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If Morpheus Is Illegal, So Is The Internet
from the exactly dept
The EFF has presented written artguments in the case against Morpheus, Grokster, and Kazaa, saying that if those services are illegal, then the whole internet is illegal. It's an interesting strategy, which could backfire. While I actually agree with them (how come we never outlawed FTP? It enables file trading!), it could come off as an "extreme" case example (popularly known as the truckload of vegetables argument - previously invoked on Techdirt), which tends to just anger people. Because it seems so extreme, a judge could conceivably discount the very valid points made in the rest of the argument.
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Could this possibly backfire?
What if the courts buy this argument and decide that the open, unregulated peer-to-peer Internet is illegal, being a form of racketeering as it condones piracy and other illegal conduct? Then it would lend impetus to new legislative mandates (either from the courts or the copyright racket's pet congresspeople) to "enclose" the Internet, introducing mandatory traceability and/or DRM capabilities in new protocols.
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