An End to Music Filesharing Lawsuits...or Just a Bridge to the Chorus?

By Matthew Belloni

Is it just us, or does something sound not quite right about the RIAA's announcement that it will back away from its aggressive anti-filesharing litigation strategy to instead work with ISPs to prevent music piracy? Sure, on the surface it sounds reasonable: five years of suing more than 35,000 people, some of them kids and grandmothers, hasn't done all that much to prevent P2P piracy. Worse, the strategy has turned the music labels into villians among the hard-core music lovers who should be its biggest fans. 

But the details of the plan suggest (to us, at least), that this isn't much more than a PR move. The labels now say that instead of litigating against individual filesharers, they're going to work with ISPs to identify who's downloading illegally, then the ISPs will ask their naughty customers to stop and, if all else fails, cut off their Internet access. Sounds reasonable. But what if that doesn't work? Or what if the ISPs don't comply in a way that the labels deem sufficient? Conspicuously absent from the announcement was a full list of the broadband providers that are onboard to play cops for the RIAA's benefit. 

And, of course, the RIAA hasn't waived its right to sue anyone. So this "new direction" might just be a gesture of goodwill and an attempt to try another strategy. It's certainly getting them lots of press. But if filesharing doesn't go the way of Sam Goody CD stores and disappear, we wouldn't be surprised if the lawsuits start flying fast and furious once again.