cant happen in other countries.. Which if its successful in the US then chances are pretty good it will work in at least some other countries plus the majority of p2p users is from the US. So you should be worried becuase it will affect you in the future if its successfull..

Of course the future being 1-3 years down the road. the RIAA can run though all the scare tactics (and thats what they are) they want but without another way to combat their P2P problem, and we all know pay-per-download is'nt going to work, they are stuck. This wont be one of those, "hey if we prosicute a few people everyone will stop or run scared" type of things. People want free stuff and they will do whatever to get it. If the RIAA starts to arrest P2P downloaders, others will find a way to block what they use to find them. P2P has a large start on the RIAA and it will take them awile to catch up. It the RIAA who should be running scared.

[Pazuzues]

Originally posted by Sephiroth


Just because its in the US now does not mean that the same thing cant happen in other countries.. Which if its successful in the US then chances are pretty good it will work in at least some other countries plus the majority of p2p users is from the US. So you should be worried becuase it will affect you in the future if its successfull..

Also take in consideration of the current headset created by our president Mr. Wacko Bush. We are going to go after terrorists and those who harbor terrorist. I heard that Germany is pulling alot or all of its support with Bush's desert crusade. Who is to stop a mad man from saying that Germany is now harboring terrorists? While all the flag wavers here will gleefully cheer the bombing of Berlin. This is why whats going on here has some serious reprocautions to you folks in other countries.
Our big monster government broke its leash and is on the rampage. Alot of innocent people are getting hurt now. The victim list is just going to be exponential.

[Pazuzues]

Originally posted by Foreverboard


Of course the future being 1-3 years down the road. the RIAA can run though all the scare tactics (and thats what they are) they want but without another way to combat their P2P problem, and we all know pay-per-download is'nt going to work, they are stuck. This wont be one of those, "hey if we prosicute a few people everyone will stop or run scared" type of things. People want free stuff and they will do whatever to get it. If the RIAA starts to arrest P2P downloaders, others will find a way to block what they use to find them. P2P has a large start on the RIAA and it will take them awile to catch up. It the RIAA who should be running scared.

Oh dude I hear you. Civil disobedience is gonna be the major factor on this matter with the RIAA and the MPAA. But the problem is all these bills being suggested and passed which completly disregards the constitution. Not that that is a new thing mind you. But the pace the government is putting the death grip on us all is frightening.
RIAA is the least of our worries directly, its what these guys suggest that makes me tremble.

[TipYourBartender]

Originally posted by PatientSaint
If you've read through some of the forums here msot of the people i'd honestly say don't care about the cause of P2P. Most just want their free music fast and easy as possible.

I have to agree with this. Anytime someone suggests some sort of low fee for ANYTHING -99 cent downloads, a flat fee for using P2P the way it is now(not like Musicnet/Pressplay), anything of the sort, one refrain emerges:

"Who cares? It's not FREE."

The large majority of P2Pers want all the music in the world to be available for NO COST, with programs that contain NO spyware/adware/anythingelseware. In short, they refuse to compromise in any way, shape, or form. And I'm going to say something that has to be said, even though no one wants to hear it: If we don't compromise in some way, we lose. We will forever come across not as the music lovers that we are, but as the theives the RIAA make us out to be. And no one - not the record labels, not the artists, not the media, not the government - will ever wholly side with the P2P community.

This doesn't mean we don't fight. The RIAA is, as we all know, a piece of shit not worth the contents of the toilet bowls in their offices. But we have to find a way to compensate the artists for their works, and we have to find a way to compensate the software makers for their work.

Time is running out, as the article shows. The P2P community has to decide once and for all, one or the other.

Are we music lovers, or are we theives?
:wings

[dr. damn]

I disagree completely. There is no need to compromise. When 10 million of people do something every day, they should NOT be going to jail for doing it. In fact, their actions should not be illegal, period.

[TipYourBartender]

Originally posted by dr. damn
I disagree completely. There is no need to compromise. When 10 million of people do something every day, they should NOT be going to jail for doing it. In fact, their actions should not be illegal, period.

Do you believe that regardless of whether something is legally right or wrong, that if enough people do it, that makes it right by default?

