Music Industry Wins 871 Subpoenas Against Internet Users.

...and they are not just going after people offering large amounts of mp3s either...

Notice the slightly conflicting statements:

" The trade group for the largest music labels, the Washington-based RIAA, previously indicated its lawyers would target Internet users who offer substantial collections of MP3 song files but declined to say how many songs might qualify for a lawsuit."

"We are identifying substantial infringers and we're going to whatever entity is providing (Internet) service for that potential infringer,"

[Brain21]So from these statements we think that, as the RIAA said a few weeks ago, they are only going after people who have huge mp3 collections online. However, other statements in the article show that this may not be true:

"In some cases, subpoenas cite as few as five songs as "representative recordings" of music files available for downloading from these users."

"the RIAA asked Depaul on July 2 to track down a user known as "anon39023" who was allegedly offering at least eight songs."

FOXNews.com

] A new show in town should appeal to art lovers,
] pranksters and culture jammers alike.
]
] Illegal Art, which opened last week at the San Francisco
] Museum of Modern Art's Artists Gallery, showcases a
] variety of works that push the restrictions of current
] trademark and copyright laws.

Wired News: Artists Just Wanna Be Free

] Japanese bookstores are set to launch a national campaign
] to stop so-called "digital shoplifting" by customers
] using the lastest camera-equipped mobile phones.
]
] The Japanese Magazine Publishers Association says the
] practice is "information theft" and it wants it stopped.

Thats how you measure success with communication technologies these days.. If someone points at you and starts screaming "your stealing!", you probably have made a significant advance.

BBC NEWS | Asia-Pacific | Japan's 'digital shoplifting' plague

] Kaplan adds that R.E.M. guitarist Peter Buck, a noted
] record collector and bootleg aficionado, has gone on
] record applauding the service and the fact that it "cuts
] out the bootleg middleman." In other words, if his band
] isn't going to make money from concert recordings, he's
] glad that fans can get the music without a third party
] reaping profits.
]
] As previously reported, cult rock duo Ween is developing
] a peer-to-peer service that would operate in a similar
] fashion to Give It Away. The band is hoping to make
] "WeenAmp," as the software is tenatively dubbed,
] available on its forthcoming Sanctuary album "quebec,"
] due Aug. 5. The service would be regulated by the band
] itself and would allow users to swap live shows and other
] MP3s as well as view other multimedia, such as video
] cybercasts of shows on the band's upcoming tour.

The record labels don't have to get it, the bands will. The more non-infringing uses of this stuff out there prospering, the more likely good solutions that get revenue to the band will be created. It will only be a matter of time.

BILLBOARD | Share in the place where you live

] "I would guess that you would then see stories about the
] family faced with economic ruin and the cost of having to
] hire defense counsel, settling for $10,000 or $20,000,
] and the money they were saving for Timmy's college
] education now has to go to Kid Rock," said Philip S.
] Corwin, a lobbyist in Washington for Sharman Networks,
] distributor of the Kazaa file-sharing software.
]
] "That's the kind of stuff that would scare a politician."

Labels May Face Risk in Piracy Suits

] Public Knowledge had arranged the meetings, with members
] and their staff from both sides of Congress, and both
] sides of the isle. We met with the staffs of Senators
] Cantwell, McCain and Leahy, then met with Congressman
] Cannon and Boucher. And — at her request — we met with
] Congresswoman Bono.

Lessig's efforts to get the Public Domain Enhancement Act moving are picking up steam.

Lawrence Lessig | the day in DC

] HR-2517, the Piracy Deterrence and Education Act of 2003,
] instructs the FBI to develop a program to deter online
] traffic of copyrighted material. The bureau would also
] develop a warning, with the FBI seal, that copyright
] holders could issue to suspected violators. And the
] bureau would encourage sharing of information on
] suspected copyright violations among law enforcement,
] copyright owners and ISPs (Internet service providers).

New bill injects FBI into P2P battle | CNET News.com

] On Tuesday, the United States and Singapore signed a
] trade agreement that affirms both nations' commitment to
] punishing people who bypass copy-protection
] technologies--such as those used in most DVDs, a small
] number of CDs and some computer software.

] "We're working together to meet the threats of a new era,
] and we share a belief in the power of free enterprise and
] free trade to improve lives," President George W. Bush
] said during a Tuesday ceremony in Washington to mark the
] signing of the trade agreement. "The U.S.-Singapore Free
] Trade Agreement marks a crucial step forward for both our
] countries. And with the approval of the Congress, this
] agreement will help generate well-paying jobs and
] opportunities for people in Singapore and in the United
] States." The agreement is the first between the U.S.
] and an Asian nation.

] The agreement "breaks new ground in emerging areas like
] e-commerce," Singapore Prime Minister Goh Chok Tong said.
] "It also establishes high standards in intellectual
] property, transparency and customs. The FTA will expand
] opportunities for American businesses in Singapore. More
] importantly, the U.S.-Singapore FTA can be a model for
] other FTAs."

U.S.-Singapore trade pact echoes DMCA | CNET News.com

] Hatch on Tuesday surprised a Senate hearing on copyright
] issues with the suggestion that technology should be
] developed to remotely destroy the computers of people who
] illegally download music from the Net.

] The senator's site makes extensive use of a JavaScript
] menu system developed by Milonic Solutions, a software
] company based in the United Kingdom. The
] copyright-protected code has not been licensed for use on
] Hatch's website.
]
] "It's an unlicensed copy," said Andy Woolley, who runs
] Milonic. "It's very unfortunate for him because of those
] comments he made."

] A spokesman in Hatch's office responded, "That's ironic"
] before declining to put Wired News in contact with the
] site's webmaster. He deferred comment on the senator's
] statement to the Senate Judiciary Committee, which did
] not return calls.

Wired News: Orrin Hatch: Software Pirate?

] The chairman of the Senate Judiciary Committee
] said Tuesday he favors developing new
] technology to remotely destroy the computers of people
] who illegally download music from the Internet.

] "I'm interested," Hatch interrupted. He said damaging
] someone's computer "may be the only way you can teach
] somebody about copyrights."

] Kerr predicted it was "extremely unlikely" for Congress
] to approve a hacking exemption for copyright owners,
] partly because of risks of collateral damage when
] innocent users might be wrongly targeted.
]
] "It wouldn't work," Kerr said. "There's no way of
] limiting the damage."

Not too worried about this.. I can't see this happening. Not only for technical reasons, but straight out legal ones. The court system exists to mediate disputes between parties. Aggrieved parties are not allowed to take actions into their own hands, their only option is to take their dispute into the court system. If they do not, they are commiting a crime themselves. Its the basis of our legal system's existance. If congress passes a law allowing our media masters to destroy our computers, it would be admitting failure of the legal system to tackle these problems and set an extrememly dangerous precident. Granted, it is pretty shocking that this has been suggested as an option at all, by someone who heads the Senate Judiciary Committee.

And then there is the whole collateral damage angle. It does not have the signifigance of the above, but it will likely be the reason this idea gets aborted before it grows arms. It would give consumers what they need to bring the dispute back into the legal system, only with the upper hand and the ability to address the above in the courts, which the courts would most defintally agree with.

I'm not a lawyer, so my understanding of how the law works in this situation may be completely flawed.. But I am pretty sure that this is not something to worry about much.

Yahoo! News - Hatch Takes Aim at Illegal Downloading