Supreme Court Battle over P2P

On Tuesday March 29th a case, that I plan on following, starts in the Supreme Court dealing with the possible future of P2P networks. The real questions seems to be whether the court will reverse it's Betamax decision that created the home video market over the objection of the movie and record industries. At the time they argued pretty much the same thing as now, that these new technologies threaten them with illegal piracy. Like then and at every other point that these industries have faced new challenges, they have jumped to the wrong conclusions. Instead of adapting they are trying to kill it and dragged their feet in adoption, but even if they do win, they loses. By not adapting to what their customers want, and giving them poor substitutes. They are forcing their potential customers to illegal means. The industry has been living in a bubble, thinking that they can force people to their point of view. But this case could once again change what is constituted as "Fair Use".


Article in the Economist