The American Spectator

, the day it was released. This is a “copy protected” disc, which makes it impossible to “rip” the tracks and make them available for others to download via peer-to-peer networks. All I wanted to do was play the disc on my computer stereo, but it wouldn’t play with Real Player or Windows Media Player, and then the music-player software on the disc crashed my computer. I finally succeeded in getting it to play, only to find that reproduction was an atrocious 48 kilobytes per second (normal discs are reproduced at 1,411 kilobytes per second) — the better I suppose, to prevent me from stealing the music for my own personal use. br> br> If the record industry wants to know why it is so hated, it could ask me. I am one of its best customers, so why does it call me a thief? br> br> Years ago I joked that soon children wouldn’t be able to scrawl cartoons on walls without Disney lawyers showing up with cease-and-desist orders. Things have not come to that pretty pass yet, but we’re almost there. How long before the publishing industry alleges that those who lend their books to friends are guilty of theft too? br> br> According to a September CBS- New York Times poll, only 37 percent of Americans believe Internet file sharing is “never acceptable.” Some have cited this as evidence of moral rot, but could it not, perhaps, be a perfectly rational reaction to the positions taken by Jamie Kellner, Jack Valenti, and EMI? If the bathroom break is theft, then we are all thieves, and one might as well be hung for a sheep as for a goat. br> br> When a majority of Americans disagrees that Internet file sharing is immoral, the recording industry faces a catastrophic crisis of confidence. So how is the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA) attempting to win back hearts and minds? With a slender carrot and a very big stick. The carrot is an offer of amnesty to downloaders who sign affidavits swearing they won’t do it again. The stick is lawsuits against individual downloaders that, if successful, would bankrupt their great great grandchildren — we’re talking millions of dollars; up to $150,000 per song. br> br> The DMCA gives the RIAA authority to compel Internet Service Providers to divulge the names, addresses and telephone numbers of suspected downloaders. As a story on internetnews.com explains, “Unlike usual subpoenas, DMCA subpoenas can be filed prior to any charges of infringement, are not subject to a review by a judge, and requires no notice to, or opportunity to be heard by, the alleged infringer.”