This theory echoes everything from the national 55 mph speed limit (since repealed) to Prohibition (also repealed). I don't disagree with you. What I am saying is that for the P2P community to use its powers the way dubstylee suggests we do, we have to show the world that we are people who love music but can't afford to get swindled by the RIAA. The image we project now is that of theiving bitches, and every time someone yells out "who cares about the artists", we exacerbate that further.:sw

[PatientSaint]

I don'tt hink anything i nthis world is free i'm sure if they could tax air they would. I am not going to lie i enjoy the free part of P2P music right now. But as well i think ARTISTS not record comapnies should be compensated. In the current business model the record companies impose the artist gets squek percentage of the CD PROFITS. This is why i don't understand some artist like metallica having their gripe with Napster. what they don't see anymore is they have established themselves in the market. how about upcoming acts whom have NO leverage to work with so usually they are signed to these largely unfair contracts. My otehr gripe is acts like MEtallica are know for their extensive tours and live shows which is honestly where a bulk of the money they make is made. My biggest problem is this....Artists are the ones out there living the lifestyle. They are the ones struggling to make ends meat touring endlessly trying to get thier names out. Why should some record exec who sitting in his office gettign a massage have more power over an artists music then the writer and song writers? An if u think legit sites like MusicNet and PRessplay are anymore fair. Wrong these sites STILL charge the artist phantom charges that don't exist in digital world : Packing,shipping, promos, etc. What Hacks me even more is how consumers got hold of the technology first whiel the RIAA was sleeping away making it's money. Now the large profits they got from ripping people off are drying up. They need to wake up to the reality of things. copyright is not a way to hold a business together. At the rate they are going the industry will likely implode upon itself. the way they are alienating consumers is really not smart and some idiot PR. As For compromising They should start it with us they haven't ever done anything lately that shows me they want my business calling me a thief a pirate and whatever else. We as Consumers should have alternatives and they weren't offering us any else. Is being a music fanatic so worng?

[caleb47113]

"Do you believe that regardless of whether something is legally right or wrong, that if enough people do it, that makes it right by default? "

I think that with a democratic government (or even a skewed form of democracy), if the majority of people do something, it isnt the wrong thing to do. Even if it is at the moment illegal, the premise of democracy is that the majority rules. I doubt the majority of americans use p2p, but I think enough people use it to lend some credibility to it. I mean honestly, does anyone really want to believe that millions of free americans are evil thieves? Well, some people dont mind believing that, but still, no one really wants to believe that millions of people would willingly do something that's inherently wrong without some type of brainwashing going on.

I do, however, think that some sort of compromise will eventually need to occur. Simply because if the artists and programmers arent compensated in some way, we wont be getting nearly as much software or music to trade. Sure, we'll have all of the old stuff, but musicians and programmers will all end up having to get second jobs for income, and that means less time spent making upgrades and adding new features and simply maintaining the networks, as well as less time spent making quality music/movies/whatever we decide to trade. Still, I do wonder if we should wait for the riaa to die out before we make that compromise.. The current record companies are, for the most part, too entrenched in the old ways. They were reluctant to switch to cds because they were afraid of having to change the storage bins inside of stores. I think we need a fresh start in the recording industry.

[method]

If you remember the days of BBS's and names like Razor1911, Crystal, Paradox, TRSI, Angels, etc. You'll know that there is no need for compromise. File trading communities have existed long before P2P networks and probably before some of you were EVEN BORN!!! - Law, Government, Threats, 'Acoustic-Fingerprinting', OverPeer, TSPBay, C&D Letters.. ALL A WASTE OF MONEY AND TIME. We've won this 'war' from day one and we've got little to worry about. They make changes to law, we make changes to EULA's, they make demands of ISPs, we disguise protocols and use ports they can't successfully block. They killed centralized p2p services, now encrypted, regenrative, decentralized p2p networks are arriving. They bitch and rant and we just get smarter. If history is anything to go by, as long as we're aware of what we're up against, we can easily work together and continue to stay several steps ahead of them.

[showchoir9862]

I really don't belive the have enough prison space to house all these Bad Bad people in.
Hollywood, (Rich Basters) Music Lable Corp. Find new ways to selling music, at a fair price. It's your fault ($Greed$) that this all got started in the first place.

For all of us 100 million Lawbreakes out there. Don't worry (Yet).

