Cause and Effect

Not being into music, and certainly not being a collector, I've allowed the recent trials, tribulations and dialogues concerning Napster v The Recording Industry Association of America to largely go over the top of my head. You must be Internet savvy to some extent to be reading these words in the first place so if you have no idea what I'm talking about you must also be an ostrich.

Go and read your favourite on line newspaper, go and watch TV... you will soon find out. This will bring you up to speed as well as anything.

If only because of the territory I cover with my topic I have been asked if I hold a position on this issue which I'm willing to share. As I've also been asked this by readers I'll repeat here what I recently added to a discussion that has been taking place among Suite101 editors.

While not unique to Napster and music I've learned two lessons from the Internet that share the same roots as the current dialogue... both in the courts and outside.

If you drive something underground it will flourish in the underworld, a whole surfing society will undertake that task as a challenge.

Once a technology is invented it cannot be suppressed completely. It will be used, by both "The Big Guys" against the wishes of the people, and by the people against the best efforts of "The Big Guys."

Music now joins up with software in the war of rights to intellectual property versus piracy. The "playing field" now gets bigger and so will the number of Band-Aid solutions.

What cannot be beaten has to be lived with and ideally an accommodation reached if possible. It hasn't been achieved with software... Warez abounds on the Web and the same will happen with music files. Morality doesn't seem to enter into it... the numbers of people in either camp are so enormous, it renders any judgement call meaningless.

Long live the Internet... warts and all!

With software, the Internet has been a boon to many and a curse to some. Shareware both as a concept and a reality has bestowed enormous advantages upon users... Try Before you Buy is another "best thing since sliced bread."

Conversely it has pushed pirated software into becoming a global problem and speaking as someone who tries to earn a living from my writings (my intellectual property) I'm there with everybody else who attempts to do the same. Legitimate freeware simply by its variety, quality, and availability is pressuring the commercial providers to improve their software. So I like to think anyway. Any company that offers a trial version of a program able to be downloaded does so to attract more buyers and accepts the risk of it being used illegally by some.

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