Team A'Hearn

Geeks have been all in a frenzy lately about the recent court ruling in favor of the RIAA. It seems Miss Thomas was found guilty of sharing some music online and now has to pay various record companies $222,000, pending a likely appeal. This case was big news in the dork world because it was the first of its kind to actually go to trial. Up until now, the RIAA has been happy with out-of-court settlements. Jammie Thomas, however, decided to reject such a deal and instead put her faith in ambiguous digital copyright laws and confounding technical arguments. Optimistic, reasonable, and noble, but alas. So much for that.

What now? Sadly, I’m betting there will be no end in sight to the RIAA and MPAA strong-arming middle America into settling out of further potential litigation. Knee-jerk copyright laws will probably be passed with more thought to profits than innovation. Quality content in the theaters and on the radio will continue to decline. And .. hopefully .. more mainstream and independent artists will realize that times are changing and, amazingly, fans will pay for entertainment that isn’t insulting.