Incredibly, this cautious holding is the one that is now thought to immunize commercial file-sharing services from liability, though their primary use is to enable millions of people to obtain free copies of copyrighted works from total strangers, most of whom have never paid to acquire those works either.

Why did the studios ever think they might be entitled to compensation for consumers' personal use of their works within the home? Try looking at it this way. What entices people into stores to buy VCRs is, in part, the prospect of taping copyrighted shows. If so, why should equipment manufacturers hoard all the profits, rather than sharing them with the copyright holders? [Fortune] Roger, that's exactly how I WON'T look at it, but then I am not a corporate shill writing for Time Warner's Fortune. By the way, I do agree that the file sharing services like Kazaa, Morpheus, Grokster, et al, are scum for making their profits on the backs of copyright holders, but the copyright holders are equally scum for refusing to license to them.

The only possible solution: unrestricted exchange of files over the Internet and a blanket fee or tax on Internet access. It's the only way to protect both the Internet AND copyright holders.