| EDITORIAL |
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The Web and the law |
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HOLLYWOOD STUDIOS filed lawsuits last
week accusing 286 people of sharing movies
online without permission. The point of the
latest claims, as with the hundreds that preceded
them, was twofold: to punish those who violate a
copyright, and to educate the public at large about
the legal boundaries of downloading. | |  |
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| (1) As an educational tool, this type of | | legal purposes. This approach forces |
| lawsuit leaves something to be desired. | | restrictions on all CD buyers in the name |
| Only a fraction of the people sharing | | of stopping abuses by an unknown |
| songs and movies online illegally are | | fraction of music fans. |
| sued, weakening the preventive effect. At | | (4) Second, the lawsuits make it clear that |
| the same time, because so many claims | | paying $40 a month for high-speed |
| have been filed (more than 13,000 by the | | Internet access does not entitle users to |
| movie and music industries over the last | | free copies of everything they might want. |
| two years), they no longer attract much | | Unfortunately, that point is still lost on |
| attention. Another problem is that | | many people, especially young people. |
| studios and labels do not know the | | Numerous defendants have been parents |
| identity of a defendant when they start | | who either ignored or tolerated what |
| pressing a claim; the lawsuit eventually | | their kids were doing on file-sharing |
| lands on the person whose Internet | | networks, only to find themselves paying |
| account was linked to pirated files. As a | | a fine for the hundreds of illegally |
| result, defendants have included a 12- | | downloaded songs stored on a family |
| year-old girl, several grandparents and at | | computer. The labels typically demand |
| least one dead person. | | $3,750 to $4,500 to settle a case, |
| (2) The resulting publicity hasn’t brought | | although copyright law allows them to |
| in much sympathy for the labels or their | | seek up to $150,000 per illegal copy. |
| cause. And critics of the lawsuits are right | | (5) Clearly, these lawsuits inflict some |
| to argue that such actions aren’t a long- | | additional damage, not just on the |
| term solution to the wide-spread piracy | | industry but on notions of fair play and |
| that the Internet enables. | | the law. When huge media corporations |
| (3) [id:35661], there are a couple of important | | sue thousands of individual Internet |
| principles that the lawsuits advance. | | users, they fuel the argument that |
| First, they show that the right way to | | copyright law is just a tool for the |
| protect copyrights is to focus on people | | powerful, not a means to improve society |
| who are violating them, not on the public | | by encouraging creativity and innovation. |
| at large. By contrast, some of the major | | But like anyone else, the studios are |
| record companies are also trying to | | entitled to defend their rights. You can |
| combat piracy by switching to CD | | moan about how blunt the instrument is, |
| technology that resists copying even for | | but you can’t fault Hollywood for using it. |
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| | Los Angeles Times |
