So there is a trend by companies (content producers, like record companies, movies, software, etc), which seeks to restrict the whole reason why networks were created. To me, this is as preposterous as a company coming in, and looking at your computer and saying “You’re not allowed to make, use, or store files or folders on your computer whose titles contain certain certain words.”

Their whole business model, is what I like to call “Amish.” They have found a period in technological and cultural development, which to them is ideal (because of profit margins - where people were happy to pay $20 for a cd that maybe cost a quarter or less to produce), and in order to protect their ideal, they decide to freeze culture at that point. The difference between the RIAA and the Amish, of course, is that the Amish don’t want everybody to do this - they just want to do this. Imagine if the RIAA was really and truly an Amish “rights” organization came and started suing everyone because they used electricity and drove cars and didn’t live on farms.

Then you have all these pay-per-download systems, which are their attempt to transfer from a pre-PC/pre-network business model and cultural paradigm, and take advantage of the changes that are obviously now with us to stay. And lucky for them, this model may prove just as lucrative - they get to deliver content which is completely intangible, cutting their operating costs almost entirely. They dont have to print cds and booklets - they only have to run servers, and maintain sites.

I, for one, will never ever pay to download music. The very idea to me is so abhorrent and unusual and unnatural. Why would I when I can just do this for free inside of a model which doesn’t seek to penalize me for accepting the network paradigm of sharing files? I think they need to be looking down the road even further, not trying to turn back the clock.

I think my point in all this, despite these little tangents, is that in order to really and truly stop file sharing, there is only one thing they can do: dismantle the internet. Destroy all network technology and the paradigm which supports it. Destroy all CD burners. Destroy all DVD burners. Erase all that technology. Then and only then will you maintain control. But its absurd to expect that people won’t utilize technology that is made available - and its even more absurd to penalize them for using that technology. If its so damn threatening to you, you should have bought the patents early on, and buried it under some mountain, so you could live forever in your perfect little kingdom.

I know the other side of the argument is all about like copyright issues, and supporting artists, and all that shit. I’ll jump onto all that horseshit some other time. I need me a little computer break. Booyah!