Music, RIAA and Piracy

A really good editorial from the LA Times (registration required) about the “tone-deaf” attempts by the music industry to sue to death, people who might have uploaded any songs to the P2P networks - be it one song or one too many.

With the RIAA threatening to sue consumers under a law that can impose fines of $750 to $150,000 per file shared, the trade group’s heavy-handed tactics threaten to put fans - many of whom continue to buy CDs - into not just the doghouse but the poorhouse. Worse, the recording industry’s friends in Congress - Reps. John Conyers Jr. (D-Mich.) and Howard L. Berman (D-North Hollywood) - are drumming up more draconian laws that would help federal prosecutors file felony charges against those uploading even a single file. Penalty? Prison for up to five years. While the music business is on this track, why not execute a few shoplifters? Or, instead, why can’t the industry, artists and others recognize technology’s march, take advantage of it and stop alienating their potential customers?