Has online piracy reached a tipping point?

There is no way piracy will completely cease. Some people actually believe it will. What has suing Jammie Thomas done?? Nothing. I mean, a another perfect example of lawsuits being used to ward off evil is our sampling issue. We know using illegal samples is wrong, but people do it all the time…even superstars do it! (*cough* Lil Wayne) While small-time infringers may get away with it playing the “catch-me-if-you-can game”, big artists like Lil Wayne will get caught and taken to court…it doesn’t really stop any of us from sampling at home though.

I think this draws a great parallel in P2P sharing by giving the larger P2P sites, like Pirate Bay, the title of being a Lil Wayne-like profile in the scene; all the peers that use the service are like the underground samplers from my example above. See, we can play the catch-me-if-you-can game because as long as we’re not dumb about it – well, we can get away with it. It’s like being a small time drug dealer that sells by the ounce as opposed to selling by the kilo. The cops will always try to bring down the drug-lord… Even the RIAA admitted that it will no longer sue individuals for copyright infringement!

Regardless, P2P sites will keep popping up because as the next big guy gets sued/shut-down, the next guy who was only supposed to be a small-time site will be left having to please the thousands of users who want free music and movies… Only when it’s big enough to seem to cause a problem for the RIAA or record labels will it be sued and brought down. There will always be somebody willing to take a risk though. It’s an endless cycle.

Overall, I loved Carraeff’s mentality in admitting that illegal downloading will continue to exist regardless of what the regulators did. Those in this article need to face the facts. I think it is okay to bring down big time infringers, but be real – it’s never going to stop. The war on drugs; illegal sample users; suits against P2P sites…it’s never going to end.