The Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA) has recently intensified the pressure in its campaigns on peer-to-peer (P2P) services.
In the last month the RIAA has won and lost its share of courtroom battles.
First, Verizon, was ordered to reveal the identity of two of its ISP customers that the RIAA plans to sue for using P2P services to infringe copyrights.
Then it lost a case over Grokster and Morpheus, P2P service providers, when a court ruled that they should not be shut down because their software could be used for lawful purposes as well as unlawful purposes.
Meanwhile, it had sued four college students who allegedly made available over 1 million songs for downloading from a campus service. It sought damages of up to $150,000 per song; but settled last week with the students agreeing to pay sums of between $12,000 and $17,500 each by instalments payable over the next three years.
Last Tuesday the RIAA began using instant messaging (IM) to warn song-swappers that they were acting illegally. This follows a period of targeting universities, by contacting college administrations daily with details of infringing students, persuading at least one college to ban P2P use by students.
Now, according to the New York Times, some of the biggest names in the record industry are financing software programs that may slow down or sabotage the computers of people indulging in copyright infringement. Full details were not revealed.
The question of sabotaging the PCs of file-sharers has been discussed before. In October 2001, lobbyists representing the RIAA hoped to make it legal for copyright owners to hack into computer networks in search of copyright infringing material and to destroy any such material found. They did not succeed.
In June last year, US Congressman Howard Berman announced plans for controversial new legislation to address copyright infringement on P2P networks. He proposed that: "Copyright owners could employ a variety of technological tools to prevent the illegal distribution of copyrighted works over a P2P network - tools such as interdiction, decoys, redirection, file-blocking, and spoofs." His controversial bill has not yet been passed.