Use of Force

Filing suit against one's own customers--hardly an endearing marketing tactic--is fundamentally an act of force carried out by the record industry with the backing of the Government. While such application of force is possible, is it actually legitimate? Is there is truly fair competition among record companies? Does the recording industry enjoy preferential access to Congress that independent artists don't have? Today a small handful of record companies own 90% of the market. In spite of the availability of the Internet, it is virtually impossible for artists to sell records directly to their fans on a large scale except through these large record companies. These companies spend millions of dollars per year lobbying Congress and state legislatures. Meanwhile, a new generation of "trusted computers" are coming on line. The entertainment industry hopes that such equipment will help it to control access to copyrighted works. In a very real way, such computers also represent a use of force because (i) they will physically not allow a user to carry out certain actions on their own computer equipment for which they paid and (ii) users will be subject to prosecution if they try to defeat the access control measures--even if they do not violate copyright. Such a circumstance can often arise when someone wants to listen to their own music in their own way using their own equipment. Is it legitimate for the recording industry--and the Government--to be applying such force to music fans, while at the same time passing on to music fans the expenses of litigation, lobbying the Congress, and trusted computing hardware and software?