My Sentiments Exactly!

The RIAA (Recording Industry Association of America) has been a continuing opponent against illegal P2P file sharing for years, claiming it to be piracy, an illegal action. The RIAA, consisting of numerous private enterprises from recording labels to distribution corporations, was a huge contributor to the end of Shawn Fanning's original version of Napster, the once incredibly popular P2P file sharing site. After the take-down of Fanning's original version of Napster, the RIAA acknowledged a new dilemma, individual consumers. How are they going to stop individual consumers from illegal file sharing?

Andrew Balingit made a good point in his August 31st blog entry entitled "RIAA and students: not exactly the perfect bedfellows". The RIAA has been trying to chip away at the controversial file sharing issue, throwing away large portions of money for mass promotions and advertisments in efforts to prevent individuals from illegal file sharing. These promotions, mainly focusing on young adolescents and college students, are seen to have made no real effect and are considered to be silly and nonthreatening. Balingit makes an example of a newly made short film produced by the RIAA which emphasizes the danger of piracy, saying that it's "just one more thing for students not to pay attention to." My sentiments exactly.

When discussing this issue of illegal file sharing with a couple of peers, I came across an interesting notion. A friend of mine reasoned that it is really easy to miss the unethical aspect of illegal file sharing because when you do "steal", as what piracy really is, there is usually a tangible object that you're stealing. But with piracy or illegal file sharing, there isn't. So that notion of stealing can easily escape us. One can easily argue the same for plagiarism, but it's still an interesting point I wanted to contribute.

RIAA's execs need to pursue another route because their constant ads and promotions aren't working. For supposedly reputable top level execs, they don't learn and adapt to the times that quickly do they?