[Pazuzues]

I think the record companys should all be eliminated. Why do we need them to stand between us and the artists we patronize.
I have 0 respect for RIAA. They have done nothing to help artists. They are con-artists themselves. They run around and say to government officials this is for the artists. They lie like a dawg. This is for some old fat ass in a suit to ensure he still gets his 10 mill every year for getting blowjobs from his receptionist at the expense of the artist and the fans.
I hate Hollywood and everything it stands for. I wish someone would run a bulldozer over that whole town.
Turn it into a big runway for a Airforce base or something useful.
I hate how they all think this world relies on them to orbit the sun. The fact of the matter we don't need any of them and their self declare heirarchy.
We need artist to make the albums, we need record manufactures to make the albums. The other crap is just crap. They are the ones to ensure that MnM is played by the radio stations every half hour to make sure we all get burned out on the shit. Unfortunetly all the money goes to that and keeping fat cats happy.
Go ahead name one productive thing a record producer exec does. Promotions? Nope the bands agents handle 99% of that. The record producers are responsible for all the zillions of cheesy clone bands to whatever is really cool at the time.

"You should make your songs more like Metallica cause everybody likes Metallica." -- famous quote heard from record exec's. They are always at least a decade behind what people are really into too.
"You should make more songs like Mother." -- another quote from an executive to Glen Danzig.
Thats what I mean when I say these guys are the doom bringers of creativity. Getting rid of them would be like a breath of fresh air.
In short i'm saying whatever you do, DON'T COMPROMISE! I don't know about you all but i'm getting really sick of buying a album with 10-15 songs on it and only 2 songs (if that) are worth anything because the record producers put a time crunch on the artists to finish the album within a year or lose the contract.
I think we have compromised enough over the years. It's time these dudez in Hollywood compromises a little. I'm sick of being their victim.
WE are the victims here. It's because of them and their greed that has degraded the quality of the entertainment industry.
If it wasn't for the artists that are willing to risk it all by putting their foot down when ever they can, there wouldn't be anything entertaining out there.
I consider P2P networks as their competitor that raises the bar on fans expectations. Crap filled filler albums aren't going to work no more. Along with junk-dick movies with the only a trailers worth of entertainment in it.

[Pazuzues]

Originally posted by method
If you remember the days of BBS's and names like Razor1911, Crystal, Paradox, TRSI, Angels, etc. You'll know that there is no need for compromise. File trading communities have existed long before P2P networks and probably before some of you were EVEN BORN!!! - Law, Government, Threats, 'Acoustic-Fingerprinting', OverPeer, TSPBay, C&D Letters.. ALL A WASTE OF MONEY AND TIME. We've won this 'war' from day one and we've got little to worry about. They make changes to law, we make changes to EULA's, they make demands of ISPs, we disguise protocols and use ports they can't successfully block. They killed centralized p2p services, now encrypted, regenrative, decentralized p2p networks are arriving. They bitch and rant and we just get smarter. If history is anything to go by, as long as we're aware of what we're up against, we can easily work together and continue to stay several steps ahead of them.

I miss the ANSI art. Your right though, I totally remember my teenage years with super mondo LD bills. ;-)
Tried as they might it doesn't go away. It's rather funny because everyone in the Atari ST, C64, Amiga scene has totally gone through this crap and they tried every trick in the book to stop pirates but than finally just gave up. I remember them trying to do stepper motor tricks on the floppy disk to circumvent conventional copying. The crap was so bad that people that bought the software legitimately couldn't play it and were forced to download the menu packed version that was reversed engineered. Kinda like whats going on now days with DVD's. The encoding schemes to prevent DVD copying keeps alot of people that bought the movie from playing it on their DVD player. Which forces them to download the ripped version.
The crazier they get with copy protection the more it entices the good honest people to get pirate ripped versions which are less buggy.
I own a software developing company that produces software products and I have nothing against pirates. I see it with open eyes. It's not going to go away because i closed my eyes and clicked my heels three times. They distribute your products world wide better than anyone can. The more people use your products (even if they are all pirated versions) the more likely hood a big wig corporation is going to buy it in mass quanities. In the long run, you get more money. If your products apeal to the consumer market and corporations are buying your products than this entices the home consumers to go out and buy a copy. To me I see the pirates as more of a advertising expense which yes it can get expensive in the since that you can end up losing what would be customers. But alot of customers will have access to a pirate version and turn arround and buy your software. One thing that you don't hear from the media and government reports are the pirates alot of times are also the biggest purchasers of software also.
Throw my #1 customer and word of mouth advertiser in jail? I think not!

[Mystos]

Sheeesh, how long did it take them to find and pull that out ?

The best way to get Joe Sixpack consumer on our side is to show them just how bad this can be, and how it affects them. I feel one way one can do this is by going the legal P2P route and showing how this can hurt them.

