joegratz.net

Tommy O’Reardon at Copyfutures has a good post proposing a solution to the peer-to-peer “problem”. He feels nobody is adequately considering the solution of simply suing as many p2p uploaders as possible. With reference to a recent paper by Mark Lemley and Tony Reese, he argues that by taking out the “keystone” uploaders, we can protect copyright holders while leaving technological innovation untrammeled.

If it’s effective, I don’t think it’s a bad solution. Indiscriminately distributing major-label music on public p2p networks is behavior that is justly punishable. But there are reasons to believe it won’t work, or won’t work well. First, a large proportion of the defendants will be judgment-proof, and civil enforcement won’t do any good. Second, without large-scale criminal enforcement, many “keystone” infringers simply won’t be deterred. Teenagers think they’re invincible, or think they’re hiding their tracks — and sometimes they are hiding their tracks. Plus, there’s a reason upper-middle-class kids don’t get sent to jail for most of the bad things they do; their parents have political power, and won’t stand for it.

Finally, users can just download things from users in other countries. International ‘net connections are fast, and are getting faster. Putting all of America’s keystoners behind bars won’t win the War on Piracy, since downloaders aren’t willing to “Just Say No.”