Re: classifying P2P traffic - what about legit uses? Part Deux

[Roger Safian <r-safian () NORTHWESTERN EDU>]

Not wanting to be the shill for the *IAA but...

At 04:37 PM 1/29/2008, Randy Marchany put fingers to keyboard and wrote:
> 4. We need to figure what the real problem is and then work to solve it. The
> real problem of "illegal" P2P traffic is copyright violations and the threat
> of sanction from RIAA/MPAA. Joel said it simply: "if it's against the law and
> you get caught, you are in trouble." Hammer that message to your user
> community and we start to solve this problem.

Who hasn't been hammering this message?  We have, for years, and in the end,
I'm not sure it matters.  It doesn't matter because we are trying to fight
"free" and that's a losing battle.  As long as the penalties are fairly
minor, and the odds of legal action are long, our communities are going
to continue to do this.  I haven't spoken to anyone who in the last few
years, who didn't already know the risks.  They might not all have come right
out and said that, but, you can tell they knew what they were doing.  In
some ways this is like speeding.  We all know it's wrong, yet many people
still do it.

So, what can we do?  One thing we have to do is recognize that we, like
many ISP's, have substantial amounts of copyrighted materials on our
networks.  The various copyright holders have a legitimate interest
in obtaining royalties for their works.  The current operations of
endless take down notices and occasional law suits is not a productive
strategy.  (although I do wonder just how much money is taken in with
the settlement campaign)  Personally I think the time has come for
us (and by us, I mean ISP's) and them (that's all the copyright holders)
to sit down and try to come to some amicable solution to this problem.
I personally favor some sort of monthly fee for content, although I
recognize that it has it's own set of difficulties.  The bottom line
for me is, as long as we're in a hostile relationship, we're never
going to see the end of this, and, in the end, our communities will
suffer.


--
Roger A. Safian
r-safian () northwestern edu (email) public key available on many key servers.
(847) 491-4058   (voice)
(847) 467-6500   (Fax) "You're never too old to have a great childhood!"