The Record Industry Association of America will stop filing new lawsuits against file sharers. It has taken quite some time, but the the RIAA has come to the realization that suing people who are potential customers for your products doesn’t do much to engender good feelings toward your industry in the marketplace.

But a more pragmatic consideration is at play in the industry association’s decision to cease filing suits: they were not working. Since the RIAA began its legal actions versus unlucky internet users who it chose to make examples of for illegally downloading music files, compact disc sales have steadily continued to decrease while the number of files shared over the Internet has increased. In response to this failed strategy the RIAA will now (finally) be partnering with Internet Service Providers who will help them identify file sharers. The illegal downloaders will then be sent  a letter  asking them to change their ways, and perhaps down the road even have their  ISP service cut off.  Bear in  mind that the ISPs have their own beef with file  sharers  in that they  hog tons of bandwidth while paying the same fixed price as everyone else.  Kind of like a guy who goes to an All-U-Can-Eat Smorgasbord and downs 17 plates of food.

It’s very difficult to feel sorry for the plight of the record companies. When all this file sharing mess started going mainstream, nearly a decade ago, with the introduction of the Napster file sharing service, the record industry was presented with a choice about the future of its business practices; join forces with Napster and work out a subscription based model for Internet music sales going forward, or go it alone through the legal system. The industry chose the court system, one of the slowest moving bureaucracies on earth to fight lightning fast technology which continues to change and adapt quicker and quicker. The results were predictable enough. Meanwhile, in walked Apple to take over the marketplace with the iPod and iTunes while the record companies were busy paying their legal bills.

You can takepart in helping technology grow and advance without being stymied by one corporate interest or another by checking out the Open Source Initiative.

LINKS:

NewTeeVee: Why the end of the RIAA lawsuits won’t change anything

ExtremeTech: RIAA confirms it will take piracy fight to the ISPs

CNet: RIAA’s Cary Sherman says lawsuits were the only option