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https://freedium.cfd/https://medium.com/the-panopticon-publication/what-failed-anti-piracy-law-can-teach-us-about-the-tiktok-ban-9f34b005b1fc>
"In August 2005, Jammie Thomas-Rasset, a natural resources coordinator from
Brainerd, Minnesota, received a piece of mail that would change her life
forever. The then-28-year-old Native American mother of four was blissfully
unaware of the protracted nightmare ahead. Corporate coldness, an uncaring (and
downright hostile) legal system, and extortionate legal predation were about to
change her life permanently.
The letter was a cease-and-desist, a legal warning telling her that if she
continued using her computer the way she had been, severe penalties awaited.
These letters are often (not legally binding) scare tactics. But Jammie's case
was destined to be different. She was being sued by the major record labels for
using file-sharing software called Kazaa to download mp3 files off the
Internet.
Her case was part of a lawsuit spree the Recording Industry Association of
America (RIAA) undertook in the mid-2000s, becoming a predatory,
bounty-hunter-like entity, tasked with pursuing people illegally sharing songs
with peer-to-peer software like Napster at the behest of major record labels.
Napster was an ephemeral-yet-revolutionary software. It allowed users to swap
mp3 files over the Internet from 1999-2001. It was low-tech (and ugly), but it
accomplished the impossible—emancipating music from its physical medium,
allowing it to be transferred, digitally, to friends.
Some wanted free or unlimited music, even if it was considerably lower than CD
quality. Some enjoyed the rush of breaking the law in a modernistic, high-tech
way. All appreciated the disencumberment of music from physical mediums—it felt
revolutionary. People who embraced digital music at the time, including Steve
Jobs. He understood that the tech was already developed and would be the
future. You can't un-invent a popular technology."
Cheers,
*** Xanni ***
--
mailto:xanni@xanadu.net Andrew Pam
http://xanadu.com.au/ Chief Scientist, Xanadu
https://glasswings.com.au/ Partner, Glass Wings
https://sericyb.com.au/ Manager, Serious Cybernetics
