Post
by Chaos Angel » Thu Jun 26, 2003 12:12 am
The RIAA can't prosecute everyone. The jails wouldn't hold them all.
I'm not going to pretend that they can't track people down who use P2P programs, all they need to do is get a court order to obtain e-mail addresses, then go through those companies to find the home addresses of the people who signed them. Now, the cost of doing this for the whole country, in both money and man-power, would be astronomical. I bet it would cost more than they would get from the lawsuit.
Personally, I think it's a big freaking scare tactic. It's pretty much not feasible to track down everyone. I think the whole "search people's computer's" thng pretty much violates the amendment against illegal search and seizure and privacy laws. They can't issue a global warrant for all of America, I don't think.
It's simply an insurmountable task from any standpoint you adopt. It'd cost too much and detract from more vital resources.
The issue of quality of music released is not the case. People download crap like Trapt and Smile Empty Soul (I fucking HATE them) and people download good stuff like Radiohead and Geggy Tah and Depeche Mode and Burning Airlines. They feel that people should pay for their products, and they should, but they are making a big mistake by not allowing people to sample the product before buying it. Christ, I like to preview a CD before I plunk down money for it. It could by the $12 I paid for Hail to the Thief today, or it could by the $5 I put down for a used-yet-good-condition Action Figure Party last week on Amazon (HURRY THE FUCK UP USPS!!). It's still money out of my checking account, and I like to hear a bit of what I am buying before I get it. You wouldn't buy a car without test driving it, why shouldn't you be able to hear a couple tracks from a CD before you buy it? I don't like buying anything blindly, although I have occasionally (Bastard, Metropolis...), and I see no reason, aside from flat-out greed, why I should shell out money only to find out that I hate it completely.
Even though I have before... >_< I wish to avoid it if at all possible, though.