You probably have heard about Napster, eMule, Kazaa, and other filesharing or peer-to-peer (P2P) software. There are many who claim these services are used illegally, but there is no denying their popularity. Many have thought that instead of trying to shut these huge markets of information down the powers that be should have embraced them and figured out a way to make P2P software work for them. In fact, many good ideas were circulated around the internet.
Instead, RIAA has sued their own audience (which many many artists are coming to believe was a bad idea) and created an even larger market of filesharing. But new P2P software makes it even more difficult to track who is sharing what. Instead of cutting a deal with Napster and the others to have a part in the P2P networks, the RIAA has dug their own graves by driving filesharing deep underground..
So what does this have to do with Disney, you may ask. The Walt Disney Company is a member of the Motion Picture Artists Association (MPAA) and the MPAA has decided to take the same distaster filled track as the RIAA. An excellent essay by Mark Pesce is circulating the living web and explains clearly why the MPAA should not have followed in the RIAA’s footsteps and why following in the RIAA’s footsteps will be the beginning of the end for Hollywood and the MPAA. (via)
Update: See also Mark Cuban on the MPAA’s actions.