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SuprNova.org is finished. BitTorrent servers in Europe are on the run: their hardware confiscated, their insidious volunteer personnel taken into custody by government forces. And behind the scenes, pulling the strings in this aggressive kehauling of international piracy, is America - more specifically, the MPAA (Motion Picture Association of America). Yes, yet another acronym you will probably grow to hate as much as the RIAA during the Napster days.

These media 'lobby groups' have shown themselves to be fearless and brash, not afraid to stand up for their right to culturally dominate the world and profit in doing so. Ever since the first numbers came in which inexplicably suggested that everyone who downloaded Eminem singles or the ultimate breakdancing inspirational film You Got Served would have, naturally, purchased these commodities at full market price if the internet wasn't around, executives have flipped.

"They're stealing our profits!" was the general cry. "They're stealing our six figure bonuses, and the mountains of cocaine out of our trophy wives' nostrils!" Stabbing fingers at board room graphs depicting mammoth losses, the media moguls identified their piratical enemy (YARRRRR!) and set the war parties in motion. The rest is history: the cultural shatter of Napster, spiked songs and lawsuits on Kazaa, and now BitTorrent.

So it's happening again, and even though the proverbial fat-cats might be congratulating themselves and their cohorts on another victory over the evil thieves, nothing has changed. Nothing will change. Another minor change in P2P file sharing will be developed (probably serverless BitTorrent networks, I would imagine) and sweep the globe, and we'll continue to trade media.

I won't dive into the ethical considerations of file sharing (is it really stealing if you don't physically deprive the owner of their property, even though you're depriving them of their legal right to profit?) but there's no question that it's time for the MPAA, RIAA and whoever else to wake up to progress. Internet technology is revolutionizing the way we consume media, and our collective mentality will never backtrack. And the more American media groups try to struggle against the technology instead of working with it, the more those profit margins will continue to drop.

Posted by Chris at 02:39 PM >> Commentations (15)