International Game Of File Sharing Whack-A-Mole Continues

from the and-what-good-does-that-do? dept

In what we're sure will be declared yet another "significant blow" against "piracy," the IFPI helped shut down a private bittorrent tracker site that was used by many people. Following the arrest of the service's creator and the taking down of the site, the IFPI has put up one of its typical scary warning notices about how it's now trying to track down the users of the site -- though most people view that as an empty threat. There is little doubt that this particular service was mainly used for unauthorized file sharing. However, you do still have to wonder what the IFPI and others think they're accomplishing here. It becomes increasingly laughable to have anyone think that bringing these sites down does anything positive for the industry. It's clearly not in the best interests of musicians who are quickly moving as far away from organizations like the IFPI and the RIAA as possible. At the same time, musicians are recognizing that playing this giant game of whack-a-mole is both counter-productive and stupid. It doesn't do anything to damper file sharing at all. Once a copy is out there it's out there, and shutting down one player in the space doesn't make any difference at all. The users just scatter and show up again elsewhere, further underground. In the meantime, many more are realizing that rather than worrying about these services, it's time to embrace them, recognizing that they're incredibly efficient distribution and promotion mechanisms that can be used to help a musician become much more successful. About the only people who it's hurting are those who think they're in the business of selling little plastic discs -- and we've already described why felony interference of a business model isn't a crime.

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