cnet.com has obtained a copy of letters sent by the RIAA to ISPs regarding P2P downloading of music files.
Please bear in mind that this letter serves as an official notice to
you that this network user may be liable for the illegal activity
occurring on your network. This letter does not constitute a waiver of
our members' rights to recover or claim relief for damages incurred by
this illegal activity, nor does it waive the right to bring legal
action against the user at issue for engaging in music theft. We assert
that the information in this notice is accurate, based upon the data
available to us. Under penalty of perjury, we submit that the RIAA is
authorized to act on behalf of its member companies in matters
involving the infringement of their sound recordings, including
enforcing their copyrights and common law rights on the Internet.
It's unfortunate that the major labels do not recognize that their fundamental business model is substantially broken and that these rear guard actions will not put humpty dumpty back together again. The money spent would be far better used to work toward thinking through the challenging problems that come with business model change and then implementing a new course.
