In Feb. 2000, I wrote a column about Napster and the future of online music that noted:
…if the RIAA goes after the entire Napster user base, the music industry will find itself in the awkward position of suing a whole lot of its best customers. Which doesn’t sound like smart business. |
Well, it now appears that — having successfully crippled Napster and several successor outfits — the RIAA is getting set to do precisely that. As Declan McCullagh reports on News.com, the record companies’ trade association is adopting a two-pronged strategy: sue individual file traders and get the federal government to take action against them, too.
And when all the file traders are in jail, who’ll be left to buy music?