Critics have slammed The Recording Industry Association of America's plan to sue individuals for distributing large amounts of music files on peer-to-peer networks, saying that it isn't likely to change consumer behaviour.
Wayne Rosso, president of P2P service Grokster, told attendees of an event sponsored by the Copyright Society of the USA last week that attempts by the recording industry to thwart file sharing through litigation are bound to fail. Rosso added that lawsuits could never hope to keep up with technological innovation and development.
An RIAA attorney Dean Garfield came back at critics by saying that lawsuits against consumers are just one tactic in a multi-faceted strategy the industry is using to combat piracy.
The RIAA reports that an estimated 2.6bn copyrighted files are traded over P2P networks every month. Leading the pack is KaZaA with more than 230m users as of May 2003 (up from 100 million in July 2002). Rosso pointed at distribution deals with P2P networks as the only real solution. He added that the RIAA's litigation initiatives are stifling negotiations.