http://cyberlaw.stanford.edu/blogs/cooper/archives/BENEFITSofPEERtoPEER.pdf
TIME FOR THE RECORDING INDUSTRY TO FACE THE MUSIC: THE POLITICAL,
SOCIAL AND ECONOMIC BENEFITS OF PEER-TO-PEER COMMUNICATIONS NETWORKS
Mark Cooper
Director of Research, Consumer Federation of America
Fellow, Stanford Law School Center for Internet and Society
March 2005
ISSUE BRIEF
PIRACY PANICS V. THE PUBLIC INTEREST
A critical debate over a technological revolution is underway in the
U.S. that will have far reaching implications for economic growth and
global competitiveness, technological innovation and creativity, and
the capacity of an open, democratic society to adapt to breakthroughs
in the way we communicate. This debate is over advances in peer-to-
peer technologies and whether their growth will be driven by the
capacity of human innovation or hindered by special interests
reluctant to embrace change. This debate is unfolding in the U.S.
court system, the halls of Congress at universities and research
organizations, and among entrepreneurs everywhere from corporate
boardrooms to the lone innovators looking for next great invention.
If vested interests in the recording and movie industries have their
way, innovation and progress will be the victim of a public relations
campaign intended to paint file sharing as "piracy." Big movie studios
and recording companies are attempting to squelch peer-to-peer
networks just as their potential to deliver economic growth and
technological progress is only beginning to be exploited. However,
contrary to the copyright holder claims that peer-to-peer
communications networks are copyright infringement schemes,
decentralized peer-to-peer networks have become the dominant form of
Internet communications because they are vastly more efficient.
Peer-to-peer technologies eliminate the congestion and cost of central
servers and distribute bandwidth requirements throughout the
network. In so doing they become a powerful force to expand freedom of
expression and the flow of information, stimulate innovation, and
promote the economic interests of consumer and creative artists alike
(see Exhibit EX-1).
This report explains why public policy should embrace peer-to-peer
technologies. It examines the history of technological innovation in
communications and the "piracy panics" they cause among entrenched
incumbents. For three centuries, in battles over the printing press,
telegraphy, mechanical pianos, cinematography, radio, cable
television, photocopying, video and audio recorders, and the current
generation of digital technologies, public policy has favored
technological innovation by refusing to allow copyright to regulate
technology. The paper reminds policymakers of the historic lesson that
technological innovation promotes political, cultural, and social
development, and economic growth. The analysis demonstrates the social
and economic harms of the "tyranny of copyright" that recording
companies and movie studios seek to impose on peer-to-peer
technologies, as well as the legal and public policy grounds for
rejecting this tyranny.
http://cyberlaw.stanford.edu/blogs/cooper/archives/BENEFITSofPEERtoPEER.pdf
Monty Solomon (monty@roscom.com)