For example, lets say I am a musician and I put up a mp3/video of a song I created about my ex-girlfriend called "My _ExGF_Briteny.mp3/avi" on a p2p network because I don't want to pay for a host site, and my ISP won't let me run a webserver, and I want to give my songs out for free. The **AA cops then send a notice to my ISP that since my mp3/avi had the keyword "Briteny" and therefor I must be a pirate and should stop hosting the file. The ISP has no choice since recent laws made this anti-competitive monopoly judge jury and executioner, so they cut me off so that they are not sued by the **Aa's. The **AA's then proceeds in suing me, sets the case up in their favor(i.e. a unsavvy judge that does not know tech, and/or will be in favor of the **AA's) claiming that I was hosting their clients IP $1000, with little proof or even no proof at all. Of course we all know where ever they get the case it will be in their favor, they could claim anything (They can show any file any say, "they were hosting this!"). I am now sitting in jail because I wanted to share something that I created and I owned. Or they DOSed me preventing people from downloading my songs.

Another idea is to focus on the fact that they are only doing this because they are anti-competition and fear the new technology that now lets anyone(even Joe Sixpack consumer) make their own music/movies a lot cheaper yet just a professional, etc, and the best part is that able to give it away and get it for free. The **AA's wants to stop you from doing this, with such things as DRM to insure their monopoly, and have been doing so for years. Also add the fact that the **AA's don’t trust the consumer, they think everyone is a pirating piece of sh1t, and feel that the consumer can't be trusted at all.

I also got this idea after typing the last paragraph, tell the Joe Sixpack consumers what they will be losing, and are currently losing due to the **AA's. They will no longer be able to record what they want on TV, they will never be able to use any of the new storage mediums that come along (DRM of course), or do simple things like transfer their media to other media's (CD to PC/MP3 player/etc). Also when doing this we need to bring up the fact that each time a new and better technology has been introduced, the **AA's keep fighting it saying that it would be the death of their industry, yet as time has proven it only has helped their industry. One could try to bring in the fact that the entertainment industry is trying to dictate what to do to the tech industry, like the whip and buggy manufactories to the auto industry, but I don’t think Joe Sixpack consumer would pay much attention to that. Maybe something along the lines "does it make sense for Subject A to tell Subject B what they can and can't do?" (I can't think of a better one off the top of my head)

I think the way that would get the most attention would be doing what a Slashdot (http://www.slashdot.org) poster suggested(and now I can't find it *GERR*), is comparing them to corrupt companies abusing their powers, and asking the government to give them even more power to abuse, as well as being above the law. I would also throw in something about the government officials being corrupt and accepting bribes from these cooperation's. With the recent problems with companies like Worldcom and Enron, I do think people would be more outraged, and against stuff like this.

[assmunch2]

i benn coming to this site since it first started, way back in the napster days, i used to come here everyday to find out what the new developments were in p2p. now i come here to laugh. nothing but paranoid post by paranoid people. enjoy p2p. dont declare war with the lables and movie studios. and quite being so damn paranoid. common sense cant be bought or downloaded. thats a damn shame for some of you people that i have read post from. the first thing that congress should do before they lock me up for downloading music is arrest stupid people and set a minimum iq to get on the net.

[wessman]

Do you think the Recording Industry Association of American (RIAA) truly represents musicians in their battle against file-sharing?

Click here to vote:
http://www.openupandsay.com/poll.cfm

:sw

[method]

@assmunch2..

They've declared the war. As for paranoia.. I think people are worrying too much but if you look at all the C&D emails people are receiving from using the FastTrack protocol you can see why some people are getting scared. We'll always be technically ahead of them. That's no problem.

[ashep612]

Does anyone know where Franhaufer stands on all of this?

[ashep612]

This is what I think the major problem is.The RIAA is and old institution, and technology threatens it. Because of the technology now, a garage band in Ontario could potentially become very popular. The recording industry does not want this, they want to pick out what people like. Look at Milli Vanilli (or however you spell it), they had no talent at all, that proves that the record companies create what people listen to. With P2P technology consumers could directly decide what they like, and then the RIAA couldn't sell their artsists' rights to Pepsi Cola. And if it really hit the fan than you had better believe that companies, like Pepsi, that use artsists for advertising purposes would back the RIAA. What I'm getting at is the RIAA is long standing and it would take more than some programmers and consumers to bring them down. And as far as artists go, the unknown ones they could care less about and they own the popular ones, and if their artists terminated their contracts they can always produce more, i.e. Britney Spears/Madonna clone. Just watch TV sometime and you'll see how much corporations rule what we listen too. "American Idol" and the fabricated boy band "O-Town" made by an MTV television show. They actually made a fan base and sold merchandise!! And as we all know, or should know, Hollywood would not stand idle in the fight either. They are already afraid because of the invention of the DVD burner and TiVo type applications. Does anyone remember their response to the creator of DeCSS?? It wasn't a happy one I'll tell you that! As much as I hate to say it, P2P will always be an 'illegal' practice.
I think I'm done ranting now...

