Peer to Peer

Kim Weatherall has a good summary of the legality in the USA of peer-to-peer file sharing networks, and the legal history which got us to where we are.

But why isn't peer-to-peer mainstream yet?

I mean, there's those people who trade in music and video and other copyrighted material today - but pimply teenage boys are hardly representative of society. Why aren't Linux distributors and big (proprietry) software companies using p2p to distribute their software? Why isn't Hollywood delivering DVD movie images to your home? Why isn't the music industry selling CDs the same way?

It just shows that even if something is legal, it doesn't necessary mean it will be adopted by corporations. There is a huge market here, and ad hoc polling says that consumers want this technology implmented by companies they can trust. But copyright holders don't want to go down that path because they fear the lack of central control.

Take a risk guys! - I remember reading about the guy who came up the DVD concept and his quest to get Hollywood to adopt his idea for high-quality movie distribution to people in their homes. Originally it didn't sell, Hollywood was scared to release high-quality format media to end-users, but it sure has paid off since! DVDs are now a huge money earner and the staple income source for movie makers.

Take a risk on peer-to-peer - sure, address the presevation of copyright problem - but let the distribution mechanism go free and watch the profits roll in!.

I'd certainly buy and download a music from the music industry if I was allowed to burn it to CD, put it on an MP3 portable music player as well as upload it to my car stereo. Bring on fair use (time and format shifting) legislation in Australia.

| 26 Aug 2004 | #