Comrade Mischa’s Corner by Michael Veremans

"Every time you download a file, you download communism," proclaimed an anti-downloading poster. Recently the subject of file sharing through the Internet has made a come back as far as the courts are concerned. Suddenly the record companies have started taking up lawsuits involving file sharing program users. The way they get the names and contacts of the file sharers is through court subpoena that forces peer-2-peer devices such as KaZaA to share the personal information. So far the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA) has filed 261 lawsuits against file sharers. They are also offering amnesty to anyone who comes forward to admit their wrongs and sign a contract promising not to mp3 swap anymore.

It seems almost like the scene in Animal Farm by George Orwell where the pigs admit to conspiring in order to escape the vengeance of the dictatorial Napoleon. The pigs then ended up getting killed though, after feigning apologies and giving up their sense of dignity, only to be struck down in the end, torn to shreds by dogs. Not many people are going forward to sign these. Why? Because its essentially horse-hockey. There are currently 60 million file sharers in the US alone, and it is impossible to target each and every one, especially if your number at current is 261 poor but brave souls. They are like martyrs for the freedom of art, and the societal debt of artists.

The RIAA is angry about the file sharing due to their dip in revenues and the claims of the artists represented that they are not making the royalties they deserve. This same thing came about in the old Napster case, where the record companies and artists therein won. Now that money is going away again, the sleeping oaf has opened his eyes and wants to swing his club. Another step that music producers have used to curtail music swapping is the dropping of CD prices by Universal, which is a step in the right direction, if you want to spend money at all.

One of the misconceptions that the record companies exploit is that the consumer deprives the artist when he or she doesn't buy a CD, but this isn't necessarily true. Most musicians' revenue comes primarily from touring and merchandise, while only 10% of a CD's profit go to them. The rest of the money goes to hungry corporations like Tower Records, or any number of record companies that simply want a music product to sell to any demographic,

filling their coffers with citizen's hard earned money.

This is, frankly, a violation of freedom of expression, as well as a philosophical oxymoron: selling art. The beauty of music is somewhat lost in greed that the artists who produce it exhibit. This is America, and our individual choice is to not pay for an entire CD when all we want is one song. The methods are there to make music available to everyone. No one who truly enjoys music wants to feed the gigantic bureaucracies involved in the record companies and music stores. It started with the suing of major downloaders on college campuses, to the average Joe who is basically innocent of doing anything outwardly wrong.

Fear not, though, fellow file swappers, there is no threat to those who remain in numbers. The majority speaks enough with is votes and dollars, saying: "We will not be scared from our entertainment, nor shall we give in and pay for the coffee of arrogant exploiters of true art." A new bill is being put on the books, introduced by Senator Sam Brownback (R-Kansas), the "Consumers, Schools, and Libraries Digital Rights Management (DRM) Awareness Act of 2003". It would prevent copyright holders from compelling an ISP to disclose the names or other identifying information of its subscribers prior to the filing of a suit.

Also, file-sharing readers, a good way to avoid copyright infringement, if you really care, is to turn off your file sharing capabilities, so no one can download from you. This should protect you from doing anything "illegal".