BEWARE OF UNINTENDED CONSEQUENCES...
The technology and media worlds are focused on the MGM vs. Grokster case with some of the intensity of the mainstream media (MSM) have brought to bear on the Michael Jackson circus. And it's for much more consequential reasons. The outcome of the case, expected by June, has obvious implications for the future of content in a piracy-prone digital world. However, by the very nature of the peer to peer technology (P2P), the application of the actual technology for all types of applications is on trial here. Although used famously by Napster users for unauthorized file sharing, P2P has far greater potential opportunities.
The plaintiffs, i.e., representatives of mainstream media content holders would like to portray the majority of Internet file-sharing, or P2P as mostly illegal file-sharing infringing the rights of copyright holders. However, the exact numbers involved in legal vs. illegal use are hard to find. According to the Wall Street Journal story dated March 30, 2005,
In this case, the percentage of illegal use is critical. In 1984, the court ruled 5-4 that Sony Corp., maker of the Betamax video recorder, wasn't liable for "contributory infringement" if the video recorder had "substantial non-infringing uses" that didn't run afoul of copyright conditions. They didn't at the time specify what percentage would be considered "substantial," creating the ambiguity that exists today.
Acting U.S. Solicitor General Paul Clement, who argued on behalf of the U.S. government in favor of MGM, conceded they would accept "anywhere under 50%" as having "no liability under the Sony standard."
According to Tony Lauro of Legal Times,
The Court was clearly divided, with several justices expressing frustration over the dearth of factual findings about the magnitude of copyright infringement
Although more quantification of the use of current P2P networks is obviously desirable from the court's point of view, I believe one should also be mindful that these technologies are extraordinarily nascent. The ultimate applications of these technologies in the future may end up surprising us with how far removed they might be from IP related content sharing.
What brought this to mind was this article in Silicon Beat noting that Google had purchased Zipdash, a developer of real-time traffic monitoring services based on consumer's GPS enabled cellphones. The application is based on P2P technologies, and is a fascinating glimpse into the possibilities of these technologies when far more robust broadband wireless technologies and Internet-enabled devices proliferate. Much more than the future of content depends on the MGM vs. Grokster case, and we ignore the Law of Unintended Consequences at our own peril.
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