[PatientSaint]

Well one of my arguements is how MPAA freaked about about when VCR's came out with TV shows and Movie. Now DVDs and video cassetter sales make up large portions of studio revenues. I don't see how the RIAA knowing past events can base the ideas of thier business on preventing people from somethign that allowed the Movie business to expand hugely .

[TipYourBartender]

Originally posted by ashep612
The recording industry does not want this, they want to pick out what people like.

I think MTV is even more powerful than the reocrd industry in that regard. Just wanted to say that.

[don webb]

I really think that if the Music industry starts trying to have people jailed for this, they are signing a death warrent for themselves.

5-10 million people useing P2P networks. They say they are looseing $$$ Millions. Do they really think buy getting P2P networks closed down that all of a sudden we will start paying for the shit ????????

I have been copying music since they came out with the Reel to Reel recorders!!!!!! Sorry I'm an ole fart :playboy and this wouldn't change me!!!!!

Guess I'm just to damn old to change. But they will do what they have to. And so will we !!!!!!!!:blah

[HansG]

A while back there was an article here about the music industry alienating their client base. I think that is very true.

If they are going to sue every p2p filetrader for violating copyrights, you can be very sure that the least they can accomplish with that is that those people will never ever buy a legal music product again. If it stops them from again violating copyrights in the future, remains to be seen.

Simply because I trade music online without paying for it, doesn't mean that I am a criminal. Perhaps in the strict form of the definition I am a criminal, but I consider myself one of the many consumers with a specific demand for something, demand that isn't met by the record companies.

I am absolutely willing to pay for music, if three requirements are met 1) a reasonable price per song (<0.50 dollars/euros) and a way to pre-listen before buying 2) excellent quality AND quantity 3) no restrictions on use.
I don't think my requirements are harsh at all.

Right now, the only thing that meets my demands are free p2p networks. Simple as that.

[jona100]

I wouldn't worry too much about p2p users getting prosecuted. it aint gonna happen. All record companies are now owned by multi-national corporations, if the RIAA or whatever company starts precucuting users, this would be a PR disaster for the record companies, it would not take too many user prosucutions before a record company shareholders son/daughter is up on a chrage for filesharing, there is no way in hell the record companies want that that kind of press, their stock price would crash immeditaly (their would be hell to pay at their AGM).

I really wouldn't worry about this at all, any talk of prosecuting users is a bluff, they simply do not have the time, resources or will to do it.

Copyright infingment has been here since day 1, the IT industry if far more powerful and weathly than the entertainment industry, and they are not gonna let their profits of CD-R/DVD-R ot whatever new anti-copyright product is out at the moment get taken away.

Just keep downloading.

[klgray]

I admit, free is good - and believe me, I'm taking plenty advantage of it now. But...if it comes down to it, I really wouldn't mind paying around $10 a month for a program like Winmx. And it would be great if that money could go directly to the artists. I think that would be a fair game.

[«°¤§téålth§t®îk餰»]

it's great to see ppl talking about p2p news!

anyway, if you start paying (klgray) and giving out your perosnal info then the RIAA (and all the other alphabets) will know who to get for swapping copyrighted material.

the next flaw is, paying creates a problem that begs the a question that needs an answer, which artists should they give the money to? what about software? games? and other things out there.

by making users pay, it instantly makes the application turn into a industry for unathourized selling of copyrighted material which will be a bigger problem for the p2p application makers!

RIAA and other dicks are complaining about losing money, but if you make users pay that would be profiting from the loss of the industry.

in the end i believe there is no way that a good and logical p2p app will ever make users pay. you can make advertisers pay but not users. just isn't logical!

on a more personal note, i would never use a app that makes me pay! why? that just makes it redundant, you want to share not make me pay!

P.S. i live in HK and we have no laws against p2p YET, now i know how China is a bit lazy towards copyrighted material being copied and sold. but i fear that the American pressure on p2p will spill out on China.

Being paranoid doesn't mean they aren't out to get you!

[hawkburn]

hehehe

Live on filesharing!

LIVE ON KAZAA!

hehehe