US watchdog group the Electronic Frontier Foundation has launched a 'Let the Music Play' campaign supporting albeit legal music downloading. Despite supporting only legitimate file sharing the campaign is seen as a reaction against the Recording Industry Association of America's announcement that it intends to file thousands of lawsuits against individual downloaders.
Launching the campaign EFF senior staff attorney Fred von Lohmann told reporters: "Today, more US citizens use file-sharing software than voted for President Bush. Congress needs to spend less time listening to record industry lobbyists and more time listening to the more than 60m Americans who use file-sharing software today."
Ads from the EFF alludes to the RIAA's suing policy, refers to the major labels as bullies, and proposes the music industry and the government to consider completely different courses of action.
An EFF spokesman adds: "Copyright law is out of step with the views of the American public and the reality of music distribution online. Rather than trying to sue people into submission, we need to find a better alternative that gets artists paid while making file sharing legal."