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I thought that maybe, just maybe, the RIAA, MPAA, and Congress might get their act together and come up with a solution to the file-sharing issue that still respects the American people and allows for fair use. But no, we have radical idiots in all these groups trying to pass a bill (pdf or text) that makes file-sharing a felony offense. You can read a summary of the bill in an article here.

Now, I am all for protecting the rights of content owners or intellectual property owners, whatever you want to call them. But are we just allowing the government to start another War on Drugs? I mean really, if the average American doesn’t care that his neighbor is trading songs, then who gets hurt here? I’ve heard all the arguments about how record companies will be “put out of business” or whatever. Personally, I think that’s a bunch of bull.

What needs to happen is for these record companies to embrace this new phenomenon. If they can create some way to capitalize on the technology, then everything will be fine. The old business model just isn’t going to work for them anymore, I don’t care how many laws are passed. If John Doe can pay his few dollars a month to access a service that lets him have whatever music he wants, then everything will be fine.

You will never be able to get rid of people that can work around the system and find ways to pirate intellectual property. The best chance these companies have is to offer a service that the regular American finds is worth some of his or her hard-earned cash. That’s all I have to say about that…