So what's to be done? I don't think that there is an easy solution. I know that throttling traffic and illegally poisoning torrent trackers isn't the right solution, because it won't stop the real pirates who are making millions of dollars from stolen intellectual property. Suing citizens who steal a few songs or movies isn't the solution either (though those people should certainly be penalized for their actions). Using digital rights management to protect content doesn't really work either. I personally believe that the solution isn't going to be found in civil or criminal court, but in the legislature. Intellectual property needs to change. We are in a transition period, and the law has not kept up with the incredible technological changes.
I think it's time we seriously look at intellectual property law in light of the new distribution channels. The old business models are crumbling, and it's not the job of the courts to prop them up. And it's certainly not okay to give companies like MediaDefender a free pass. They should be punished and punished harshly, but we also need to seriously take a look at an intellectual property system that created them in the first place, and we need to do it fast, before our intellectual property laws make us rapidly obsolete.
Article comments
1 - Neal Parks
Or the "old media" has started going after the "new media" since they don't get a "piece of the action". Honestly, if the "old media" WASN'T trying to extort "new media" how would their behavior be any different then it was in this situation? My point being you can't know their motivation, only their actions and their actions are no different than if they wanted to shut down "new media" because they don't get money from it.
2 - bliffle
Denial Of Service is really a primitive way to interfere with P2P via BitTorrent. So is ISP throttling. The brute products of trivial minds.
There are a couple of very simple techniques which are neither ilegal nor obtrusive that one would think anyone who has used BT a few times could figure out. But apparently not because I haven't seen them employed yet.
All it takes is a subtle mind and a diabolical deviousness and a nose for mischief. It helps to have a background in Electronic CounterMeasures.
I'm looking forward to encountering that ECM because I have the CounterMeasure figured out, too.
3 - Brian aka Guppusmaximus
P2P maybe a good way for legal activity but it's severely out of date for the people who wanna share "illegal" copyrighted media. There are much better non-detectable ways...