MGM vs. Grokster
The Supreme Court heard MGM vs. Grokster and StreamCast today. MGM contends that they should be able to sue for copyright infringement those who sell file-sharing software and services, even though it’s not them but their customers that are swapping illegal files. Here’s the CNN Technology article. Another CNN article giving more background leading up to the case.
Frankly, I’m disappointed, though not surprised, that the Business Software Alliance, Christian Coalition of America, and the American Federation of Musicians are all on MGM’s side. File sharing has a great many legitimate uses, and something like this ends up killing it all together. They don’t want to be bothered suing individuals, besides that tends to upset customers.
It’s not a perfect analogy but imagine someone suing the phone companies because they allow people to drive and talk on the cell phone at the same time. Why haven’t phone companies put software in place that triangulates your position and disconnects the call if you travel more than a few feet from where you initiated the call? Oops. I’m already sorry I mentioned it, because someone’s going to think that’s a good idea. OK, here’s a better one: we don’t really want to have to write speeding tickets for individuals, lets sue the car companies for building cars that allow them to speed on expressways. I’m perfectly confident that meets the greater than 50% illegal use that MGM wants to use as criteria.
