* RIAA defends its actions
Sen. Norm Coleman (R-Minn.), chairman of the Senate Permanent Subcommittee on Investigations, recently asked the Recording Industry Association of American to explain just how it was targeting recipients for the more than 1,000 subpoenas the group has sent out in its quest to quash file trading.
The RIAA fired off a nine-page letter back to Coleman in which RIAA president Cary Sherman claimed that the “RIAA is in no way targeting ‘de minimis’ users. RIAA is gathering evidence and preparing lawsuits only against individual computer users who are illegally distributing a substantial amount of copyrighted music.”
Sherman even offered to send Coleman further documentation to prove that the lawsuits were distributed in a “fair and equitable matter.”
What a hoot. Plain folks, kids, grandparents, low-level file traders across the country are getting these subpoenas. By targeting small time file traders, the RIAA is likely betting that that panicked parents will scrub their kids hard drives of MP3s – and indeed this appears to be happening in some cases. By delivering subpoenas to local universities demanding that they turn over the names of students, the RIAA can get their crusade covered in the local press and stir up some regional panic.
Of course the RIAA has refused to define what it considers a “substantial amount of music.” By remaining vague on this point it can litigate arbitrarily and thus increase the fear and confusion that appears to be its aim.
Coleman, who appears to be easily mollified, said he was pleased with the RIAA’s response, but he has called for additional hearings on P2P networks. Coleman has admitted to downloading music off the original Napster service and should be asking whether he himself deserves to be dragged into court and fined thousands of dollars. If he doesn’t, he should be supporting countersuits against the RIAA whose blanket subpoenas will inevitably target people who should never be forced to pay the music industry a penny. In this way, the P2P lawsuits would truly be distributed in a “fair and equitable manner.”
In the meantime, the subpoenas will simply continue to make music fans angry, further reducing the chance that they will be willing to purchase overpriced music from officially sanctioned sites blessed by the music industry.
