Tom Mennecke at Slyck has posted a "Winners and Losers"
file-sharing scorecard, a smart (if insufficiently linked) roundup of the shifting P2P landscape. While Tom notes that
the RIAA earned some jubilation over the Grokster case, the underlying erosion of RIAA credibility plus the unstoppable
increase in P2P use despite Grokster puts the RIAA atop the losers' column. "With more people using P2P and
file-sharing technology, while fewer are buying into digital music services, it’s clear the RIAA is running a
broken machine." Sony, naturally, is also a big loser. "Because of Sony-BMG’s fiasco, the
future of the DRM has been cast into doubt and destroyed any credible argument against online piracy. Most of all, they
betrayed the consumer."
Oddly, Apple makes the winners' column despite having little to do with
P2P. BitTorrent is the big winner, though. Torrent directory ThePirateBay is singled out for having a winning year, and
for its defiant pose in the face of copyright
violation notices.
1. HTTP DOWNLOAD of Windows Vista build 5270: http://windows.czweb.org/491_HTTP_DOWNLOAD_of_Windows_Vista_build_5270
Posted at 2:16PM on Dec 28th 2005 by swenn