Lately the discussion about pirated media and software has fallen out of the headlines. This is a subject that I’ve been following rather closely, not just because I’m a big music fan but also because I firmly believe that, if unchecked, the MPAA and RIAA will eventually succeed in eroding away some pretty basic rights. Here are some recent bits of news.

Earlier this month the RIAA announced that they were ending their practice of suing those they suspected decided had shared music.  Although they are not dropping cases they’ve already started, their new approach involves forcing ISPs to threaten disconnecting the service of those who use Bit Torrent sites. I for one think this approach will fail. Since ISPs can’t be held responsible for how their customers use the Internet they really don’t have any vested interest in cutting off service and therefore, revenue.

I found this post today on Max Barry’s blog.

The most famous cases of the RIAA suing end users and the only one to go to trial is that of Jamiee Thomas who was found guilt and ordered to pay the RIAA $222,000 for allegedly having shared 24 songs.  Almost a year after the trail the judge, without being petioned by the defense, declaired a mistrail after deciding that simply having music in an open access folder was not a violation of the copyright act. The RIAA recently requested permission to appeal the mistrail decision but the judge denied their request. (Wired.com)