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Today the Supreme Court will begin hearing arguments for the MGM v. Grokster, a case that will effectively rule on file-sharing on the Internet. After Napster inspired umpteen clones for peer-to-peer networking and spawned a whole generation in file-sharing, mostly music and vides, the big corporation ran scared, seeking legal assistant to “curb the menace”. Anything I say here in defense of P2P networking or file-sharing is not going to do justice to tons of literature out there in support of file-sharing.
Luddites have always existed to impede the jumpstarts in changing technologies and historically they have been proven wrong. No can really stop an idea whose time has come. The Supreme Court can put Grokster out of business and effectively deem file-sharing illegal but the fact that this technology exists and is put to use, the judgment will only drive it underground. Just like the war on drugs/poverty has failed repeatedly, the war against P2P is unwinnable. Like a biological mutation says it best, nature finds a way; similarly technology and equally obsessed geeks find a way. Looking at the case from a cause-n-effect point of view, it is still arguable that music sharing hasn’t actually hurt the music industry and the corporations are trying to find a reason for their woes where none exists.
Grokster, fortunately has its believers. It got a shot in the arm when the maverick entrepreneur Mark Cuban agreed to finance Grokster’s defense against MGM. He said,
“If Grokster loses, technological innovation might not die, but it will have such a significant price tag associated with it, it will be the domain of the big corporations only.”
As the Economist puts it succinctly, "attacking the technology behind file-sharing could stifle innovation without tackling the industry’s long-term problems." As we see, the real problem lies in the music and media corporations trying to find a scapegoat for its woes. They do so by striking directly at the roots of innovation. The Economist further adds that:
“But it is not clear that curbing illegal downloading will translate into extra sales for the music business. A rush into legal downloading would hardly be good for sales of CDs: some cannibalisation is inevitable. And perhaps the decline in global sales is indicative of a far greater problem for the music industry—consumers simply think that many of its products are just not worth paying for”
So effectively, is the product really worth protecting? Doesn’t it give the music industry unlimited power over material that is clearly not directly benefiting its creators? Lawrence Lessig is receiving encouraging response for his Creative Commons concept and might just bridge the gap between retaining your fan base support and inspiring creativity. Allofmp3.com, a Russian site selling downloadable MP3s for almost 5 cents brings a new twist to the story. Will RIAA cross over into international copyright law and go after them next?
Update: TechDirt has more on the harms of impeding innovation:
"The innovations will remain secret or underground — which means they’ll barely develop at all. Real innovations grow on top of each other, so the more people use something the more they can innovate on top of it. Without the ability to even release such applications, innovation is stifled. Of course, innovation will move elsewhere, such as Eastern Europe and Asia — which isn’t exactly what the US economy needs right now."
Update#2: Boing Boing points us to few blogs liveblogging the Grokster case.
Update#3: Chris Anderson, Wired Editor has an excellent editorial in defense of Grokster.
Update#4: "The Best 90 Minutes of my Life", by Thurston Moore asks the music industry to stop resisting:
"Once again, we’re being told that home taping (in the form of ripping and burning) is killing music. But it’s not: It simply exists as a nod to the true love and ego involved in sharing music with friends and lovers. Trying to control music sharing - by shutting down P2P sites or MP3 blogs or BitTorrent or whatever other technology comes along - is like trying to control an affair of the heart. Nothing will stop it."
by Patrix | on Tuesday, March 29th, 2005 at 11:00 am | 
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March 30th, 2005 at 11:51 am reply
Funny thing is I often catch the corporations crying hoarse about this more than the artists themselves. Actually, only in India have I seen the artists being more vocal in anti-piracy campaigns
March 30th, 2005 at 2:15 pm reply
Spaceman - Check out Update#3 that I just added. Chris expands the meaning of artistes by including kids who do remixes on their PC and how spreading-the-word is actually what they seek. Money follows later in form of tours, merchandizing, and CD sales in that order.
BTW on a related but offtopic note, Music Midtown is coming to town on June 9-10. The tickets go on sale on April 9th.
March 30th, 2005 at 10:02 pm reply
Ha! this case is coming alive or what?!
Yup, heard about Music Midtown. Y’all planning to go? Tix shouldn’t be a problem. They are usually available right through the festival, if I remember right
March 31st, 2005 at 9:21 am reply
Spaceman - The case sure is rocking and moving Grokster’s way so far.
Yup. As of now, we are planning to go. I guess, I shouldn’t bother booking the tickets right now if you say they will be available later.
March 31st, 2005 at 12:06 pm reply
Unless you expect to run out of money later, I don’t think you need to buy this early. But then, I am a guy who buys India tickets two days before!
March 31st, 2005 at 1:40 pm reply
Spaceman - Ah-ha! everything happens at the last minute here too :)