The Justice Department Strikes Back

The FBI seized computers, software and equipment as part of an investigation into illegal sharing of copyrighted movies...

In my best sensationalist newscaster voice*:

Just a few short days after the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals ruled in favor of Grokster Ltd. and StreamCast Networks Inc. stating that because they don't have central servers pointing users to copyright materials, they can't be held liable for what the users of their networks do...

The FBI seized computers, software and equipment as part of an investigation into illegal sharing of copyrighted movies, music and games over an Internet "peer-to-peer" network, Attorney General John Ashcroft announced Wednesday.
(Associated Press)

This paragraph struck me as particularly relevant after the previous court ruling:

Unlike file-sharing networks popular with tens of millions of Internet users worldwide, the smaller network targeted by the Justice Department was managed by centralized "hub" computers that restricted participation. (Associated Press)

Apparently Adrian Santangelo, aka GuidoZ had heard about the earlier court ruling:

"The hub owners themselves do not share or transmit any material, copyrighted or not," Santangelo said. "They are there to simply provide a meeting place for people to come in, chat and share what the users decide they want to share." (Associated Press)

I remember a few years ago the RIAA also went after the 5% that were supplying 95% of the content on the P2P networks, and then started going after the individual users. Which makes this quote all the more interesting:

By pursuing the leaders of a private peer-to-peer group, the Justice Department appears to be broadening its enforcement of copyright law online but is steering clear of prosecuting individual users who download songs or other material, said Fred von Lohmann, a senior staff lawyer with the Electronic Frontier Foundation, a nonprofit group that promotes "digital civil rights."

"They are trying to show they are being responsive to the concerns of Hollywood," he said. "But they are wise not to take on the 20 million Americans who are downloading music today." (NYTimes.com)

He probably said the same thing about the RIAA a few years ago to, but they did start going after the 20 million Americans who are downloadin music today, and it seems they've gotten through 0.023% of them.

In fact, later in the article, the NY Times points out that the RIAA had sued "more than 700 users of peer-to-peer file sharing networks" and "has sued about 4,600 people since last September." I'm not sure if the RIAA and the DOJ are trying to establish a pattern in the minds of file sharers here - first we go after the ring leaders, and then we go after Joe Average, but the message seems clear. Don't break the law! I think John Ashcroft said it best.